Ryan Michela

About Ryan Michela

Expert software architect with 20+ years of experience in the software industry– well versed in stakeholder interviewing, requirements extraction, system design, project design, and project management Proven leadership in a large team setting – collaborates with business, product, and technical leaders to spearhead software development efforts; as a software architect I bring products to market Microservices and Service Orientation – expert at transitioning organizations to scalable, microservices-based architectures Distributed systems - expertise in Kubernetes, Istio service mesh, REST, gRPC, and AWS Internet programming – expert at developing software for the Internet; fundamental understanding of all layers of the network stack from bits on the wire to the internals of multiple web frameworks Complete software lifecycle management – successfully led multiple high-profile projects through the entire software development lifecycle from requirements solicitation to production launch

Experience

1. Staff Architect - Commerce Platform

   Twilio

   Nov 2021 — Present · VA, US

   Senior engineer leading a 70-person global billing team across two continents and seven time zones, ensuring seamless collaboration and alignment on complex initiatives. Defines and owns Commerce\'s architectural North Star, partnering closely with product and engineering leadership to deliver domain-driven designs that align with the product roadmap and business goals. Designed, prototyped, and led the implementation of Twilio\'s modern distributed metering system, capable of processing ~2B billing events daily for thousands of accounts at line speed. Expertise in usage-based billing, collaborating across product, pricing, packaging, sales, GTM, engineering, and finance teams to ensure smooth onboarding of new products into the billing platform. Brings a holistic understanding of the opportunity-to-revenue pipeline; represented Commerce engineering during requirements analysis for the Zuora billing modernization pilot and successfully led the year-long technical integration effort. Delivered impactful leadership for high-priority initiatives, such as headless commerce, tax ID verification, billing profiles, and Zuora integration, working closely with cross-functional teams to refine requirements and deliver iterative, production-ready solutions. Modernizing system design practices within the Commerce Platform by designing and standardizing an improved project architectural intake and analysis process. Advocate for technical evolution at scale, driving the adoption of gRPC, collaborating on company-wide API design standards, and chairing the Billing Architectural Review Board to maintain technical excellence. Passionate mentor, guiding five Twilions, including two aspiring architects, while regularly presenting architectural insights to the team. Highly skilled in AWS, distributed systems, Kubernetes, containerization, and Istio service mesh, bringing deep technical expertise to complex system designs.

Education

• IDesign

  Project Design Master Class

• IDesign

  Detailed Design Clinic

• University of Maryland Global Campus

  Bachelors of Science, Computer Science

• IDesign

  Architects Master Class

Skills

• Css
• Web Development
• C++
• Sql
• Linux
• Asp.net
• Agile Methodologies
• Microsoft Sql Server
• C#
• .net
• Javascript
• Mysql
• Software Architectural Design
• Database Design
• Rest
• Software Development
• Java
• Web Services
• Flex
• Asp.net Mvc
• Html
• Databases