Available for architecture & backend work

Vali (Naser) Rafinia Senior Software Architect · C# / .NET & Distributed Systems

I design and build scalable, automation-focused systems for e-commerce and online booking platforms — from microservice backends and multi-database architectures to AI-powered automation with LLM orchestration and RAG pipelines.

naser.rafinia.info
Naser Rafinia
15+years building software
2000%B2B sales growth led
200kdaily active users scaled
<0.5ssearch, down from 10s
01// about

Architecting systems that scale

I'm a Senior Software Architect with over 15 years designing scalable, automation-focused solutions for the e-commerce and online booking industries. My core is C# / .NET and microservice architecture, with a proven record of integrating complex enterprise systems and third-party APIs — RateHawk, Travelport, Amadeus, Auth0.

More recently I've been building AI/ML-powered automation: multi-provider LLM orchestration, RAG pipelines, embeddings, vector databases, and intelligent document processing. I like translating messy business processes into robust, optimized technical workflows — and defining the engineering standards that keep teams shipping.

Having moved from junior developer through team lead to IT department manager, I lead cross-functional delivery while staying hands-on with the architecture.

whoami.sh
$ whoami
vali.rafinia — architect
$ cat role.json
"title": "Backend Chapter Lead",
"focus": ["microservices", "AI/ML"],
"lang": "C# / .NET",
"status": "shipping"
$ _
02// stack

The toolbox

The languages, frameworks, and infrastructure I reach for to design and run production systems.

Languages & Frameworks

C#.NET CoreASP.NET Core Web APIBlazorMVC

Architecture

MicroservicesClean ArchitectureAPI Gateway Distributed SystemsEvent-DrivengRPC

AI / ML

LLM IntegrationRAGEmbeddings QdrantOllamaMulti-Provider AI

Databases & Data

SQL ServerPostgreSQLMySQL MongoDBRedisElasticsearch EF CoreDapper

Cloud & DevOps

AWSAzure DevOpsDocker KubernetesCI/CDGit

Integration & Quality

RabbitMQMediatRAuth0 / JWT OpenAPIxUnitELK Stack
03// projects

Selected work

A mix of AI/automation builds and platform engineering — from RAG pipelines to travel-booking systems.

AI · RAG01

RAG Chatbot & Product Knowledge Pipeline

A full Retrieval-Augmented Generation pipeline powering an enterprise sales assistant: HTML/product parsing, embedding generation, vector indexing, and multi-turn conversational AI with contextual product carry-over.

C# / .NETOllamaQdrantEmbeddingsHtmlAgilityPack
AI · Platform02

AI Story & Image Generation Platform

A web platform that generates personalized children's stories with matching AI images from user-supplied themes, characters, and child profiles — built on a provider-agnostic abstraction layer that swaps AI providers behind one unified contract.

C# / .NETText & Image AIStrategy PatternREST
Platform03

B2B Loyalty & Swap Platform

A microservices-based loyalty platform for B2B travel partners handling high-volume booking operations in real time, including a Swap microservice with optimization algorithms that surface superior booking alternatives to cut cost while keeping quality.

C#.NET CoreMongoDBRedisElasticsearchRabbitMQ
AI · Tooling04

AI Subtitle Translation & Conversion

A web tool that converts between subtitle formats and translates subtitles into any requested language with AI — running both operations together in a single automated pass.

C# / .NETAI TranslationFormat ParsingREST
DevOps · GUI05

WHMCS GUI-Based Design System

A drag-and-drop GUI that lets cloud customers design and manage their own infrastructure — increasing productivity and reducing configuration errors across the service-ordering process.

C#Cloud ProvisioningWHMCSDrag & Drop UI
Product · Acquired06

Full IP Info

Co-founded an IP-information and network-tools platform, taking it from concept to launch. Acquired by API Layer in November 2018.

C#REST APINetwork ToolsSaaS
04// experience

Career timeline

2025 — PresentJourney MentorBackend Chapter Lead
  • Architected a microservices-based Loyalty Platform for B2B travel partners with real-time data processing.
  • Engineered the Swap microservice with optimization algorithms to auto-suggest superior booking alternatives.
  • Built Booking, Loyalty, Offer & Payment services in C# / .NET Core; integrated RateHawk and Travelport with Auth0.
  • Designed a multi-database architecture (MongoDB, MySQL, Redis, Elasticsearch) and structured ELK logging.
C#, .NET Core, MongoDB, MySQL, Redis, Elasticsearch, AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, RabbitMQ, xUnit
2016 — 2025ewaysPrincipal Software Developer
  • Led a new B2B panel that increased sales by 2000%.
  • Migrated the platform to .NET Core microservices via Ocelot API Gateway — 2,000 concurrent, 200,000 daily active users.
  • Led flight, bus & train ticketing systems: +40% monthly sales, −50% booking errors.
  • Built a Blazor PWA UI and cut search time from 10s to under 0.5s with Elasticsearch.
C#, ASP.NET 6, Blazor, Ocelot, Redis, Elasticsearch, gRPC, MediatR, SQL Server
2014 — 2016Tak MakaronDevelopment Team Lead
  • Defined product roadmap and vision; removed roadblocks and improved delivery and incident-management processes.
  • Upgraded the platform to multi-branch operation with reliable branch-to-HQ data transfer.
C#, Windows Forms, WCF, ADO.NET, SQL Server
2012 — 2014Solico GroupHead of IT R&D
  • Researched and selected third-party software for the company ecosystem.
  • Installed and customized MS Dynamics AX (ERP) and administered Jira, with localization support.
MS Dynamics AX, Java, X++
2012Mandegar GroupSenior Software Developer
  • Led a Delphi-to-ASP.NET migration of the financial and administrative system, improving performance.
C#, ASP.NET, LINQ to SQL, Delphi, SQL Server
2010 — 2011Nedapardaz InformaticSenior Software Developer
  • Developed a VOIP-based financial payment system enabling secure bank transactions.
C#, Windows Service, Delphi, SQL Server
2004 — 2010Earlier rolesProgrammer
  • Delivered financial, accounting, warehouse and messaging systems across several companies with high uptime.
Delphi, SQL Server, Oracle