Jim Galvan

About Me

Software Engineer with strong experience designing, building, and operating cloud-native backend systems using C# and .NET, with additional proficiency in Java, JavaScript, and Python. Proven track record delivering production microservices, event-driven architectures, and data-intensive APIs in cloud environments.

Experienced in owning backend services end to end — from system design and implementation to deployment, observability, and production troubleshooting. Currently at Alphatec Spine building production .NET microservices with Azure Service Bus and Clean Architecture, and Founder of NexMenus, a multi-tenant SaaS platform for restaurant management.

Certified in Java programming with a solid foundation in object-oriented design and data structures, and comfortable working across distributed systems while making pragmatic architectural decisions in fast-moving teams.

Projects

Representative inspection image. Visuals anonymized and simplified.

Computer Vision Quality Inspection System - Alphatec Spine

Developed and deployed deep learning-based computer vision models for surgical screw detection and quality inspection. Trained custom object detection models (YOLOv8) using PyTorch and OpenCV, engineering iterative training workflows with data augmentation to achieve robust performance in production.

PyTorch Deep Learning OpenCV CV Models Object Detection Python

FoodPhotoEnhancer - AI Food Photography Enhancement

(Private Repository - App in Development) Built an AI-powered app that automatically identifies and enhances the main dish in food photos. Engineered an intelligent detection pipeline using visual context and a weighted scoring algorithm to reliably identify subjects without custom-trained models. Integrated Grounding DINO and SAM models with performance optimizations. Optimized for edge deployment on Raspberry Pi, enabling real-time enhancement without cloud dependency.

PyTorch Deep Learning OpenCV Computer Vision SAM DINO Django Docker Python Edge Computing

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NexMenus - Multi-tenant SaaS Platform

Founded and developed NexMenus, a multi-tenant SaaS platform for restaurant menu management. Architected a full-stack application using Django, PostgreSQL, and AWS S3. Integrated Stripe for subscription management and implemented GDPR compliance workflows.

Django PostgreSQL AWS S3 Stripe Python GDPR

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.NET Microservices Architecture - Alphatec Spine

Built and maintained microservices with .NET 8.0 and ASP.NET Core, implementing clean architecture patterns for scalability. Developed robust backend systems supporting healthcare cloud platform operations.

.NET 8.0 ASP.NET Core C# Clean Architecture Microservices

CI/CD Pipeline Rebuild - Ace Parking

Rebuilt full CI/CD pipeline from scratch using Jenkins, Docker, and AWS, significantly enhancing deployment times and system reliability for Ace Parking Space online platform.

Jenkins Docker AWS CI/CD DevOps

Work Experience

Nov 2023 - Present

Software Engineer (Backend / Platform)

Alphatec Spine - Carlsbad, California

Design and build production .NET microservices using ASP.NET Core, PostgreSQL, and Azure Service Bus, following Clean Architecture principles and working closely with other engineering teams to ensure reliable service-to-service integration
Implement event-driven workflows with asynchronous messaging to decouple services, improve scalability and fault tolerance, and coordinate integration changes across multiple teams
Own backend services end to end, independently troubleshooting, debugging, and resolving production issues through log analysis, root-cause investigation, and system-level understanding
Implemented and deployed an end-to-end healthcare data integration pipeline where hospital systems streamed patient data and medical imaging into a Dockerized Mirth Connect engine running on Ubuntu Linux instances in Azure

Jul 2024 - Present

Founder & Software Engineer

NexMenus - San Diego, California

Architected and launched a multi-tenant SaaS platform enabling restaurants to manage digital menus, real-time orders, and customer-facing websites with QR code integration and public discovery catalog
Built full-stack application using Django, PostgreSQL, Redis, Celery, and AWS S3, implementing Server-Sent Events for live order notifications and HTMX for dynamic UI interactions
Integrated Stripe subscription management with webhook automation, comprehensive GDPR compliance workflows, and rate-limiting security measures across authentication endpoints
Designed mobile-first responsive dashboard with inline editing capabilities, supporting English/Spanish localization and end-to-end testing infrastructure using Playwright

Aug 2021 - Nov 2023

Software Engineer in Test & DevOps

Ace Parking - San Diego, California

Rebuilt and maintained CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins, Docker, and Ubuntu Linux instances in AWS, improving deployment reliability, stability, and automation coverage across multiple products
Developed API automation using JavaScript and Postman, validating backend endpoints and service integrations
Built and maintained UI automation frameworks using Selenium (Java/JUnit/Katalon) to support regression testing at scale

Jan 2020 - Aug 2021

SW Test Development Engineer I

Dexcom - San Diego, California

Built automated test frameworks for Android and iOS using Java, JUnit, and Appium, supporting continuous delivery of mobile healthcare applications
Tested BLE and Wi-Fi-based glucose monitoring systems, validating end-to-end data flows, device connectivity, and system reliability
Collaborated closely with backend (cloud), mobile (iOS and Android), and product teams in an Agile environment to deliver high-impact, regulated healthcare features

Education & Certifications

Education

Java Programming

UC San Diego (2019-2020)

Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) Data Structures & Algorithms

Certifications

JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures

FreeCodeCamp

Comprehensive course covering ES6+, data structures, algorithms, recursion, regex, and functional programming.

AWS Cloud Technical Essentials

Coursera and AWS

26-hour course covering AWS services like EC2, Lambda, ECS, S3, RDS, DynamoDB, and IAM, along with security fundamentals.

Software Engineer - Cloud & Distributed Systems