About

I design and operate secure, scalable backend systems for enterprise and government platforms.

Hands-on Technical Lead and Solution Architect with 8+ years of experience designing, building, and operating secure, scalable, and high-availability systems across enterprise and government environments. Currently at Terato Tech Sdn Bhd, owning end-to-end solution architecture across applications, APIs, CMS platforms, cloud infrastructure, CI/CD, and security.

Highlights

API-First Architecture

Headless CMS & RESTful APIs powering mobile and web platforms

Laravel / PHP

DevSecOps & SSDLC

SAST via SonarQube, CI/CD quality gates, secure coding standards

Security

Cloud & Migration

AWS, Alibaba Cloud, Kubernetes — on-prem to cloud transitions

Infrastructure

Technical Leadership

20+ tender proposals, 80% top-3 rate, primary escalation point

Leadership

Engineering Philosophy

How I think about systems

Architecture First

Every system starts with a clear architecture blueprint. I design for clarity, not cleverness.

Security by Design

Security is not a phase. It is embedded from requirements through deployment via SSDLC and SAST enforcement.

API-First Thinking

Decouple early, integrate cleanly. APIs are contracts — versioned, documented, and tested.

Long-Term Maintainability

I optimize for the engineer who inherits the system in 3 years, not just the sprint deadline.

Tech Stack

Tools I work with

Technologies and platforms used across production systems — selected for reliability, not trends.

Languages

PHPJavaScriptTypeScriptJavaHTML5CSS3

Frameworks & Libraries

LaravelLivewireVue.jsNuxtNext.jsReactCodeIgniterAndroid

Databases

PostgreSQLMySQLRedis

Cloud & Infrastructure

AWSAlibaba CloudDigitalOceanCloudflareDockerKubernetesNginxLinuxUbuntu

DevOps & Tools

GitGitHubGitLabSonarQubePostmanJira

Experience

Career timeline

Work Experience

Apr 2021 – Present

Lead Back-End Developer / Tech Lead

Terato Tech Sdn Bhd

Owning end-to-end solution architecture across applications, APIs, CMS platforms, cloud infrastructure, CI/CD, and security for enterprise and government systems.

  • Lead end-to-end solution architecture across 20+ projects covering application, API, CMS, cloud, infrastructure, and security layers
  • Define and enforce Secure Software Development Lifecycle (SSDLC) across requirements, design, development, testing, and deployment
  • Establish code-level security practices including secure coding guidelines, dependency risk management, and SAST via self-hosted SonarQube
  • Integrate SAST into CI/CD pipelines and enforce quality gates to maintain security and code quality standards
  • Design scalable CMS and API architectures, including migration from traditional CMS to Headless CMS and API-first models
  • Architect, manage, and monitor dedicated servers and cloud environments for reliability, observability, and cost efficiency
  • Lead technical solution design for 20+ tender proposals, achieving an 80% top-3 shortlisting rate
  • Act as the primary technical escalation point across all active projects

Jan 2020 – Apr 2021

Senior Software Engineer

Terato Tech Sdn Bhd

Led CMS and API platform management for enterprise clients, with focus on system overhauls and infrastructure reliability.

  • Led management and maintenance of CMS and API platforms for Air Selangor
  • Overhauled and upgraded Kitajaga CMS to a more efficient and maintainable platform
  • Set up and configured dedicated servers to support performance and reliability requirements
  • Monitored server and cloud resources to ensure system stability and performance optimization
  • Provided continuous technical support across multiple production systems

Jan 2017 – Jan 2020

Software Engineer

Terato Tech Sdn Bhd

Full-stack development spanning Android and Laravel, from on-premise monoliths to cloud-native Kubernetes deployments.

  • Developed frontend and backend components of the Bepunct System using Android and Laravel
  • Designed and implemented BCiS API using CodeIgniter 2 with Laravel-inspired architecture
  • Led development of CMS and API platforms for Air Selangor
  • Set up monolithic on-premise architecture (Ubuntu 16.04, PHP 7.2, Nginx)
  • Migrated systems from on-premise to Alibaba Cloud utilizing Kubernetes clusters
  • Implemented CI/CD pipelines to streamline build, test, and deployment workflows
  • Built multiple Android applications using Android Java, delivering production-ready mobile solutions

Jul 2016 – Jan 2017

Android Developer

Terato Tech Sdn Bhd

Android application development for government and enterprise mobile solutions.

  • Developed Android applications using Android Java and published to Google Play Store
  • Participated in User Requirement Specification (URS) discussions
  • Implemented API integrations and application enhancements

Feb 2016 – Jul 2016

Android Developer Intern

Terato Tech Sdn Bhd

Internship focused on hybrid mobile application development and proof-of-concept projects.

  • Developed Domino App POC, converting Domino MY/SG websites into hybrid mobile applications
  • Built a file-sharing application combining web-based and native mobile features

Education

Bachelor of Science (Mathematics & Computer Science)

Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)

2014 – 2016

Diploma in Computer Science

Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)

2011 – 2013

Licenses & Certifications

Cloud, Architecture & Strategy

Building a Generative AI Tech Strategy

LinkedIn Learning · Jun 2024

Software Architecture: Domain-Driven Design (DDD)

LinkedIn Learning · Jun 2024

Architecting on AWS

Trainocate Malaysia · May 2021

DevOps, DevSecOps & Security

DevSecOps: Automated Security Testing

LinkedIn Learning · Jun 2024

DevOps Foundations: DevSecOps

LinkedIn Learning · Jun 2024

CTCSW – CompTIA Cybersecurity Workshop

Trainocate Malaysia · Dec 2023

Cloud Certifications

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

Amazon Web Services (AWS) · Nov 2020 · Expired Nov 2023

AWS SSCA – Shift and Shape Your Cloud with AWS

Trainocate Malaysia · Jun 2024

AI & Automation

RASA Developer Certification

Rasa · Nov 2020

ID: GQ5 SA6 ED6

Engineering Leadership

Tech Career Skills: Moving from Developer to Engineering Manager

LinkedIn Learning · Jun 2024

Core Competencies

What I bring to the table

Featured Projects

Case studies in engineering

Selected projects demonstrating architecture decisions, security practices, and delivery across government and enterprise environments.

Security & DevSecOps

Security embedded, not bolted on

Security is integrated into every stage of the development lifecycle — from requirements through production deployment.

Delivery Pipeline

Code
SAST
Quality Gate
Build
Deploy

Secure Coding Standards

Established and enforced secure coding guidelines across development teams. Every line of code follows standards designed to prevent OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities.

SAST Integration

Self-hosted SonarQube integrated into CI/CD pipelines for static application security testing. Automated scanning catches vulnerabilities before code review.

CI/CD Quality Gates

Mandatory quality gates in deployment pipelines. No code reaches production without passing security scans, code quality checks, and test coverage thresholds.

Dependency Risk Management

Continuous monitoring and assessment of third-party dependencies. Proactive vulnerability tracking and timely patching across all active projects.

Infrastructure & Operations

Cloud platforms in context

Cloud choices driven by project requirements, compliance constraints, and cost-efficiency — not vendor preference.

AWS

SAMB, Farmbyte — CloudFormation, S3, cloud-native deployments

Projects: SAMB Mobile App, Farmbyte Downstream

Alibaba Cloud

Air Selangor — Kubernetes clusters, container orchestration at scale

Projects: Air Selangor Mobile App, Customer Experience Dashboard, iERP

DigitalOcean

Supporting infrastructure for smaller-scale services and staging

Projects: Supporting services

Migration Story — Air Selangor

On-Premise

Ubuntu 16.04 · PHP 7.2 · Nginx

Alibaba Cloud

Kubernetes · CI/CD · Container Orchestration

Technical Leadership

Leading through technical authority

Decision Ownership

Architecture decisions across 20+ projects — from database schema to cloud topology. Every decision documented, every tradeoff evaluated.

Tender & Proposal Architecture

Led technical solution design for 20+ tender proposals, achieving an 80% top-3 shortlisting rate. From requirements analysis to architecture blueprints.

Technical Escalation

Primary technical escalation point across all active projects. First contact for production incidents, architecture debates, and cross-team technical challenges.

Stakeholder Translation

Bridging technical and non-technical stakeholders. Translating complex architecture and security concepts into clear, actionable guidance for project managers, clients, and executives.

Let's discuss your next project.

Whether it's architecture review, technical leadership, or building secure backend systems — I'm open to the conversation.

Hafiq Iqmal — Backend Engineer & Tech Lead