OPEN TO STAFF / EM ROLES · GLOBAL

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

Backend Engineer & Engineering Leader with 12+ years shipping production software and 4+ years owning systems end-to-end. At Goally, I built the entire backend from scratch and scaled it 83x — from 300 to 25,000+ users — at 99.5%+ API uptime, while growing and leading a team of 13 engineers as the most senior technical leader, reporting to the CEO.

$ status --career
[OK] platform scaled  300 → 25,000+ users (83x), 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] speaker         Droidcon UK 2023, London
$
12+YEARS SHIPPING
83xGROWTH · 25K+ USERS
99.5%API UPTIME
30+PRODUCTION APPS
// EXPERIENCE.LOG

Where I've shipped

A career built on deep ownership at product companies — joining early, building the core, and scaling it without rewrites.

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

Engineering Lead & Backend Ownered-tech · health

Ed-tech platform empowering 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 83x to 25,000+ users at 99.5%+ API uptime.
  • Grew the engineering org from 0 to 13 engineers — personally hired 10, ran onboarding, performance reviews, and mentored juniors to senior levels, while staying ~70% hands-on.
  • Owned all AWS infrastructure: ECS Fargate, Lambda, SQS, DynamoDB, Cognito, S3 — with event-driven pipelines handling tens of thousands of events daily with idempotency guarantees.
  • Built the payments layer across Stripe, Recurly, Shopify, and Google Play / Apple IAP receipt verification: webhooks, renewal lifecycle, and payment state management.
  • Shipped real-time features on Socket.IO with Redis adapter for horizontal scaling; Redis caching and rate limiting cut average API response times ~40%.
  • Architected a full-stack AI content platform — 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 resolved critical production incidents (SQS redelivery duplicates, Stripe webhook dedup) with idempotency strategies.
02/2020 — 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 — architecture decisions, code reviews, and pair-programming — delivering on aggressive timelines.
09/2016 — 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 established Agile/Scrum workflows, reducing delivery delays across distributed teams.
03/2015 — 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 — 03/2015Amco IT SystemsLahore, Pakistan

Software Engineer — Android

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

// STACK.CONFIG

What I work with

Tools chosen for production reliability, not novelty.

BACKEND

TypeScriptNestJSNode.jsNext.jsGraphQLSocket.IOPayload CMS

AWS & INFRA

ECS FargateLambdaSQSDynamoDBCognitoS3DockerGitHub Actions

DATA & SEARCH

MongoDBRedisBullMQOpenSearchDynamoDB Streams

AI / LLM IN PRODUCTION

Anthropic ClaudeOpenAIElevenLabsfal.aiStability AIAWS Polly

PAYMENTS & COMMS

StripeRecurlyShopifyApple/Google IAPTwilioMailgunFCM

MOBILE & OBSERVABILITY

Android (Kotlin)Jetpack ComposeReact NativeSentryPrometheus + Grafana
// HIGHLIGHTS

Beyond the day job

CONFERENCE TALK

Droidcon UK 2023 — London

Spoke at one of Europe's largest Android developer conferences, sharing lessons from managing appliance-class hardware and production mobile engineering at scale.

SCALE STORY

300 → 25,000+ users, no rewrite

Took Goally's backend from prototype-scale to a platform serving 25,000+ families — 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 — 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 Staff Engineer and Engineering Manager roles worldwide. I also offer free technical discussions — architecture, scaling, AWS, LLM pipelines — no strings attached.

Start a conversation najeebidrees@gmail.com LinkedIn GitHub Resume (PDF)