High-Load Systems Expert & PostgreSQL Performance Author

My name is Daria Zolotukhina, and I am a senior backend engineer with expertise in high-load system architecture, database optimization, and digital transformation of enterprise platforms. My career has been marked by high-impact projects across national banks, international aviation, and large-scale infrastructure systems. At Sberbank, I spearheaded the development of an internal communication platform that served over 200,000 employees. This platform was the bank's first to merge a corporate social network with BI analytics, not only providing internal news but also collecting real-time feedback. By utilizing machine learning models, we were able to generate actionable insights for leadership. The platform became central to the bank’s new HR ecosystem, changing how the organization interacted with its employees. At T-Systems, a leading provider of enterprise IT and infrastructure solutions in Germany, I worked on developing airport traffic management systems for major European airports. I was responsible for the most crucial component — runway scheduling and flight coordination. Within just six months, I restructured the system’s core, boosting processing speeds by 60%. The solution I implemented is now operational at airports like Frankfurt and Munich, handling up to 2,000 flights daily. My most notable project took place at Otkritie Bank, where I was tasked with building a new investment services platform for SMEs. I designed and implemented a unified microservice architecture that integrated real-time hedging calculators, investment analytics, brokerage management, and automated reporting. Within 18 months, the platform became a market leader in lead quality and tripled the bank's investment revenue — all without increasing the workforce. During the monumental merger between Otkritie and VTB Bank, I was selected to design the corporate account and contract migration system. I created the first API-based mass migration solution in Russian banking, allowing the seamless transfer of tens of thousands of clients without any errors or business interruptions. The project was coordinated with the Central Bank of Russia and set a precedent for large-scale digital banking integration. I independently led the backend architecture, database design, and integration with systems like Kafka, external brokers, and internal bank services throughout all of these initiatives.