Derrick Orare

NdovuCloud Technologies

• ▹ Founded and led development of the company’s backend platform, designing and building the first production-ready APIs using Ruby on Rails with PostgreSQL and MongoDB.
• ▹ Owned system architecture and data modeling from inception, designing core services including inventory management and transactional workflows.
• ▹ Integrated mobile and card payment systems including M-Pesa and Visa, ensuring secure, reliable, and auditable transaction processing.
• ▹ Defined engineering standards and best practices, conducting code reviews and setting quality benchmarks across the team.
• ▹ Led hiring, onboarding, and ongoing mentorship of engineers, scaling the technical organization while maintaining a high engineering bar.

Engie Energy Access

• ▹ Owned and delivered mission-critical backend systems supporting large-scale energy access operations, partnering closely with product, data, and operations stakeholders across regions.
• ▹ Led technical design and implementation of backend services, ensuring high availability, scalability, and predictable delivery under strict timelines.
• ▹ Drove architectural discussions, identifying systemic risks, performance bottlenecks, and long-term maintainability concerns, and implementing pragmatic improvements.
• ▹ Designed, documented, and governed internal APIs consumed by multiple teams, establishing clear contracts and reducing cross-team integration friction.
• ▹ Established strong testing practices through comprehensive unit and integration test suites, significantly reducing regressions and improving release confidence.
• ▹ Provided technical mentorship through code reviews, pairing, and design guidance, raising the engineering bar and improving overall team effectiveness.
• ▹ Acted as a technical owner for key services, proactively managing technical debt and operational risks before they impacted customers.

Kwara

• ▹ Designed and delivered core backend systems powering critical fintech workflows, operating with a high degree of autonomy and ownership.
• ▹ Strengthened platform security, scalability, and performance through thoughtful API design, data modeling, and background processing strategies.
• ▹ Contributed to system architecture and refactoring initiatives, improving long-term maintainability and reducing operational complexity.
• ▹ Partnered with product and frontend teams to translate business requirements into robust, production-ready backend solutions.
• ▹ Provided code reviews and technical guidance to junior engineers, reinforcing best practices and consistent engineering standards.
• ▹ Diagnosed and resolved complex production issues, balancing rapid response with long-term corrective fixes.

Lipalater Limited

• ▹ Designed and implemented scalable backend services supporting high-volume administrative and sales operations for a consumer finance platform.
• ▹ Led refactoring of authentication flows, database schemas, and core controllers to improve system stability, security, and performance.
• ▹ Built extensible notification and email services, improving internal communication and operational visibility.
• ▹ Collaborated closely with product, operations, and frontend teams to deliver reliable solutions aligned with business needs.
• ▹ Championed automated testing and code quality initiatives, achieving and maintaining over 90% test coverage across critical components.

Duara Systems - An Africa's Talking Laboratory

• ▹ Designed and built foundational backend services using Ruby on Rails and MongoDB, establishing the core inventory platform.
• ▹ Introduced containerization by dockerizing microservices, improving deployment consistency and development velocity.
• ▹ Collaborated on infrastructure architecture and deployment using Kubernetes, Juju, and MAAS to support scalable distributed systems.

Central Logic(now AboutHealth)

• ▹ Served as a software quality and testing automator, influencing product direction through deep technical and quality insights.
• ▹ Designed and extended automated test libraries, modernizing legacy testing frameworks to improve reliability and coverage.
• ▹ Analyzed complex test failures and system defects, partnering with engineering teams to drive root-cause fixes.
• ▹ Helped establish testing best practices and quality standards across teams and projects.

Central Logic (now AboutHealth)

• ▹ Influenced product quality and design through early technical feedback and deep involvement in feature validation.
• ▹ Developed and maintained reusable automated test suites using Java and Selenium within the existing framework.
• ▹ Executed and analyzed comprehensive test runs, identifying high-risk defects prior to production releases.
• ▹ Collaborated closely with developers and QA peers to ensure reliable delivery of new features and fixes.
• ▹ Participated in product planning and review sessions, contributing to roadmap and quality decisions.

Dell EMC

• ▹ Developed comprehensive test plans and cases aligned with functional, technical, and business requirements.
• ▹ Executed automated and manual testing strategies to ensure reliability, performance, and release readiness.
• ▹ Analyzed test outcomes and collaborated with engineering teams to drive systemic quality improvements.
• ▹ Contributed enhancements to test automation frameworks, improving efficiency and long-term maintainability.

University of Nairobi

Brandeis University