Available for Senior Engineering Roles

Reuben
Kitaka

Senior Software Engineer with 7+ years building and modernizing enterprise systems. Specializing in backend engineering, platform architecture, DevSecOps, and AI-integrated systems.

Get in touch View GitHub →
7+ Years Experience
5K+ Concurrent Users Supported
8 Engineers Led
<5s API Response Time (Optimized)
Expertise

Technical Skills

Full-stack enterprise engineering with a focus on scalable backends, secure integrations, and modern infrastructure.

⚙️
Core Backend
Backend Engineering
Java Spring Boot REST APIs Kafka Microservices Ruby on Rails
🗄️
Data
Databases & Analytics
PostgreSQL Oracle SQL Optimization Jasper Reports Oracle BI Logi Analytics
🛡️
Security
Application Security
RSA Signing API Security Auth Flows Secure Integrations DevSecOps
☁️
Infrastructure
Platform & DevOps
Kubernetes Terraform GCP Docker CI/CD Linux
🌐
Frontend
Frontend Engineering
JavaScript EXT JS TypeScript UI Modernization
🤖
Emerging
AI & Modern Systems
LLM Integration AI Tooling Prompt Engineering Python Vector DBs
Work

Featured Projects

Enterprise systems, secure integrations, and platform modernization at scale.

01 Systech Ltd Private
Pension Management System Modernization
Led end-to-end modernization of a large-scale pension platform. Upgraded Java 7 → Java 11, migrated to Spring Boot, and modernized the frontend from EXT JS 3 → EXT JS 7. Improved batch processing performance and prepared the architecture for microservices.
Java 11 Spring Boot Oracle DB EXT JS 7 Jasper Reports
02 Systech Ltd Private
Secure Financial API Integration
Implemented secure third-party financial integrations using SHA256withRSA signature verification, structured API communication, and enterprise-grade authorization headers. Reduced API retrieval times to under 5 seconds while maintaining strict security standards.
RSA Signing Spring Boot REST APIs JSON OAuth2
03 Systech Ltd Private
CI/CD Pipeline Modernization
Led the implementation of automated deployment pipelines integrating Kubernetes and Terraform, significantly reducing deployment errors and manual release overhead across multiple environments.
Kubernetes Terraform Docker GCP CI/CD
04 Systech Ltd Private
Enterprise Reporting & Analytics Platform
Built and maintained enterprise-grade reporting solutions supporting business-critical decision making. Developed analytics dashboards and optimized complex SQL queries across Oracle and PostgreSQL environments.
Oracle BI Jasper Reports Logi Analytics SQL PostgreSQL
05 Hikaya Private
Project Management Platform
Contributed to the development and maintenance of Hikaya's workflow coordination platform used by international NGOs and development organizations. Handled backend feature development, database optimization, and reporting integration supporting 5,000+ concurrent users.
Python Django PostgreSQL JavaScript
06 Systech Ltd Private
Kafka Event Streaming Integration
Designed and implemented Apache Kafka-based event streaming for decoupled, asynchronous communication between enterprise microservices, improving system resilience and throughput.
Kafka Java Spring Boot Microservices
Career

Experience

7+ years of delivering reliable enterprise software across backend, platform, and security domains.

2022 – Present
Senior Software Engineer
Systech Ltd — Nairobi, Kenya
  • Led a team of 8 engineers delivering backend and platform modernization initiatives
  • Implemented DevSecOps practices including automated security scanning and IaC with Terraform
  • Architected secure financial API integrations using RSA signature verification
  • Optimized API response times to under 5 seconds across high-traffic endpoints
  • Guided junior engineers and established code review standards across teams
2019 – 2022
Software Engineer
Systech Ltd — Nairobi, Kenya
  • Led the full modernization of a legacy pension management platform (Java 7 → Java 11, Spring Boot)
  • Modernized frontend from EXT JS 3 to EXT JS 7, improving UX and maintainability
  • Built enterprise reporting dashboards using Oracle BI and Jasper Reports
  • Supported systems serving 5,000+ concurrent users without downtime
2017 – 2019
Junior Software Engineer
Hikaya — Nairobi, Kenya
  • Contributed to the development and maintenance of Hikaya's project management platform
  • Developed backend features using Python/Django and maintained PostgreSQL databases
  • Wrote optimized SQL queries and contributed to reporting integrations
  • Participated in Agile sprints, code reviews, and cross-functional collaboration
Philosophy

About & Approach

Engineering values I bring to every team and system.

Who I am

I'm a Senior Software Engineer based in Nairobi, Kenya, with over 7 years of experience building and scaling enterprise systems. My background spans backend engineering, platform modernization, DevSecOps, and secure system design. I'm currently deepening my specialization in application security and AI-integrated systems, motivated by the belief that the most valuable engineers in the next decade will sit at the intersection of robust infrastructure and intelligent software.

Engineering Philosophy

I believe in systems that are simple, maintainable, and secure by design. I optimize for long-term team velocity over short-term complexity. I care deeply about the engineers who come after me — leaving code, documentation, and architecture better than I found it.

How I work

I take ownership of features from discovery to production. I collaborate closely with product, design, and infrastructure teams and communicate tradeoffs clearly. I enjoy ambiguous problems and messy legacy systems — they're where the most meaningful engineering happens.

Application Security
Secure coding, penetration testing fundamentals, SIEM, and security compliance frameworks
LLM Systems & AI Engineering
RAG pipelines, vector databases, AI agent orchestration, and LLM evaluation frameworks
Kotlin & Multiplatform
Transitioning Java expertise to Kotlin for backend and cross-platform systems
Cloud-Native Architecture
Deepening Kubernetes, GCP, and cloud-native design patterns in production environments
Contact

Let's work together

Open to senior engineering roles in backend, platform, security, and AI-adjacent systems.