Yagna Alla
Director Of Engineering
Hyderabad
Summary
15 years of industry experience with hands-on expertise in building large scale systems and highly scalable SaaS and enterprise software.
Versatile domain experience working in startups in HCM SAAS cloud, gaming, fintech, e-commerce, and enterprise mobile domains.
Strong leadership skills and proven experience in building high performant teams and drive innovation. Proven ability to headhunt, attract, retain, coach engineering talent.
Collaborated with geographically distributed teams from, US, Canada, Israel, Kenya, and Russia, gaining a global perspective on people and technology.
Evaluate and identify appropriate technology platforms (for mobile and BE) for delivering the company's products and services.
Overview
15
15
years of professional experience
4
4
years of post-secondary education
Work History
Director of Engineerng
GamesKraft
Bangalore
05.2023 - Current
- Worked closely with organizational leadership - business, marketing and product directors to guide operational strategy.
- Lead 30+ developers including 2 Engineering managers - Lead highest grossing rummy games and building a product and tech roadmap for next few quarters..
- Streamline the development process to reduce inefficiencies and a growth plan for EMs and tech leads.
Senor Engineering Manager
Airmeet Remote
Hyderabad
09.2020 - 01.2023
- Assembled and led a full-stack team of 12+ members, including iOS, Android, and Flutter developers, through hiring, training, and process implementation.
Delivered the first versions of iOS and Android apps for Airmeet platform within a three-month timeframe - Established a mobile CD/CI pipeline, with every day release a pioneering achievement among early stage Indian startups.
- Developed backend services for orchestrating APIs to support mobile clients and platform, including API layer for interacting with downstream micro-services.
- Constructed an Analytics service for product and tech analytics, and a notification service for transactional and marketing notifications.
- Scaled mobile platform and APIs to support 100k concurrent users during peak load times through sharding Firebase and autoscaling in-house built micro-services.
- Built a Metaverse team of 3+ members, hired Unity developers, and collaborated with Furioos and Pureweb technologies to create a POC of Airmeet in Metaverse.
Worked closely with clients and product teams to increase adoption of metaverse
Lead Engineer
Tala
Bangalore, Los Angeles
08.2018 - 09.2020
- Tala provides financial services like lending in emerging markets like Kenya.. Tala’s older app and backend architecture had bottlenecks which hindered global expansion and India launch.
- Built entire Tala App with new architecture, latest android design patterns and new tala backend micro-services and Indian fintech api integrations.
- Migrated existing Tala customers into new app by integrating existing services serving Kenya, Indonesia and Philippines into the new app.
- Created roadmap for Global Tala App which utilizes React Native and Dynamic modules to cater to flexible and speedy next country launches.
- Worked with Automation Team to develop QA test plan and bought test coverage to ~70%
- Implemented mobile API gateway to cater to different global users based on their location and configs driven via zookeeper to aid A/B experimentation.
- Implemented Role based access control and java, node and scala libraries for embedding in micro-services. Built Google SSO using SAML.
- Worked on adding service mesh to our infrastructure and building internal admin tool for KYC approval process using React
Built With:
Android Native, Drop Wizard,React-Native, Redux,
Backend: Drop Wizard
Infrastructure: Amazon AWS, Kubernetes and docker
Unit Testing: Appium
Links:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.tala (Beta)
Lead Engineer
Zenefits
Vancouver
10.2017 - 08.2018
- Zenefits offers cloud-based SAAS HCIM platform with particular focus on helping orgs with health insurance coverage
Project: Performance management system on mobile
Did POC of performance system solution on mobile using React Native
Built multiple Higher Level Components(HOC) for use across apps in React-Native using React-Redux, GraphQL and Apollo client
Developed reactive-native components for PM and launched it along with native app
Built With:
React-Native, Redux, React-Navigation, Expo
Native Part of Android: Nine Old Android, RetroFit, Picasso, Gson, GMaps
Infrastructure: Amazon AWS,
Unit Testing: Jest, Robolectric
Project: Document management system:
Developed comprehensive document management system that helps customers upload their docs and manage permissions.
Worked as individual contributor managing full stack and testing
Used EmberJS for frontend and Django for backend and S3 as document repository
Developed strategy to break the monolith and implement document management as micro-service
Project: Employee Eligibility Management
Developed a system for US employees to upload their eligibility documents and define workflow to get it verified by admin for their Work Authorization
Worked with teams across domains and geographies (Legal, Product Management and Customer Success)
Developed comprehensive test plan and test cases and achieved near 100% code coverage
Built With:
Backend: Django-python, Mysql, Apache Solr for Search
Front end: Ember Js and React Js, Babel and webpack
Infrastructure: Amazon AWS
Unit Testing: Django unit test
Links:
https://help.zenefits.com/Hiring/What_do_I_need_to_know_about_employment_eligibility_verification_as_an_employer%3F/01-Verify_Employee_Form_I-9/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zenefits.android.apps.people
Lead Engineer
Shotang
Bangalore
08.2016 - 09.2017
- Shotang was b2b marketplace which aimed to revolutionise order fulfillment processes in traditional distribution channels through technology and aggregation of resellers and consumer brands
- Project: Order Management System:
- Developed in house order management system which interacted with multiple other micro-services and external clients
- Designed system from ground up from requirement gathering to HLD/LLD, Development, Testing, Deployment, Monitoring and Alerting
- Designed, Developed and deployed Retailer App used by thousands to place orders on the platform
- Worked on unique domain specific challenges like bulk ordering, group ordering, group chat and multiple payment gateways
- Developed and Search and Recommendations api for catalog of products
- Project: Logistics Management System:
- Developed logistics management system and its android app for order fulfillment.
- Worked on domain specific and challenging tasks like Android kiosk mode, Geo-tagging, Geo-fencing etc
- Designed and developed Payment system that works in low network conditions like 2G
- Built With:
- Backend: Zend-Php, Dropwizard-Java, Mysql, Apache Solr for Search
- Microservices: RabbitMQ, AWS-EC2, Cloudwatch
- Android libraries: RxJava, Eventbus, Dagger, React Native, Volley+, Google Maps Api, RazorPay, Ezetap
- Build and Release: Git, Gradle, Jenkins
- Links:
- Website : https://goo.gl/dRSZ4q
- Android Apps: https://goo.gl/eeUj7M and https://goo.gl/
Lead Android Engineer
CommonFloor
Bangalore
04.2015 - 08.2016
- CommonFloor was a leading real estate portal that enables users to buy, sell, and rent residential properties online in India
- Project: Map based Search Api:
- Implemented a map based search api inspired by Airbnb style design for mobile consumption
- Lead a team of developers and delivered engaging mobile experiences and scaled the app from 40k to almost a million downloads and a 4.6 rating on play store
- Implemented best coding practices and enforced agile methodologies
- Delivered continuous trainings on android and REST best practices to the rest of the team
- Revamped the entire search experience on commonfloor app
- By optimizing the network and memory usage, bought the app availability to 200 low end devices in Indian market which helped push the number of active installs and DAUs
- Built With:
- Backend: Zend-Php, Mysql, Apache Solr for Search
- Android libraries: React Native, Volley+, Google Maps Api
- Build and Release: Git, Gradle, Jenkins
- Project: Mobile Scanner:
- To scale the sale of used mobile phones on Quikr needed a way to quickly check quality of the phone being sold
- Developed one of its kind android app that checks the quality of mobile hardware by running a suite of tests
- Lead team that built and launched the Quikr mobile scanner app
- Project: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.quikr.syncandscan2&hl=en
- Https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/quikr-launches-quikrscanner-a-diagnostic-app-for-mobile-phones/articleshow/51007433.cms
- Project: Lead Generation:
- Quikr field executives and retailers of refurbished-goods needed an effective tool to generate leads using the quikr platform
- Developed lead generation product (https://www.quikr.com/Escrow/SellForMe) and corresponding mobile app (https://goo.gl/QU12At)
- Developed backend using Play framework and with Redis as Caching layer.
Senior Software Engineer
Citrix India Pvt. Ltd
Bangalore
08.2012 - 03.2015
- Citrix is one of the leaders in enterprise mobility management, providing secure mobile app and device management with Citrix XenMobile suite of products
- Project: WorxHome(Renamed as Secure Hub ):
- Citrix Secure Hub is the launchpad for the Citrix XenMobile experience where Users enroll their devices in Secure Hub to gain access to the Store and add Citrix-developed XenMobile Apps and third-party apps
- Implemented various authentication mechanisms for WorxHome using combinations of simple password, pin, Certificate and RSA token
- Implemented industry best MAM solutions using AspectJ
- Implemented various admin policies like camera locking, geofencing, remote device locking, remote data wipe etc
- Learnt and implemented features like data encryption and native api call hooking to achieve FIPS 140-2 compliance
- Implemented Certificate Pinning where by each server issued certificate is tested against the public key that is given to the client during the device enrollment
- Implemented Client cert authentication and Cert revocation policies to authenticate with Citrix Servers (Storefront and AppController)
- Https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zenprise
- Project: WorxMail and WorxTasks:
- Worked on Exchange ActiveSync protocol and implemented Outlook Calendar integration and Notes integration for existing email client
- Implemented Custom Content Provider which was able to navigate 100k emails on mobile device which was huge improvement over android native client’s 20k
- WorxMail: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.citrix.mail.droid
- WorxTasks: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.citrix.task.droid
- Technologies: Android, Custom SSL libraries, Custom VPN libraries, MAM and MDM libraries.
Software Engineer
Kiwi India Pvt. Ltd
Bangalore
08.2011 - 05.2012
- Kiwi is a mobile gaming company based out of San Francisco
- Being the first employee of the company, was involved in major decision-making aspects of the gaming platform and technical investments
- Developed prototypes on different game engines (And Engine, libgdx, phone gap, etc.) for evaluation. Developed Prototypes using different libraries (ORMLite, greenDao, etc.) for choosing the right ORM solution
- Developed the gaming platform which was used for many games for few years.
- Primarily contributed to the isometric rendering of game world, path finding algorithms and social aspects like chat and leaderboard integration
- Launched three successful games which were in top 10 games in android playstore for 6 months and editor picks for many weeks
- These games were later acquired by Rockyou Inc
- Technologies: Android, Libgdx, ORMLite and Memcached
- Google play: https://goo.gl/cYFs6C and https://goo.gl/A7jwaC
Senior Software Engineer
Samsung India Pvt. Ltd
Bangalore
08.2008 - 05.2011
- Worked with multiple mobile network carriers across Asia to launch their products
- Collaborated with customers across different geographies (Middle East, India and Thailand) solving their launch issues and traveled to customer sites to help them launch products
- Involved in framework changes and porting Samsung TouchWiz Ui to android widgets
- Project: Multi-IM Chat for Android (now called ChatON)
- Developed a chat application that is seamlessly integrated with open source contacts application. Developed backend integrations with facebook and gtalk using Xmpp and Beem library. https://goo.gl/LLdslC Project: AXT9IME:
- Implemented many Indian languages into Android Keyboard
- Ported T9 prediction library to android. Shipped custom keyboard with Galaxy S and Galaxy S2 in India
- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sec.android.inputmethod&hl=en_CA
Education
Bachelor of Technology - Electronics and Communications Engineering
National Institute of Technology Warangal
Telangana, India 06.2004 - 05.2008
Skills
Java, NodeJs, Python, AWS
Accomplishments
- Lead maintainer of non-profit website http://www.smartvote.in/ and was an active volunteer
- Co-founded a startup which works on an enterprise micro-blogging platform
- The startup was incubated as part of Citrix Startup Accelerator Program
- Developed android and IOS apps with Azure as backend
- Pitched it to various companies in Bangalore at startup events
- Https://goo.gl/XaJ3F6 (deprecated now but covered in media: http://startupaccelerator.vc/bangalore/)
- Was among the first five employees of two startups Kiwi-India(2011) and Shotang(2016)
- Won a national rank of 212 among 1 million test takers in All India Engineering Entrance Test in 2004.
Timeline
Director of Engineerng
GamesKraft
05.2023 - Current
Senor Engineering Manager
Airmeet Remote
09.2020 - 01.2023
Lead Engineer
Tala
08.2018 - 09.2020
Lead Engineer
Zenefits
10.2017 - 08.2018
Lead Engineer
Shotang
08.2016 - 09.2017
Lead Android Engineer
CommonFloor
04.2015 - 08.2016
Senior Software Engineer
Citrix India Pvt. Ltd
08.2012 - 03.2015
Software Engineer
Kiwi India Pvt. Ltd
08.2011 - 05.2012
Senior Software Engineer
Samsung India Pvt. Ltd
08.2008 - 05.2011
Bachelor of Technology - Electronics and Communications Engineering
National Institute of Technology Warangal
06.2004 - 05.2008
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