Rafael Zaleski

• Engineered and scaled critical payment integrations using Stripe Connect and Adyen, reliably processing over $1B USD annually for hundreds of thousands of global merchants.
• Owned and led the end-to-end development of strategic features, including multi-currency payments, complex local payment methods (ACH, BECS, BACS, ACSS, BLIK), and express checkout solutions (Apple Pay, Google Pay), directly impacting revenue generation and global reach.
• Served as Project Technical Lead, guiding architectural decisions, ensuring technical alignment, and mentoring team members across multiple high-impact initiatives within WooPayments, WooPay, and the core WooCommerce Stripe plugin.
• Designed and implemented internal data tracking dashboards and systems to measure engineering impact and feature adoption, enabling data-driven product strategy and demonstrating progress against key business objectives.
• Optimized and automated Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) workflows using GitHub Actions, TeamCity, and Docker, significantly enhancing deployment velocity, stability, and developer experience.
• Championed and drove the adoption of comprehensive test automation practices (Playwright), achieving 100% automated test coverage for the WooCommerce Stripe plugin and resulting in an 80% reduction in manual QA time for WooPay releases.

Key Technologies: JavaScript, TypeScript, ReactJS, PHP, Docker, GitHub Actions, TeamCity, PlayWright, Stripe API, Adyen API

• Provided senior-level software engineering services on a contract basis to global clients, including enterprise organizations, tackling complex technical challenges. Qualified for Upwork's 'Expert-Vetted' program, reflecting a high standard of technical skill and client satisfaction.
• Architected, developed, and deployed end-to-end web solutions tailored to complex business requirements, including high-performance scalable front-end applications (Next.js, React) and robust backend systems.
• Designed and implemented robust data ingestion and ETL pipelines for large-scale data processing.
• Engineered real-time activity feed systems requiring high availability and low latency.
• Managed complex system integrations with numerous third-party APIs and services, ensuring seamless data flow, security, and authentication (REST APIs, Webhooks).
• Successfully delivered impactful software projects across various domains, demonstrating versatility and proficiency in rapidly mastering and applying new technologies (JavaScript, Python, NextJS, React, PHP, Node.js, AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, Vue.js, SQL) to meet client needs.

Key Technologies: JavaScript, Python, NextJS, React, PHP, Node.js, AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, Vue.js, SQL Databases

• Provided web development services as an independent contractor, delivering custom WordPress-based solutions for small and medium businesses.
• Collaborated directly with clients and marketing agencies on theme/plugin development and site builds.
• Managed full project lifecycles from requirements gathering to deployment and maintenance.

Key Technologies: JavaScript, PHP, WordPress, MySQL, HTML, CSS

Awarded a one-year 'Science Without Borders' scholarship by the Brazilian government for academic exchange focused on applied engineering and software development.