Kia Krystal — Verified Dealer Communication & Reverse Proxy Architecture
Cross-app vendor integration across 3+ applications and 700+ dealerships with custom API key auth and secure reverse proxies.
Subscribed dealer outlets across India.
Unified across customer and dealer apps.
Shielded vendor credentials with API key auth.
Dealership customer communication lacked secure official verification across 3+ applications and 700+ dealerships, risking client exposure on unverified 3rd-party platforms like WhatsApp.
Integrated vendor APIs/SDKs, created an API key authentication system, and deployed reverse proxies to prevent frontend exposure while enabling verified dealer-customer communication across 700+ subscribed dealerships.
Project description
Acted as the project coordinator between business clients, third-party vendor teams, and in-house product developers across 3+ enterprise applications.
Integrated vendor-provided SDKs and APIs into core backend services and built custom API endpoints to establish seamless bidirectional data flows.
Engineered an API key-based authentication layer and deployed reverse proxies to prevent frontend clients from directly consuming or exposing third-party vendor APIs.
Enabled over 700 subscribed dealerships and customers to communicate on verified official platforms rather than unverified third-party channels like WhatsApp.
Why I built this
Dealerships and vehicle owners required a verified, secure communication platform across the dealer subscription network.
Prevented client exposure of sensitive vendor API credentials by establishing a reverse-proxy architecture.
Process and execution
How the work moved
- Acted as project coordinator between business clients, third-party vendor teams, and in-house product developers across 3+ enterprise applications.
- Integrated vendor-provided SDKs and APIs into the core backend services while engineering custom APIs to complete bidirectional integration.
- Developed a custom API key-based authentication system to authenticate and authorize dealership communication requests securely.
- Implemented backend reverse proxies to ensure frontend clients never directly consume or expose sensitive vendor credentials.
What I owned
- Led the work as Project Coordinator & Java Backend Developer.
- Turned messy context into a clearer operating model, interaction direction, and rollout shape.
- Worked across stakeholders to move the project from framing into execution.
Notable decisions
Secure reverse proxy architecture
Shielded vendor API keys and endpoints from client exposure by proxying all dealer communications through authenticated backend gateways.
API key authentication layer
Enforced strict API key validation per dealership subscription to prevent unauthorized access across 700+ dealer outlets.
What I learned from this
Reverse proxy gateways simplify client security by centralizing third-party vendor authentication in backend services.
Cross-functional coordination across client stakeholders and external vendors accelerates feature adoption across 700+ dealerships.