Portrait of Gonzalo Alcaraz

Gonzalo Alcaraz

Senior Backend Engineer · Tech Lead

Building the systems that move money.

Node.js · TypeScript · PostgreSQL · MongoDB · Redis · AWS

skills

  • Software Architecture8+ yrsExpert
  • Domain Driven Design2+ yrsIntermediate
  • Distributed Systems6+ yrsAdvanced
  • Microservices5+ yrsAdvanced

experience

CoinmetroTech Lead / Senior Backend Engineer

Feb 2024 — Present

Crypto exchange — leads an 8-person cross-functional team; the exchange processed up to €35M daily volume at peak.

  • Decomposed a monolithic, Redis-backed order-matching engine into isolated services per trading-pair group — independent scaling and per-market fault isolation.
  • Cut disputed liquidation claims 80% by identifying and fixing critical bugs in the margin-trading risk engine, then adding validation guardrails around it.
  • Reduced liquidity-provider downtime 30% with automated LP orchestration across 3+ providers — real-time price selection replacing manual switching.
  • Cut incident debugging time 80% with an observability overhaul: structured centralized logging and distributed tracing (Graylog → Grafana + Loki).
  • Order-validation guardrails and fat-finger protection reduced erroneous orders ~7% (FinOps-measured).

Custody: transaction-signing/key-management refactor, Fireblocks (MPC) migration, EVM + Bitcoin-fork integrations built from scratch, BitGo, fiat on/off-ramps incl. Apple/Google Pay · Led swap-engine rewrite · MiCA infra/security workstreams (in progress) · Infra as code (OpenTofu + AWS CDK) · Drove org-wide agentic engineering adoption (Claude Code, internal MCP servers, n8n)

Node.jsTypeScriptNestJSMongoDBRedisAWS

FreelanceSenior Fullstack Engineer

Oct 2023 — Jan 2024

Technical consulting for startups.

TypeScriptNestJSPythonPostgreSQLAWS

HalbornSenior Fullstack Engineer

Oct 2022 — Jul 2023

Web3 security.

  • Built a Web3 domain-monitoring and threat-detection system scanning 100K+ domains daily — saved clients $1M+ from phishing.
  • Ethereum security notary: smart contracts, a distributed event-driven backend, and wallet integration.
  • Took ML-based social-media threat monitoring to production.
Node.jsTypeScriptPythonPostgreSQLSolidityAWS

KinemaSenior Fullstack Engineer · First engineering hire

Jul 2021 — Oct 2022

Live-streaming platform.

  • Real-time synchronized broadcast system: 50K+ concurrent users, 2K+ synced viewers per stream over WebSockets.
  • VOD pipeline on AWS (CDK) cut time-to-market 80%; built the foundational serverless infra from scratch.
TypeScriptReactGraphQLPostgreSQLRedisAWS

SpaceDevFullstack Engineer

Feb 2021 — Jul 2021

Built a car-rental management platform on React and NestJS; integrated React Native Android applications.

TypeScriptNestJSReactPostgreSQLElectron

Southworks — Discovery NetworksSoftware Engineer

Jul 2019 — Feb 2021

Developed a serverless video-monitoring dashboard for Discovery Networks' distributed mass-media platform.

TypeScriptReactReduxAWS LambdaCloudFormation

CSC CONICET (Computer Simulation Center)Research Engineer

Oct 2017 — Jul 2019

Designed, simulated and programmed digital and hybrid circuit boards with microcontrollers for RF and signal processing; firmware and desktop applications for signal processing.

PythonCC++Altium Designer

Probattery Industrial SolutionsResearch & Development Engineer

Oct 2018 — Jul 2019

Designed circuit boards and firmware for smart batteries in ventilators and medical devices; implemented ISO 9001 practices.

PythonCC++Altium Designer

Control Vehicular ArgentinoElectronics Design Engineer

Jan 2017 — Oct 2018

Designed electronic hardware, firmware and software for legacy and new automotive devices.

CC++C#Altium Designer

American FiureEmbedded Systems Engineer

Jan 2014 — Dec 2016

Firmware and software for prototype medical equipment.

CC++PythonAltium Designer

AccentureSoftware Engineer

Apr 2011 — Dec 2012

Developed an accounting platform for AB InBev.

.NETC#SQL ServerSharePoint

about

I'm an Argentine engineer who grew up around inflation and capital controls — now I build the systems that move money: real-time financial systems, distributed backends, and crypto custody and exchange infrastructure. Based in Barcelona, working remote.