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Open to Senior / Lead roles: remote, UAE, KSA & Qatar

Muhammad Abdullah

Lead Software Engineer

I lead engineering teams and ship production software end to end: mobile apps on iOS and Android, web platforms in React and Next.js, and the Node.js services behind them. Digital banking for Saudi Arabia, executive analytics for Qatar, and a design system used across product teams.

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Karachi, Pakistan · GMT+5
Muhammad Abdullah, Lead Software Engineer
Full-stack software engineering
8yrsFull-stack software engineering
Apps shipped to App Store & Play
30+Apps shipped to App Store & Play
Engineers on the team I lead
5Engineers on the team I lead
Design-system components owned
77+Design-system components owned

About

Engineer first, lead second.

I have spent eight years building software end to end, the last three leading an engineering team at VentureDive, where I own architecture and delivery across four concurrent enterprise client products while staying hands-on in the codebase. The work spans the full stack: React Native apps on iOS and Android, React and Next.js web platforms, and the Node.js and AWS services behind them.

The work I care about sits where hard constraints meet real users: background geolocation that has to survive OS throttling, banking flows that have to satisfy a regulator, a design system that has to stay honest to Figma across dozens of screens. Thirty-plus applications have shipped to the App Store and Google Play with my name on the commits.

I work AI-first, with Claude Code and Cursor daily and conventions I wrote for my team. I also hold an MS in Computer Science focused on software engineering and AI.

Languages

  • English · Professional working
  • Urdu · Native
  • Arabic · Intermediate

Full-stack delivery

React Native and Swift on mobile, React and Next.js on web, Node.js and AWS behind them. I own features from schema to store release.

Regulated domains

Banking, insurtech and government clients: secure storage, biometrics, OAuth 2.0 / OIDC and least-privilege data access.

Systems over screens

Design systems, shared SDKs and architecture that let several product teams move quickly without drifting apart.

Distributed delivery

Shipped for clients in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the US, Canada, the UK and Pakistan across time zones and compliance regimes.

Education

  • Master of Science (MS), Computer Science

    NED University of Engineering and Technology

    Oct 2021 – Oct 2023

  • Bachelor of Science (BS), Computer Science

    PAF-Karachi Institute of Economics and Technology (PAF-KIET)

    Jan 2015 – Dec 2018

AI-First Engineering

I ship with agents in the loop, and set the rules my team uses them under.

AI is part of how I ship, not a line on a skills list. I use agentic coding tools in production repositories every day, I set the conventions my team uses them under, and I have shipped LLM features to real users.

01

Daily agentic development

Claude Code and Cursor in production React Native and Next.js repositories: feature scaffolding, large refactors, migration sweeps and test generation, always behind human review.

Claude CodeCursorGitHub Copilot
02

Team-wide adoption I led

Introduced both tools across the team, authored repo-level AI conventions (CLAUDE.md and rules files) and AI code-review guardrails so output stays consistent with our architecture.

CLAUDE.mdRules filesReview guardrails
03

LLM features in production

Shipped an in-app AI assistant with conversational UI and streaming responses, plus LLM-driven recommendations and content classification using structured JSON output and tool calling.

Anthropic APIOpenAI APIStreamingTool calling
Faster feature cycle time
~35%Faster feature cycle time
PR review turnaround
Days → hoursPR review turnaround
AI output human-reviewed before merge
100%AI output human-reviewed before merge

Leadership & Impact

What changed because I was on the team.

I lead by staying hands-on. My job is to make the architecture obvious, the review bar clear, and the next engineer faster than I was.

A team of 5 across four products

Own architecture across mobile and web, code review standards, sprint delivery and technical mentoring across four concurrent enterprise client products at VentureDive.

5 engineers

Platform thinking

Built and evangelised the Ethr design system so every consuming team started from an accessible, themed, documented foundation instead of rebuilding UI.

−40% build time

Delivery quality

Test coverage with Jest and React Native Testing Library, CI/CD through Bitbucket Pipelines, App Center and Fastlane, and crash budgets enforced through profiling.

−45% defects

Raising the team's ceiling

Onboarding, pairing, architecture and design reviews, and technical interviewing, plus leading the team's move to AI-assisted development.

Days → hours PRs

Experience

Eight years, five teams, one discipline.

From frontend dashboards at Pakistan's largest textile exporter to leading full-stack delivery for Gulf banking and government clients.

  1. Lead Software Engineer

    VentureDive · Karachi, Pakistan

    Sep 2023 – Present

    Lead a team of 5 engineers across four concurrent enterprise client products, owning architecture across mobile and web, review standards, sprint delivery and mentoring.

    • Architected a professional chauffeur Driver App with background and foreground geolocation, live navigation and continuous dispatch sync for accurate time and geospatial billing.
    • Built the Ethr SDK and design system: 77+ accessible components, 5,600+ variants, Storybook docs and a preview app, cutting new-screen build time for consuming teams by ~40%.
    • Shipped wallet integration, virtual and physical card management and a request-approval engine for AlinmaPay, a digital banking app for Alinma Bank, Saudi Arabia.
    • Delivered Falcon, an OAuth 2.0 / OIDC-secured executive analytics dashboard for Qatar's Supreme Council for Economic Affairs and Investment, with role-based access control.
    • Introduced Claude Code and Cursor across the team with repo-level AI conventions and review guardrails. Feature cycles ran ~35% faster and PR turnaround went from days to hours.
    React NativeTypeScriptRedux ToolkitRTK QueryStorybookJestDetoxClaude Code

  2. Senior Software Engineer

    Takaful Bazaar · Karachi, Pakistan

    Dec 2022 – Sep 2023

    Led development of Pakistan's first digital Takaful (insurtech) platform end to end, taking the customer and dealer mobile apps plus the Next.js web platform from zero to launch.

    • Took the customer app from zero to App Store and Google Play launch, improving time-to-market by 40%.
    • Built the Travel Takaful module end to end: quote engine, underwriting rules and checkout, plus payment gateways, maps, push, deep links and social login.
    • Cut crash rate by 50% through Hermes profiling, render-cycle optimisation and normalised Redux Toolkit state.
    • Delivered the Next.js web platform alongside mobile, sharing product and pricing logic, and the dealer app for nationwide agents.
    React NativeNext.jsTypeScriptRedux ToolkitNode.jsAWS

  3. Software Engineer

    Cubix · Karachi, Pakistan

    May 2021 – Dec 2022

    Delivered 15+ production iOS and Android applications for US, Canadian and UK clients across e-commerce, health, events, beauty and pet care.

    • Owned full release cycles on App Store Connect and Google Play Console across a large client portfolio.
    • Built Party Shark with map-based event discovery, a custom discovery algorithm, RSVP and friend syncing, reaching 10,000+ downloads in its first quarter.
    • Shipped Pauseitive with StoreKit and Play Billing subscription tiers, contributing to a 30% increase in user retention.
    React NativeSwiftTypeScriptRedux ToolkitFirebase

  4. Associate Software Engineer

    Panacloud Technologies · Karachi, Pakistan

    Apr 2020 – May 2021

    Built cross-platform mobility and delivery products, and introduced the team's first automated test coverage.

    • Built Bizad, a ride-booking and food-ordering app with live order tracking, maps and payment flows.
    • Delivered 10+ feature rollouts across the full SDLC and reduced reported defects by 35% with unit tests and a structured QA handoff.
    React NativeJavaScriptReduxNode.js

  5. Software Engineer

    Gul Ahmed Textile Mills · Karachi, Pakistan

    Dec 2018 – Apr 2020

    Frontend engineering for Pakistan's largest textile exporter, on internal tooling and the consumer e-commerce platform.

    • Built React dashboards for merchandising and production teams, improving page load time by 25% via memoisation, request batching and code splitting.
    • Contributed frontend features to Ideas, Gul Ahmed's consumer e-commerce platform.
    React.jsJavaScriptHTML5CSS3

Selected Work

Products that shipped, and what I owned in them.

A sample of 30+ applications delivered across banking, government, B2B commerce and consumer products.

Ethr SDK & Design System screen 1
Ethr SDK & Design System screen 2
Ethr SDK & Design System screen 3
Ethr SDK & Design System screen 4
Developer ToolingiOS · Android · Storybook · npm

Ethr SDK & Design System

VentureDive · open source

Core engineer, published the package

A React Native SDK and UI library that gives product teams a shared, brand-consistent foundation: 77+ accessible components, 5,600+ configurable variants and ready-made screen templates. The companion preview app, live on the App Store, lets designers and engineers explore every component in action, closing the gap between Figma and production code.

  • Owned component API design, accessibility behaviour and the theming model across the library
  • Published and maintain the package on npm, and documented every component and variant in Storybook
  • Shipped the companion preview app to the App Store so design and engineering review the same source of truth

−40% · New-screen build time for consuming teams

TypeScriptReact NativeStorybookDesign tokensWCAG 2.2Jest
npm packageFigma community fileApp Store
Takaful Bazaar screen 1
Takaful Bazaar screen 2
Takaful Bazaar screen 3
Takaful Bazaar screen 4
Insurtech / FintechiOS · Android · Web

Takaful Bazaar

In-house product · Pakistan

Senior Engineer, mobile and web

Pakistan's first digital Takaful platform: a marketplace for auto, health, travel and life cover with transparent pricing, tailored recommendations and claims support. I took the customer app from zero to store launch and built the Next.js web platform alongside it, sharing product and pricing logic across both.

  • Took the customer app from zero to App Store and Google Play launch, improving time-to-market by 40%
  • Built the Travel Takaful module end to end: quote engine, underwriting rules and checkout
  • Cut crash rate by 50% through Hermes profiling, render optimisation and normalised Redux Toolkit state

−50% · Crash rate

React NativeNext.jsTypeScriptRedux ToolkitNode.jsPayment gateways
takafulbazaar.pkApp StoreGoogle Play
PetsFirst screen 1
PetsFirst screen 2
PetsFirst screen 3
Healthcare / VeterinaryiOS · Android

PetsFirst

PetsFirst · via VentureDive

Senior Software Engineer

A pet-care platform for the UAE market: booking in-clinic and at-home veterinary appointments and grooming with preferred clinics and vets, with location-aware discovery and in-app payments.

  • Owned full lifecycle delivery from feature definition through store release
  • Diagnosed and removed performance bottlenecks so the experience felt native on both platforms
  • Integrated maps, push notifications, in-app purchases and deep linking against third-party data sources
React NativeTypeScriptNode.jsAWSMaps
petsfirst.aeApp StoreGoogle Play
Puppy Mate screen 1
Puppy Mate screen 2
Puppy Mate screen 3
Puppy Mate screen 4
Puppy Mate screen 5
Marketplace / PetsiOS

Puppy Mate

Cubix

Software Engineer

The first mobile-first platform for puppy breeding, buying and selling. Owners find a breeding partner nearby or purchase a puppy directly in the app, backed by Firebase as the realtime store.

  • Built the matching and listing flows on React Native with Firebase realtime data
  • Streamlined the journey for breeders and pet owners across discovery, listing and messaging

10k+ · Successful listings

React NativeFirebaseReduxMaps
App Store
Pauseitive screen 1
Pauseitive screen 2
Pauseitive screen 3
Coaching / ProductivityiOS · Android

Pauseitive

Cubix

Software Engineer

A coaching and goal-management platform where users buy minute-based subscriptions to schedule sessions with a success coach, then track goals, to-do lists and tasks individually or as a group.

  • Implemented subscription tiers and premium access via StoreKit and Google Play Billing
  • Built the session scheduling and goal-tracking experience

+30% · User retention

React NativeTypeScriptIn-app purchasesRedux Toolkit
Party Shark screen 1
Party Shark screen 2
Social / EventsiOS · Android

Party Shark

Cubix

Software Engineer

An event discovery and hosting app: browse and navigate parties on a map, invite friends, RSVP, and climb a gamified rank system.

  • Built the invitation system, friend syncing and a custom search algorithm for event discovery
  • Shipped to strong ratings on both stores

10k+ · Downloads in first quarter

React NativeTypeScriptMapsPush notifications

Other client work

Banking, government and enterprise products delivered under client NDA. No screenshots here. Happy to walk through the architecture and the decisions behind them in a call.

AlinmaPay

Alinma Bank, Saudi Arabia

Digital Banking

A digital banking application for managing accounts, finance applications and transactions end to end: wallet, physical and virtual card issuance and control, and local and international transfers.

  • Built the wallet integration and the request-approval management system used across banking flows
  • Applied banking-grade security: secure storage, certificate handling and biometric authentication
  • Held accessibility and localisation standards required for a regulated Saudi consumer banking product

Regulated · Saudi retail banking

Under NDAiOSAndroid
React NativeTypeScriptRedux ToolkitRTK QueryBiometricsPayment SDKs

Falcon

Supreme Council for Economic Affairs & Investment, Qatar

Executive Analytics

An executive analytics dashboard for the institution overseeing Qatar's economic development, investment strategy and reserve funds, giving a consolidated view of Council decisions, initiatives and portfolio performance.

  • Implemented OAuth 2.0 and OIDC authentication with role-based access control for a highly sensitive user base
  • Built the interactive charting and data-visualisation layer, including accessible chart components
  • Hardened against data exposure with strict session handling and least-privilege data fetching

RBAC · Government-grade access control

Under NDAWeb Dashboard
ReactTypeScriptOAuth 2.0 / OIDCRedux ToolkitData viz

Driver App

VentureDive

Executive Chauffeur / Mobility

A professional chauffeur application covering the full trip lifecycle: real-time assignment management, instant alerts, live navigation and continuous synchronisation with Live Operations for transparent trip documentation.

  • Engineered robust background and foreground geolocation, the hardest constraint in the product, keeping trip records accurate across app states and OS-level throttling
  • Designed a feature-sliced architecture keeping the driver app in real-time sync with dispatch
  • Led delivery for the team while staying hands-on across architecture and core features

Real-time · Geospatial trip capture

Under NDAiOSAndroid
React NativeTypeScriptBackground geolocationMaps & navigation SDKsRTK Query

Imperial Dade

Imperial Dade · via VentureDive

B2B Commerce & Distribution

A digital ordering platform for foodservice packaging, industrial supplies and janitorial equipment serving healthcare, hospitality and government segments.

  • Built catalogue navigation, search and reordering flows tuned for high-frequency B2B purchasing
  • Improved list and cart performance for large catalogues through virtualisation and query normalisation
  • Integrated maps, payment platforms and social login with hardened handling of sensitive account data

Enterprise · Large-catalogue performance

Under NDAiOSAndroid
React NativeTypeScriptNode.jsAWSRTK Query

Engro GRRA Tool

Engro Corporation

Enterprise / Process Automation

An enterprise tool automating internal and external meeting and interaction workflows across Engro Corporation's strategic planning process.

  • Built structured interaction capture and reporting flows for a large corporate user base
  • Worked directly with client stakeholders on requirements and iterative delivery
Under NDAiOSAndroid
React NativeTypeScriptNode.jsAWS

Glamic

Cubix

Beauty / On-Demand Services

A marketplace connecting beauty professionals with clients at a chosen time and location, with bios, portfolios, ratings and reviews.

  • Built booking, scheduling and provider-discovery flows with location-aware search
  • Integrated payments, push notifications and deep linking across both platforms
iOSAndroid
React NativeRedux ToolkitMapsPayments

Skills

The stack I actually work in.

Grouped the way I use it, not an alphabetised keyword dump.

Mobile & Cross-Platform

  • React Native (New Architecture: Fabric, TurboModules, Codegen)
  • Expo & EAS Build
  • Hermes
  • React Navigation
  • Reanimated
  • FlashList
  • Native modules
  • Swift 5 / SwiftUI / UIKit
  • Kotlin
  • Background & foreground geolocation
  • Push (FCM, APNs)
  • Deep linking
  • StoreKit & Play Billing
  • Biometric auth

Languages & Web

  • TypeScript (strict)
  • JavaScript (ES2023+)
  • Swift
  • Kotlin
  • Python
  • SQL
  • React 18/19
  • Next.js (App Router, SSR, ISR)
  • Tailwind CSS
  • Storybook
  • Design systems
  • Accessibility (WCAG 2.2, ARIA)
  • Core Web Vitals

AI & LLM Engineering

  • Claude Code
  • Cursor
  • GitHub Copilot
  • Agentic coding workflows
  • Repo-level AI conventions (CLAUDE.md, rules files)
  • AI-assisted code review & test scaffolding
  • Anthropic API
  • OpenAI API
  • In-app AI assistants
  • LLM recommendations & classification
  • Streaming responses
  • Structured JSON output
  • Function & tool calling

State, Data & Integrations

  • Redux Toolkit
  • RTK Query
  • Redux Saga
  • Zustand
  • TanStack Query
  • REST
  • GraphQL / Apollo
  • WebSockets
  • MMKV
  • Firebase
  • Node.js
  • Nest.js
  • OAuth 2.0 & OIDC
  • Stripe & regional gateways
  • Google Maps / Mapbox

Testing, DevOps & Release

  • Jest
  • React Native Testing Library
  • Detox
  • Maestro
  • Playwright
  • TDD
  • ESLint / Prettier / SonarQube
  • GitHub Actions
  • Bitbucket Pipelines
  • Fastlane
  • EAS Submit
  • CodePush / OTA
  • App Store Connect
  • Play Console
  • Sentry & Crashlytics
  • AWS / Azure / GCP

Leadership & Practice

  • Technical leadership
  • Mentoring & onboarding
  • Architecture & design reviews
  • Code review culture
  • Agile / Scrum / Kanban
  • Sprint planning & estimation
  • Stakeholder communication
  • Cross-functional collaboration
  • Technical interviewing

Certifications

Generative AI FundamentalsGoogle CloudSkill Badge · Machine Learning & AIJavaScriptHackerRank · Apr 2022Certificate of Accomplishment

Contact

Let's talk about the role.

Open to Senior and Lead software engineering roles: remote, or on-site in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. I reply to every message.

Documents

RésuméTwo pages, the screening versionDetailed CVEvery role, project and technology in full
or email directly