Md Balal Raza


engineering • product • AI

I am an AI Product Engineer specializing in building agentic systems and high-performance real-time applications. Currently, I lead front-end and full-stack initiatives at Bhanzu, bridging the gap between product, design, and intuitive AI-driven user experiences.

Finoramic Finoramic
BDI Plus BDI Plus
American Express
Bhanzu
Finoramic Finoramic
BDI Plus BDI Plus
American Express
Bhanzu

Work Experience

May 2023 - Present

Senior Software Engineer

Bhanzu (formerly Exploring Infinities)

Bangalore, India
  • AI Smart Tutor: Developed a spatial UI-driven AI tutor that facilitates step-by-step mathematical problem solving. Built a dynamic scaffolding engine that provides personalized hints, has real-time error correction and suggests missing steps to students.
  • Led complete rewrite of student dashboard using bulletproof-react architecture, building extensible infrastructure with comprehensive test coverage and development guardrails for improved team velocity.
  • Built real-time classroom platform using AWS IVS serving 5,000+ concurrent users, delivering features like screen sharing, whiteboard, chats, picture-in-picture mode, quizzes, breakout rooms, in a 6-engineer team.
  • Hackathon Winner: Designed and deployed an AI-based Stories and Highlights feature that automates video extraction from class recordings, streamlining student recaps, enhancing dashboard engagement.
  • Architected and deployed an AI-driven voice agent to automate parental outreach and inbound queries, replacing ~40% of manual MOFU agent tasks. Engineered a low-latency pipeline integrating an LLM with core backend services to facilitate profile retrieval, automated class reminders and demo rescheduling.
  • Optimized company website from 56 to ~95 Lighthouse score on desktop and from 45 to ~85 on mobile.
  • Led a 5-member team to develop and deliver the Streams platform within tight deadline.
Dec 2020 - May 2023

Full Stack Developer Consultant

American Express

Remote
  • Re-architected frontend for 3 enterprise applications, migrating from legacy JSP/jQuery to ReactJS with modern component architecture and state management.
  • Improved application performance by 60% by optimizing database queries, implementing lazy loading, and reducing page load time from 3.8 seconds to 1.2 second across all 3 applications.
  • Implemented Okta SAML2 single sign-on for a legacy application eliminating a 3-step manual process and reducing user onboarding time by almost 10 minutes.
  • Created comprehensive technical documentation covering 15+ application workflows and established team knowledge base, reducing developer onboarding time from 3 weeks to 1 week.
Feb 2020 - Dec 2020

Full Stack Developer

BDI Plus Pvt. Ltd.

Bangalore, India
  • Led 5-person team to design and develop OneData's complete frontend architecture, building React-based ETL management interface with workflow visualization, job scheduling, and data transformation capabilities.
  • Developed OneDigital insurance platform serving major clients including SBLI, HavenLife, and W&S, handling 1,000+ policy monthly applications with automated underwriting and real-time quote generation.
  • Received multiple awards for implementing Augmented Analytics (AugAn) frontend architecture, delivering high-performance React interface with optimized rendering and intuitive UI/UX that significantly enhanced user experience.
Sep 2017 - Jan 2020

Software Developer

Finoramic Inc.

Hyderabad, India
  • Served as founding engineer in early-stage fintech startup, building complete technology stack from zero to production-ready platform serving personal finance and lending markets.
  • Built Focus mobile app from scratch using React Native for B2C personal finance management, delivering complete end-to-end system with user onboarding, transaction tracking, and financial insights.
  • Developed backend infrastructure using Node.js, implementing automated transaction deduplication processing 100+ transactions daily from multiple sources and intelligent categorization engine.
  • Built automated growth engine with email marketing workflows, enabling zero-code campaign management and automated user engagement sequences that reduced manual marketing effort by 80%.
  • Developed B2B lending dashboard using React/Material-UI design, providing real-time financial health scoring and credit assessment tools for lending partners.
  • Conducted technical interviews and candidate assessments for all engineering hires, screening candidates and providing hiring recommendations to founder for final decision.

Skills

Frontend & UI

ReactJS TypeScript JavaScript Tailwind CSS NextJS Redux Zustand shadcn/ui Material-UI Performance Optimization Storybook

Backend & Core

Python (Flask) NodeJS REST APIs Microservices Algorithms State Machines

Cloud & Databases

DynamoDB PostgreSQL AWS IVS (Video) AWS Lambda AWS S3 AWS SQS CloudFront Serverless Framework

DevOps & Tooling

CI/CD Pipelines Git & GitHub TurboRepo Docker Cypress MSW Husky

Key Projects

Generative AI
Feb 2026 - Apr 2026

AI Smart Tutor

A spatial UI-driven AI tutor facilitating step-by-step math problem solving. Built with React and canvas scaffolding engines offering dynamic, real-time feedback and hints.

React Zustand Gen-AI Canvas API
Streaming
Jan 2025 - May 2025

IVS Classroom Platform

High-concurrency virtual classroom system serving 5,000+ concurrent students. Delivers whiteboard, PIP, chats, and breakout rooms via AWS Interactive Video Service.

AWS IVS React NodeJS WebSockets
Agentic AI
Sep 2025 - Oct 2025

AI Outreach Voice Agent

Low-latency pipeline integrating LLMs with backend telephony for automated outreach, demo scheduling, and parental follow-ups, replacing ~40% of manual processes.

LLM Python AWS SQS Telephony
Fintech
Sep 2017 - Nov 2018

Focus App

A React Native mobile application for transaction categorization, budget tracking, and real-time financial advice powered by smart rules.

React Native Redux NodeJS MongoDB

Education

2013 - 2017

B.Tech in Computer Science & Engineering

Narula Institute of Technology

Graduated with a CGPA of 8.16 / 10. Kolkata, India.

2011 - 2012

ISC (12th Standard)

Modern English Academy

Completed with 83.5%. Barrackpore, India.

2010

ICSE (10th Standard)

Modern English Academy

Completed with 84.5%. Barrackpore, India.

Awards & Highlights

May 2025
Winner

First Prize: Bhanzu Hackathon

Bhanzu

Designed and launched the automated video 'Stories and Highlights' generator for live classes.

September 2020
Awardee

Standout Performer Award

BDI Plus

Awarded for exceptional commitment and architectural leadership on the OneData release.

December 2020
Awardee

Game Changer Award

BDI Plus

Awarded for deploying critical features to the production underwriting platform ahead of schedule.

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