Varun V Deshpande Photo

Hi, I'm Varun V Deshpande

A technology pioneer with 7+ years of experience building scalable systems, AI-integrated platforms, cloud-native infrastructures, high-performance APIs, real-time analytics dashboards, and fully automated pipelines. I architect complex distributed systems, lead cross-functional teams, and deliver business-critical solutions that drive millions in revenue.

Engineering Strengths

Over the past 7+ years, I've engineered reputation management platforms across all three major cloud ecosystems (AWS, GCP, Azure), built resilient financial transaction systems in enterprise banking, and architected robust, scalable pipelines using Apache Airflow. Whether starting from zero at a startup or transforming operations at global giants, I bring depth, scale, and velocity.

SQL Optimization Wins

I specialize in making databases fly. From massive joins to real-time reporting, my query optimization work has had measurable impact.

  • Reduced query times from 60s to under 100ms using CTEs, indexes, and materialized views
  • Refactored dashboard queries to scale with live data from 5+ platforms
  • Combined Redis caching and PostgreSQL for hybrid real-time access
  • Designed fallback-safe fail-open strategies to ensure SLA continuity

Rust + RedisGraph Contribution

As part of my open-source work, I added Rust support to R2D2 RedisGraph, enhancing performance, type safety, and concurrency control in graph database operations.

  • Extended driver with async/await and connection pooling
  • Enabled high-throughput graph queries using safe typed APIs
  • Contributed traits and builder pattern for ergonomic queries
  • Actively collaborated with maintainers for upstream patches

Custom CD Platform for Walmart

Developed a notebook-based CD platform using Jupyter, Papermill, and Airflow adopted by Walmart’s entire data science team. Enabled zero-DevOps self-service deployments.

  • End-to-end architecture and training for large-scale adoption
  • Enabled independent deployment of production pipelines
  • Reduced time-to-deploy by 80% for data scientists

Timezone Compliance Architecture

Built timezone-compliant analytics infrastructure from scratch for a global review platform with inconsistent input data and legacy tech debt.

  • Introduced normalized UTC conversions and offset mappings
  • Ensured query accuracy across 20+ countries and platforms
  • Enabled reliable global reporting for brands and geo-clusters

Rapid MVP Delivery – MathCo

Delivered multiple MVPs in record time for Fortune 500 clients. Led projects that went from idea to client demo-ready in under a week.

  • Created brand sentiment monitoring for MARS (Whiskas, Pedigree)
  • Ingested live data and built dashboards & alerting systems
  • Used Azure, Databricks, and Sprinklr for real-time delivery

Startups & Scale

I’ve been the founding engineer at two high-growth startups: Momos and TheMathCompany. At Momos, I built the entire engineering stack from scratch (0 → 1) including data ingestion pipelines, multi-platform integrations, and outlet performance leaderboards. At MathCo, I scaled systems from MVP to enterprise-grade deployments (0 → 100), including brand reputation management for clients like MARS, building real-time sentiment dashboards and automated alerting systems. I’ve built for speed, scale, and stakeholder impact.

Alfie AI – The Concierge That Drove Massive Revenue

Designed, built, and launched Alfie — a personalized AI concierge platform for the F&B and hospitality sector in the MENA market. Integrated with WhatsApp and customer review systems. Delivered end-to-end architecture including multilingual prompt engineering, AI pipelines, and real-time feedback loops.

  • Closed enterprise deals worth ~$2M within 2 quarters
  • Plug-and-play integrations for Talabat, Foodpanda, etc.
  • 99.9% uptime using AWS Step Functions, Lambda, Batch
  • Multi-region support with localized Arabic/English UX

Rakuten Sixth Sense – Global Infra Monitoring

Built a full-stack observability platform from scratch. Designed synthetic monitoring, telemetry pipelines, and dashboard integrations to support 100+ engineering teams worldwide.

  • Integrated with ElasticSearch and Apache Airflow
  • Automated incident simulation with real-time alerts
  • Custom DB agents for latency, throughput, and error tracing

Notebook CD Framework – Walmart Scale

Designed a continuous deployment platform using Jupyter, Papermill, and Airflow. Enabled data scientists at Fortune 500 companies to deploy pipelines without DevOps involvement.

  • Adopted across Walmart's entire data science org
  • Self-service deployment of production-grade notebooks
  • Conducted internal training for successful hand-off

Core Banking – Oracle Financial Systems

Handled critical PL/SQL migrations and settlement logic for banking operations with billions in monetary flow. Built scripts and workflows that met stringent regulatory compliance.

  • Zero-error production deployments in banking systems
  • Worked in high-trust environments ensuring financial accuracy
  • Led multi-country upgrade rollouts during version migrations

Open Source Spotlight

Rust + RedisGraph Contribution

Contributed to R2D2 RedisGraph by adding Rust support for enhanced type safety, performance, and concurrency control. This enabled seamless connection pooling and efficient graph operations in Rust environments.

  • Extended driver with async/await and connection pooling
  • Enabled high-throughput graph queries using safe typed APIs
  • Contributed traits and builder pattern for ergonomic queries
  • Actively collaborated with maintainers for upstream patches

Technical Stack

Languages & Frameworks

  • 🟧 Python, Go, Java, Rust
  • 🟨 JavaScript, TypeScript, Node.js
  • 🟦 React, Next.js, HTML5, CSS3
  • 🟩 Flask, Django, Express, Spring Boot

Databases & Storage

  • 🗄️ PostgreSQL, MySQL
  • 📦 Redis, ElasticSearch, BigQuery

Cloud & DevOps

  • ☁️ AWS, GCP, Azure
  • 🐳 Docker, Kubernetes, Jenkins
  • 🔁 Apache Airflow, CI/CD Pipelines

AI/ML & Data Engineering

  • 🤖 Model Integration, Generative AI APIs
  • 📊 Python ML Libraries, SQL Optimization
  • ⚙️ ETL Pipelines, System Design, Performance Tuning

Open Source & Tools

  • 🔧 Open Source Contributions
  • 🧰 RedisGraph Rust, Custom Tooling