willemvr

Architected a Microservice-based middleware solution to connect several legacy back-end systems to newly developed group Store management software. Software supported over 5000 stores across Southern Africa over 6 companies and 2 homegrown ERP's. Developed data pipelines using Spring Integration to connect disparate ERP back-ends and POS frontends throughout the group. Managed microservice orchestration using Eureka, Docker and Kubernetes. Implemented ELK (ElasticSearch-Logstash-Kibana) logging solutions. Seat on technology forums to discuss use of third-party tools and standards.

General Blockchain consultation for Blockchain Academy clients. Creator of 'Introduction to Ethereum' one day course. On-site training.

Promoted to Head of Architecture within 4 months of joining. Led platform-wide overhaul after 2014 Black Friday failures. Reduced search indexing time from 7 hours to <1 hour, maintained full freshness. Achieved consistent response times under 150ms at scale. Improved platform stability and uptime during highest-traffic periods. Integrated relevance tuning, load handling, and e-commerce data synchronisation. Set company architecture standards. Built and trained architecture team from scratch.

Architected and implemented a Solr-based search engine from scratch. Senior architect during complete platform re-engineering project. Integrated Oracle e-commerce: Hybris and Endeca. Implemented real-time search data feeds. Collaborated cross-functionally across frontend, backend, and data pipeline teams. Delivered search relevance improvement and sales uplift during critical trading cycles.