Dan McCarty

Senior backend and platform engineer with 15+ years of experience building and scaling high-availability web applications, distributed systems, and cloud infrastructure. I specialize in Ruby on Rails backend development, API architecture, PostgreSQL optimization, and platform engineering across AWS and GCP. I’ve designed, built, and operated production systems for large-scale customer-facing applications with a strong focus on reliability, scalability, and maintainability. My experience includes backend architecture, database tuning, CI/CD improvements, cloud infrastructure ownership, and safe production deployments. In my current role, I led backend platform development for a multi-platform mobile ecosystem serving hundreds of radio stations and large-scale media distribution across live radio, podcasts, advertising, and music metadata. I built and maintained Rails API applications powering real-time content delivery, improved PostgreSQL performance through indexing and query optimization, and supported a full AWS-to-GCP infrastructure migration while maintaining platform stability. I also bring experience from financial services and government systems, including high-availability trading platforms at CRI/Scottrade and statewide voter registration systems at Hart InterCivic, where reliability and operational excellence were critical. My core stack includes Ruby, Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, Redis, Sidekiq, REST APIs, AWS, GCP, Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD, and modern backend architecture patterns. I thrive in remote, fast-paced environments where ownership matters and where I can improve systems, solve complex backend problems, and deliver meaningful business impact.