James Tan

Senior Director of Engineering, Architect at Veeva Systems

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

About

Throughout my career spanning over two decades, I've been deeply involved in software engineering and architecture. I've dedicated myself to understanding how software works and building systems that are essential for different industries. Along this journey, I've encountered numerous challenges in real-world scenarios, each offering a valuable lesson. These experiences have equipped me with practical skills and insights that have proven invaluable in overcoming obstacles and ensuring the smooth operation of critical services. My work has traversed various sectors, including telecommunications, operating systems, virtualization, high-performance computing, distributed systems, databases, and cloud technologies. Beyond technical proficiency, I've also taken on roles in project management and team leadership. Guiding teams towards success, both in terms of achieving company goals and fostering the personal growth of team members, has been a rewarding aspect of my career journey.

Experience

  • Veeva Systems (8 yrs 4 mos)
    • Senior Director of Engineering
      Apr 2026 - Present · 4 mos

    • Director of Engineering
      Dec 2023 - Present · 2 yrs 8 mos

      Leading a team of 5 engineering managers and their respective teams, my role extended beyond technical oversight to cultivating a collaborative and efficient working environment. I ensure the quality and timely delivery of the Vault Safety product, overseeing all aspects of the development lifecycle.

    • Technical Architect
      Mar 2020 - Present · 6 yrs 5 mos

      I responsible for designing the architectural framework for the Safety AI application. This cutting-edge system comprises RESTful microservices powered by Spring Boot, integrated with MySQL databases, AWS Comprehend medical, and proprietary in-house machine learning models. Deployment of this application is managed through AWS Elastic Beanstalk, with plans underway for migration to AWS EKS. led the architectural design efforts for the Safety Signal application, a sophisticated big data analytics platform. Leveraging AWS warehouse solutions and AWS EKS, this system provides comprehensive data analysis capabilities.

  • Technical Lead at Thomson Reuters
    Mar 2017 - Apr 2018 · 1 yr 2 mos

    I led the creation of an Analytics Platform from the ground up, serving as a Platform as a Service (PaaS) for analytics applications. This innovative platform leverages Apache Flink as its runtime engine, with Spring Boot applications managing its services. It's hosted on AWS, utilizing EC2, EMR, S3, and Lambda services to ensure seamless deployment and scalability. My role encompassed the end-to-end design and implementation of the platform, ensuring robustness, efficiency, and compatibility with diverse analytics needs.

  • Principal Software Engineer at IBM
    Oct 2012 - Mar 2017 · 4 yrs 6 mos

    As Principal Engineer at IBM, I designed and developed the IBM Algo One Managed Data Service (MDS), a cloud-based financial data management system, using Java 8 and the Spring framework, integrates DB2 and Cassandra NoSQL distributed databases. Deployed on the IBM Bluemix cloud platform.

  • Lead Software Developer at Algorithmics, an IBM Company
    Nov 2011 - Nov 2012 · 1 yr 1 mo

    Designed and Implemented Java web application to analyze finance data to provide risk assessment and management based on Monte Carlo risk model, backed by high performance computation engine. Key developer of high-performance C++ computation engine.

  • Senior Software Engineer at Novell
    Mar 2008 - Oct 2011 · 3 yrs 8 mos

    Core developer of PlateSpin Disaster Recovery and Workload Migration solution. PlateSpin Disaster Recovery and Workload Migration solution is a C# and C++ mixed application, which is designed to protect various operating systems with data. The entire live operating system can be copied/moved between the physical machine and virtual machine/appliance, or backup/restore in case of disaster.