Software Engineer · Accra, Ghana

Maxwell Sarpong

I build backend systems, automation tools, and AI-powered products — from trading engines at Morgan Stanley to open-source energy tools. 5+ years turning complex problems into clean, reliable code.

5+
Years of professional engineering experience
Python · Java · Go · Scala
1M+
Records migrated at Morgan Stanley
SQLite → MongoDB
Engaged by Morgan Stanley across two contracts
EMEA & APAC coverage

Engineer by trade,
builder by nature

I'm a software engineer based in Accra, Ghana, with over five years of experience building reliable backend systems, automation tooling, and AI-powered products in high-impact environments.

Most recently, I worked remotely with Morgan Stanley's London-based teams, supporting trading engine operations across EMEA and APAC — writing Python automation scripts, building monitoring dashboards, and managing a large-scale database migration.

"I believe great software is about more than code — it's about the people it serves and the problems it solves."

I hold a BSc. in Information Technology from the University of Cape Coast and am deeply interested in how technology can create meaningful impact in emerging economies.

Languages
Python Java Go Scala
Frameworks & tools
FastAPI Spring Boot Django Grafana Git CI/CD
Databases
MongoDB PostgreSQL SQLite
Practices
Automation API Design Observability Code Review Microservices OpenAI APIs

Where I've worked

Sep 2023 – Jan 2026
Morgan Stanley
Remote · London, UK
Software Engineer (Contingent)
  • Owned and led the full development lifecycle of a Python-based trading engine health monitoring platform — a scriptlet repository covering critical system components including latency monitoring, database performance, trading algorithm verification, and regional deployment validation across AMER, EMEA, APAC, and Asia Pacific production environments.
  • Separately designed and delivered a suite of internal developer tools to automate repetitive engineering workflows — reducing manual operational overhead and improving developer productivity across the wider engineering organisation.
  • Built and maintained a Grafana observability dashboard surfacing scriptlet output as actionable visualisations, used by management for operational oversight, performance trending, and data-driven decision making across the trading infrastructure.
  • Extended the monitoring platform to validate post-deployment application health, verifying that each regional deployment met defined performance benchmarks across latency thresholds, database responsiveness, and trading algorithm execution integrity.
  • Executed the end-to-end migration of 1M+ production monitoring records from SQLite to MongoDB, improving query performance, system scalability, and long-term data flexibility for the health monitoring platform.
  • Configured and maintained CI/CD pipeline workflows integrating automated test suites, enabling early defect detection, reducing release risk, and improving deployment confidence across engineering teams.
  • Supported 20+ application owners across AMER, EMEA, APAC, and Asia Pacific through proactive performance monitoring, operational risk identification, and incident escalation to ensure system stability and technology governance compliance.
  • Conducted peer code reviews across the team, upholding high standards of code quality, maintainability, and reliability across the codebase.
Jan 2022 – May 2023
Morgan Stanley
Remote · London, UK
Software Engineer (Contingent)
  • Maintained and enhanced TestPlan, Morgan Stanley's internal multi-test functional testing framework with rich assertion and reporting capabilities.
  • Optimised automation tools for dependency management and upgrades, reducing manual intervention and associated risks.
Sep 2021 – Jan 2026
Turntabl
Accra, Ghana
Software Engineer
  • Built backend services for AI-powered products using FastAPI (Python) and OpenAI APIs.
  • Developed a stock trading engine (capstone) with Java Spring Boot and a microservices architecture, focusing on modularity and service communication.
May 2021 – Sep 2021
Ghana Statistical Service
Accra, Ghana
IT Support
  • Provided technical support for the CAPI application during the 2021 Ghana Population and Housing Census, managing deployments and resolving software issues.
Sep 2019 – Dec 2020
University of Cape Coast
Cape Coast, Ghana
Software Developer
  • Built a data management website for the Economics department and developed a CAPI mobile application for field data collection.

Things I've built

Finance · Backend
Stock Trading Engine

A microservices-based stock trading engine built with Java Spring Boot, focusing on modularity, service communication, and transactional reliability.

Java Spring Boot Microservices
AI · Backend
AI-Powered Product APIs

Backend services for AI-powered products at Turntabl, integrating OpenAI APIs with FastAPI to support scalable, intelligent workflows.

Python FastAPI OpenAI API
Observability · DevOps
Trading Engine Health Dashboard

A centralised hygiene dashboard at Morgan Stanley surfacing daily health and dependency check insights across critical trading engine components.

Python Grafana MongoDB
Web App · Django
CallCentreNow

A help desk verification system for Fusem Holdings — customer profile verification, OTP authentication, activity logging, and third-party search integration.

Python Django OTP Auth
Testing · Internal Tools
TestPlan Framework

Contributed to Morgan Stanley's internal multi-test functional testing framework, enhancing assertion capabilities and improving dependency management automation.

Python CI/CD Automation
AI · Audio · Python
Audio Accent Classification Tool

Detects and classifies audio accents by nationality using SpeechBrain inference classifiers and a Streamlit interface for real-time analysis.

Python Streamlit SpeechBrain AI
Mobile · Data
CAPI Field Data App

A Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing mobile application used for field data collection — deployed in support of the 2021 Ghana Population and Housing Census.

Mobile Data Collection Ghana Census

Rooted in Ghana,
working globally

Growing up in Ghana gave me a front-row seat to the challenges and opportunities that technology can unlock in emerging economies — from the 2021 National Census to energy access and financial infrastructure.

Over five years, I've built software that touches people across West Africa, Europe, and Asia-Pacific — from census field workers in the Ghanaian countryside to trading desk operators in London.

I bring that dual perspective — global technical rigour combined with a deep understanding of what technology needs to do in the real world — to everything I build.

"The most important software problems are often in places that don't make the tech news."
🇬🇭
Ghana
Home base · Accra
🇬🇧
United Kingdom
Morgan Stanley · Remote
🌍
EMEA
App owner support
🌏
APAC
App owner support

Let's talk

Whether you're building something new, looking for an experienced backend engineer, or just want to connect — my inbox is always open.