Derek Bullard

Software Engineer


I'm a mission-driven full-stack engineer who loves turning messy data and complex infrastructure into products people trust. Over the last six years I’ve shipped high-throughput microservices in C#, Python, Go, and TypeScript. I've also built HIPAA- and PCI-compliant payment systems that process billions annually; and designed React and React Native front ends that feel fast, intuitive, and native. Recently, I’ve focused on ethical AI, launching retrieval-augmented LLM chatbots and privacy-first tokenization pipelines that cut latency by half while protecting user data. Let’s build something useful, secure, and a little bit magical.

Social

Backend AI Lead

Led an engineering team at Easy AI to build a FastAPI RAG engine using LangChain and GPT-4 to match user queries with relevant products. Designed vector pipelines using PGVector, powering a semantic search for business intelligence, earning a showcase spot at Georgetown University's Ventures Demo Day.

Hackathon Winner

The team focused their business model on giving formerly incarcerated, undocumented, and under-banked residents access to digital financial products and digital literacy training through a digital financial key called Fresh Start. The team proposed partnering with banks and financial institutions in a private-public-partnership model to increase banking in this niche community.

Sierra Leone Banking Project

Integrated Kafka and NestJS in developing a dynamic wallet creation - Sierra Leone and U.N. agencies is set to bring a nationwide digital identification system to the people of Sierra Leone that is designed to provide citizens with formal identity and control over their own credit information.
PR-(https://github.com/kiva/aries-key-guardian/pull/88)

Capway Microservice Integration

Led the migration of Capway’s monolithic Node.js backend to a TypeScript-based microservice architecture, cutting average API response times in half and unlocking independent, rapid feature deployments.

What I use

Security and Compliance

Extensive experience in delivering highly visible and complex projects, such as building federally financial and healthcare compliant software and tools within fast-paced environments.

Engineering

Expertise in programming languages (JavaScript, TypeScript, Python), frameworks & libraries (React, Angular, Node.js), and Dev Tools!

Python

Full-stack development of Python fraud and analytic tools in the Fintech space.

DevOps

Cloud & DevOps (AWS, Docker, Kubernetes), specializing in creating efficient and secure software solutions.

Get in touch