Backend · Data platforms · Control-plane systems
Designing systems that ingest, process, search, and serve complex data at scale.
From enterprise search platforms to financial services to multimodal video AI, I build backend systems that stay fast, observable, and reliable in production.
Impact
Numbers that frame the work
High-level indicators — swap with your own baselines, ranges, or verified outcomes.
Architecture
Operating domains
A domain map of the stack I operate across — APIs and pipelines, search, inference, cloud, reliability, and the surfaces that expose complex backends.
Domain map
Seven operating domains — not a skills matrix. Each node is an area of ownership; lines on the canvas are suggestive of how work connects across search, media, AI, and control planes in production.
Case studies
Engineering stories
Long-form narratives — problem, architecture, role, stack, and measured impact. Not resume bullets.
Trajectory
Career progression
From enterprise search and financial platforms to distributed AI video infrastructure — roles, focus areas, and representative stack.
2010 – 2016
Thomson Reuters
Software Engineer → Senior Engineer, Search & Integration
Built and operated search and content pipelines for legal and news products at enterprise scale — relevance tuning, indexing SLAs, and resilient ingestion alongside core backend services.
JavaSpringSolrOracleMavenLinux2016 – 2022
Intuit
Senior Software Engineer, Consumer & SMB Platforms
Delivered scalable services behind TurboTax, QuickBooks, and shared financial runtimes — event-driven design, secure multi-tenant APIs, and incremental delivery across product lines.
JavaKotlinAWSKafkaDockerKubernetes2022 – Present
Twelve Labs
Staff Engineer, AI Video Platform
Shapes distributed systems for multimodal video understanding — ingestion, model serving, training orchestration, and cost-aware inference at the boundary of research and production.
PythonPyTorchgRPCKubernetesCUDAOpenSearch
Capabilities
Capabilities
Each area starts with how I work, then representative tools — not a keyword dump.
Engineering
What I optimize for
Principles that show up in API design, production operations, and how I trade shipping speed against long-term health.
Clear interfaces
APIs should be intuitive, stable, and easy to evolve.
Reliable systems
Performance means little without observability and failure handling.
Scalable architecture
Systems should grow without becoming operationally fragile.
Practical engineering
The best solution is the one that balances speed, maintainability, and long-term value.
Connect
Let’s build something solid
Tell me about the problem space, timeline, and what a great outcome looks like.
Get in touch
Email contact@phongyang.com or call 320 201 4824. I usually reply within a few business days.