OPEN TO - BE / FS / EM ROLES · GLOBAL · OPEN TO RELOCATE - EUROPE / US / UK

Najeeb Idrees

I build backend systems that survive scale, and the teams that ship them.

I'm Najeeb Idrees, a backend engineer and engineering leader with 12+ years shipping production software and 4+ years owning systems end to end. At Goally, I built the backend from scratch and scaled it to millions of requests per week, at 99.5%+ API uptime. I also grew and led a team of 13 engineers as the most senior technical leader, reporting to the CEO.

$ status --career
[OK] platform scaled  millions of requests/week, 99.5%+ uptime
[OK] team built      0 → 13 engineers, hired 10 personally
[OK] ai in prod      Claude, OpenAI, ElevenLabs pipelines live
[OK] devices         25,000+ kiosk-mode tablets, OTA at scale
[OK] attendee        Droidcon London 2023
$
12+YEARS SHIPPING
M+REQUESTS / WEEK
99.5%API UPTIME
30+PRODUCTION APPS
// EXPERIENCE.LOG

Where I've shipped

Most of my career has been deep ownership at product companies: joining early, building the core, and scaling it without starting over.

08/2021 to 03/2026GoallyDenver, CO (Remote)

Engineering Lead & Backend Ownered-tech · health

Ed-tech platform for 25,000+ neurodivergent kids, with 13+ therapy apps on dedicated Android tablets. Most senior technical leader; reported directly to the CEO.

  • Designed and built the entire production backend from scratch in NestJS + TypeScript, scaling it to millions of requests per week at 99.5%+ API uptime.
  • Grew the engineering org from 0 to 13 engineers. Personally hired 10, ran onboarding and performance reviews, and mentored juniors to senior levels while staying roughly 70% hands-on.
  • Owned all AWS infrastructure: ECS Fargate, Lambda, SQS, DynamoDB, Cognito, and S3, with event-driven pipelines handling tens of thousands of events daily and idempotency guarantees.
  • Built the payments layer across Stripe, Recurly, Shopify, and Google Play / Apple IAP receipt verification, including webhooks, renewal lifecycle, and payment state management.
  • Shipped real-time features on Socket.IO with a Redis adapter for horizontal scaling. Redis caching and rate limiting cut average API response times by about 40%.
  • Built a full-stack AI content platform for bulk music generation and EPUB-to-audiobook pipelines using Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, ElevenLabs, fal.ai, and AWS Polly, on Redis + BullMQ with resumable long-running jobs.
  • Managed 25,000+ kiosk-mode Android tablets in the field: OTA updates, remote configuration, and device management at fleet scale.
  • Ran the observability stack (Sentry, Prometheus + Grafana, CloudWatch) and fixed critical production incidents like SQS redelivery duplicates and Stripe webhook dedup with idempotency strategies.
02/2020 to 08/2021ConfizLahore, Pakistan

Principal Software Engineer, Tech Leadfintech

Digital product consultancy serving enterprise clients across MENA and global markets.

  • Architected secure backend services for Flooss, Bahrain's top digital lending app: KYC verification workflows, real-time loan eligibility, biometric auth, and encrypted communication meeting Bahrain Central Bank compliance.
  • Led a team of 6 engineers across concurrent enterprise projects. Owned architecture decisions, code reviews, and pair-programming while delivering on aggressive timelines.
09/2016 to 02/2020Techno-soft SolutionsLahore, Pakistan

Project Lead Developerhealthcare

  • Managed cross-functional teams delivering 19 production applications across healthcare (HIPAA-compliant), automotive, and consumer verticals.
  • Built BTM Assist (HIPAA-compliant clinical tool for burn-patient triage) and Connected Care (medical records organizer), both live on Google Play.
  • Owned end-to-end delivery and set up Agile/Scrum workflows that reduced delivery delays across distributed teams.
03/2015 to 09/2016Apps GeniiLahore, Pakistan

Senior Software Engineer, Android

Shipped 13 Android applications end to end, from design handoff through Play Store deployment, including medical and clinical collaboration tools.

10/2014 to 03/2015Amco IT SystemsLahore, Pakistan

Software Engineer, Android

Built an Android ad-monetization SDK for the Active Mobile platform so third-party developers could monetize through in-app advertising.

// AI.PRODUCTION

AI workflows built for production

Content systems designed around dependable orchestration, clear workflow boundaries, and long-running work that can recover without starting over.

WORKFLOW

Bulk music generation

Coordinates batches of generated music and supporting creative assets through queued, trackable processing.

WORKFLOW

EPUB-to-audiobook conversion

Transforms structured ebooks into narrated audio through staged text preparation, voice generation, and output assembly.

Overall platform architecture

Next.js and TypeScript power the application layer; Claude, OpenAI, fal.ai MiniMax, ElevenLabs, AWS Polly, and Recraft support content generation. Redis and BullMQ orchestrate parallel processing and resumable long-running jobs, with MongoDB and S3 providing persistent data and asset storage.

Next.jsTypeScriptClaudeOpenAIfal.ai MiniMaxElevenLabsAWS PollyRecraftRedisBullMQMongoDBS3
// STACK.CONFIG

What I work with

Tools I pick for production reliability, not novelty.

BACKEND

TypeScriptNestJSNode.jsGraphQLSocket.IOPayload CMS

FRONTEND

ReactNext.js App RouterTailwind CSSHTML/CSS

AWS & INFRA

ECS FargateLambdaSQSDynamoDBCognitoS3DockerGitHub Actions

DATA & SEARCH

MongoDBRedisBullMQOpenSearchDynamoDB Streams

AI / LLM IN PRODUCTION

Anthropic ClaudeOpenAIElevenLabsfal.aiRecraftStability AIAWS Polly

PAYMENTS & COMMS

StripeRecurlyShopifyApple/Google IAPTwilioMailgunFCM

MOBILE & OBSERVABILITY

Android (Kotlin)Jetpack ComposeReact NativeSentry Prometheus + Grafana
// STACK.PREVIOUS

Previously used

Backend and frontend stack from about 2–3 years ago.

BACKEND

PythonSpring BootJavaKotlinPHP

FRONTEND

Angular
// HIGHLIGHTS

Beyond the day job

CONFERENCE

Droidcon London 2023 Attendee

Attended one of Europe's largest Android developer conferences, learning from talks on appliance-class hardware and production mobile engineering at scale.

SCALE STORY

Millions of requests per week, no rewrite

Took Goally's backend from prototype scale to millions of requests per week. Same codebase, evolved architecture, 99.5%+ uptime throughout.

AI IN PRODUCTION

LLM pipelines that ship

Bulk music generation and EPUB-to-audiobook conversion running in production on Claude, OpenAI, ElevenLabs, and BullMQ. Resumable jobs, not demos.

REGULATED DOMAINS

Healthcare & Fintech depth

HIPAA-compliant clinical tools live on Google Play, plus KYC and Central Bank compliance for Bahrain's top digital lending platform.

// EDUCATION

Foundations

B.S. in Computer Science

The University of Lahore · 2010 to 2014 · CGPA 3.32 / 4.0

20% Merit Scholarship recipient across all semesters. A+ grades in OOP, Data Structures & Algorithms, Database Systems, Mobile Application Development, and Design & Analysis of Algorithms.

// CONTACT

Let's talk

Open to Backend Engineer, Full Stack Engineer, and Engineering Manager roles worldwide, and open to relocating to the Europe, US, or UK. Happy to have a free technical chat about architecture, scaling, AWS, or LLM pipelines. No strings attached.

Start a conversation najeebidrees@gmail.com LinkedIn GitHub