Headline

Software Engineer @ Google | Building “Systems in Pixels” | Simplifying System Design & Distributed Systems | Ex-PhonePe, Dunzo, Amazon, Cutshort.io

About

I’m Shivam — a Software Engineer at Google, passionate about simplifying complex systems and helping others understand how large-scale infrastructure actually works. Over the years, I’ve built systems at scale across PhonePe, Dunzo, Amazon, and Cutshort, working on areas like real-time event processing, high-availability architectures, and backend scalability. I love breaking down concepts like Google File System (GFS), Paxos, Kafka, and Streaming Systems into stories anyone can understand — and I do that through my creator project, [Systems in Pixels], where I turn complex engineering ideas into visual, story-driven explanations on YouTube and Medium. 🧠 What I do: Design and build scalable backend systems Explore distributed systems and infrastructure at scale Create content to make system design accessible 🚀 What I’m building: A bridge between real-world engineering and educational storytelling, helping engineers learn how things truly work behind the scenes. 💬 Let’s connect if you’re interested in system design, distributed systems, or just love discussing how large-scale systems stay fast, reliable, and resilient.

Location

Bengaluru

AI stack

antigravity

deepmind

gemini

geminicli

github copilot

notebooklm

Work experience

Software Engineer - III at Google, Jun 2025 - Present · 1 yr 3 mos, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Creator & Writer — Systems in Pixels at Systems in Pixels, Apr 2025 - Present · 1 yr 5 mos, Remote, Creating visual and story-driven explanations of complex system design and distributed system concepts through YouTube videos and Medium blogs. Topics include Google File System (GFS), Paxos, Kafka, and Adaptive Bitrate Streaming (ABR), explained using real-world analogies and storytelling. Reached 6K+ LinkedIn followers, growing an engaged community of software engineers learning system design. Building “Systems in Pixels” into a learning brand that bridges engineering depth and visual storytelling.

Software Engineer at PhonePe, Sep 2023 - Jun 2025 · 1 yr 10 mos, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India, 🚀 Key Projects & Impact: • Multi-PSP UPI Onboarding: Designed and implemented onboarding support for multiple PSPs, handling millions of UPI transactions/day, improving reliability and eliminating single points of failure. • Auto VPA Assignment: Built an automated system for assigning VPAs during bank account linking, impacting 600 M+ users, and reducing fraud cases significantly. • UPI Central Mapper: Enabled phone number–based UPI payments to PhonePe users from external apps, powering 100 M+ payments/month across the UPI ecosystem. • RuPay Credit Flow Enhancement: Revamped handling of RuPay credit card transactions for external merchant payments, ensuring smooth reversals and reconciliation at scale. • Wallet 2FA System: Implemented two-factor authentication (2FA) for wallet payments, strengthening security for millions of monthly wallet transactions. 🏆 Achievements: • Delivered production-grade features used by 600 M+ users across UPI, card, and wallet flows. • Hackathon Winner (Year 1): Built a tool to auto-populate Grafana dashboards with alert-specific metrics, reducing outage debugging time. • Top 30 finalist (Year 2): Built a tool to record live prod request/response data and auto-generate test cases for regression testing against dev changes. • Consistently owned and delivered critical backend systems in India’s largest payment ecosystem. Tech Stack: Java, DropWizard, Kafka, RMQ, MariaDB, Aerospike, Grafana, Prometheus, Kafka, Fabric

Software Engineer - 2 at Dunzo, Jan 2022 - Sep 2023 · 1 yr 9 mos, Hybrid, • Led the end-to-end development of a Stockout System to reduce supply delays (~10 mins), improving delivery partner earnings and reducing CPT by ₹18–₹20 using GCP Dataflow. • Built a generalized batching engine (O(n² log(n²))) for real-time order grouping. Supported: • Normal batch (non-dark store orders) • 1N tasks batch (instant tasks from Dunzo dark stores) • Delayed delivery batch (ETA ≥ 20 mins) • Live batch (partner already en route/at store) • Awarded Quarterly Recognition for delivering high-impact systems like 1N Stockout and ETA within 4–5 weeks.

Software Engineer - 1 at Dunzo, Aug 2020 - Jan 2022 · 1 yr 6 mos, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Interviewer at Crio.Do, Aug 2020 - Dec 2020 · 5 mos, Remote, • Conducted 50+ interviews, providing candidates with valuable feedback to enhance their technical and behavioral skills. • Collaborated with team members to develop interview strategies and improve overall candidate experience. • Implemented innovative techniques to assess candidate potential and suitability for various roles.

Education

Bachelor of Engineering, Information Technology, Pune Institute of Computer Technology

HSC, Science, Gokhale Education Societys R.N.C.Arts, J.D.B.Commerce and N.S.C.Science College, Nashik Road, Nashik 422101