Led a cross-functional team to oversee search capabilities for Upwork's two-sided marketplace.Managed multiple SOLR and Elasticsearch clusters, ensuring stability and performance.Defined and monitored key performance indicators (KPIs) and business metrics to drive continuous improvement.Collaborated with ML teams and leaders to optimize the experimentation platform, reducing time to market for new features.Increased uptime and disaster recovery readiness by implementing observability, developing a runbook, optimizing the on-call schedule, and training the team on best practices.Developed a roadmap to consolidate fragmented SOLR/Elasticsearch infrastructure, migrating to a unified Elasticsearch solution.Enhanced query understanding with phrase matching and embeddings, boosting search accuracy.Improved search filtering using machine learning techniques for more relevant results.Spearheaded preparations for a hybrid vector/keyword search approach with a second pass, laying the groundwork for enhanced search capabilities.

Led a team managing on-premises search infrastructure and APIs, ensuring optimal performance and stability.Increased company revenue by integrating sponsored ads into search results.Improved conversion rates through initiatives like re-ranking and various optimization projects.Enhanced time to first byte and reliability by implementing and analyzing observability metrics.Collaborated with cross-functional teams to boost the performance of microservices across the organization.Accelerated indexing speed by replacing a SQL-based approach with a data streaming solution using Apache Pulsar and Ignite.Managed hardware procurement and maintenance for our SOLR/Zookeeper based search infrastructure.

Served as the technical director for a company-wide initiative to modernize a 20-year-old taxonomy infrastructure.Acted as the primary contact for all technical concerns and questions related to the project.Collaborated with 7 core teams and 35+ supplemental teams to architect and implement a scalable solution.Segmented the taxonomy to address diverse use cases, enhancing flexibility and performance.Led discussions on updating navigation page URLs, balancing SEO, customer experience, and technical requirements.Facilitated cross-team negotiations on resource allocation, feature ownership, SLAs, and go-live planning.Regularly communicated project progress, risks, and milestones to senior leadership.

Conenza, now PeoplePath, is a SaaS-based social network for corporate alumni, serving Fortune 500 clients such as Microsoft, Accenture, Citi Bank, Gap, Nielsen, and Dell.As the Lead Developer, I was responsible for the technical design and development of the application, collaborating closely with the business to manage priorities and mentoring a small team of engineers.Key Accomplishments:Provided technical leadership to align engineering efforts with company goals.Developed an external-facing RESTful API for seamless client integrations.Implemented custom search functionality across multiple site areas using ElasticSearch.Enhanced security and improved time to first byte by refactoring the database and Hibernate layer.Integrated with third-party services such as MailChimp, LinkedIn, and Facebook to support client marketing programs and enable single sign-on.

Developed a client-facing tool to merge multiple databases into a unified data warehouse, streamlining data access and reporting.Generated medical reports using a combination of SQL and SSRS, ensuring accuracy and timely delivery.

Developed SQL/SSRS reports for Legal and Corporate Affairs, providing actionable insights for key decision-makers.