Case Study: Greenfield SaaS Architecture

Role: Backend & DevOps Engineer
Stack: Node.js (NestJS), TypeScript, MongoDB Atlas/Ops Manager, AWS, Terraform, GitHub Actions

1. The Challenge

The client transitioned from a third-party licensed software to a custom-built, modern cloud solution to gain full data ownership. As a core member of the engineering team, I contributed to the architectural foundation and operational setup, focusing on database reliability, security automation, and team productivity.

2. Technical Contributions

I focused on the intersection of backend logic and infrastructure stability, ensuring a high-quality codebase and a resilient data layer:

  • Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Contributed to the development of the Terraform codebase to manage the AWS footprint. While the team built the infrastructure, I was responsible for ensuring its reproducibility across environments and monitoring the health of the underlying AWS services via CloudWatch.
  • Database Strategy & Governance: I took ownership of the MongoDB environment. This included conceptualizing the Backup & Recovery strategy, performing complex data migrations to maintain consistency, and utilizing MongoDB Ops Manager for deep performance monitoring and query optimization.
  • Security & Quality Assurance: I integrated automated security scanning (Snyk, CodeQL) into our GitHub Actions pipelines. I also performed regular code reviews and refactoring to ensure the NestJS backend remained modular and maintainable.
  • Team Enablement: I was an active part of the internal evaluation and rollout of DevContainers. By standardizing the development environment, I personally onboarded new developers, significantly reducing their "time-to-productivity" through a zero-config setup.

3. Outcomes & Impact

  • Scalable Data Foundation: Established a secure and optimized MongoDB environment capable of handling complex multi-tenant construction data.
  • Reduced Onboarding Overhead: Successfully integrated new team members into the project, making them productive in a very short time frame thanks to the DevContainer standardization.
  • Greenfield Success: Supported the successful delivery of a custom-built alternative to the client's previous legacy software, ensuring full technical autonomy.
  • Audit-Ready Security: Automated the detection of vulnerabilities and secrets in the codebase, fostering a "security-first" culture within the team.