Context
A marketplace platform experienced slow search and checkout flows during traffic peaks, hurting conversion and customer trust.
Challenges
- High query cost on listing pages
- Blocking synchronous operations in request cycle
- Weak cache strategy for high-read endpoints
Solution
I profiled critical endpoints, optimized database indexes and query plans, and introduced cache layers with explicit invalidation rules. We moved non-critical operations to queues and improved endpoint instrumentation.
Outcomes
- p95 API latency reduced by 62%
- More stable experience during traffic spikes
- Better visibility over performance regressions