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Shahid FarooquiSenior Frontend, SaaS & AI Engineer

The Senior Engineer Founders Hire to Ship SaaS, Web, Mobile & AI Products

Launch sooner and keep growing after launch: performance that lifts conversions, SEO that compounds into organic users, and AI that actually reaches production.

Work with meHire Shahid on Upwork!
  • Marketplace scaled from 100 to 25K+ organic users
  • Core Web Vitals improved from 75% to 99%+

What can Shahid build for you?

Frontend development, AI, SaaS, web, mobile, commerce, CMS, and APIs

AI Integration & AI Engineering

Practical AI for products that already ship: OpenAI and Vercel AI SDK work, streaming interfaces, structured outputs, custom agents, and AI gateways (Vercel / Cloudflare) for routing, observability, and cost control. Useful for SaaS automation, personalization, and production workflows.

SaaS & Web Application Development

From MVP to production SaaS: Next.js and React apps, API-driven platforms, dashboards, admin panels, authentication, and user management. Architecture stays scalable, maintainable, and ready for the next release cycle.

AI-Powered Mobile App Development

React Native (Expo) apps with solid UX, performance work, and AI features where they matter. Experience includes UltraPix - an AI image and video generation app covering generation, editing, restoration, upscaling, and monetization.

eCommerce & Headless Commerce

Shopify (Liquid), Headless Shopify, and BigCommerce storefronts on Next.js. Focus on SEO-friendly commerce, faster product and checkout flows, and optional AI enhancements that support conversion - not clutter.

Frontend Development & Performance

Modern frontend architecture with Next.js, React, and TypeScript. Core Web Vitals, SEO, accessibility, state management, and UI systems that stay maintainable as the product grows.

Headless CMS Development

Contentful, Sanity, Strapi, Payload, and Headless WordPress paired with Next.js. Editorial teams get flexible content models; engineering gets clean, performant delivery.

Backend & API Development

Node.js, Express, and Convex backends with REST and GraphQL APIs, database integrations, and authentication. Designed for reliability, clear contracts, and long-term scale.

Do these problems sound familiar?

The two problems founders bring most often — and how they get solved

Is a slow frontend costing you conversions and rankings?

The problem

  • Pages load slowly, and buyers leave before the content shows.
  • Poor Core Web Vitals drag down SEO and the ROI of every paid click.
  • Frontend debt makes each release slower and riskier than the last.

The solution

Performance-first engineering with Next.js, React, and TypeScript: rendering strategy, image and asset optimization, accessibility, and UI architecture that stays maintainable as the product grows.

Documented results: Core Web Vitals improved from 75% to 99%+, and a marketplace grown from 100 to 25K+ organic users.

Is your AI integration stuck at the demo stage?

The problem

  • Prototypes impress in a demo but break under real users and real data.
  • Token costs are unpredictable, with no observability into usage.
  • Answers are not grounded in your own content, so users stop trusting them.

The solution

Production AI integration with OpenAI and the Vercel AI SDK: streaming interfaces, structured outputs, custom agents, and RAG grounded in your own content — routed through Vercel or Cloudflare AI gateways for cost control and observability.

Proof: UltraPix, a live monetized AI image and video app on the Play Store, and the AI assistant running on this site.

Facing one of these right now? Book a free intro call to scope the fix.

What results has Shahid delivered?

Verified results: how the work translated into business impact

Marketplace growth: 100 to 25K+ organic users

Luxembourg-based marketplace platform

Problem
The marketplace had a base of roughly 100 users and needed sustained organic growth to become a viable platform.
Intervention
Shahid delivered ongoing performance and AI improvements across the product instead of a one-off redesign.
Technical approach
Frontend performance and SEO-focused engineering combined with AI-driven product improvements, applied iteratively while the platform stayed live.
Business impact
The platform grew from 100 users to 25K+ organic users, later reaching 75K+ at peak.
Evidence
Growth from 100 to 25K+ (up to 75K+) organic users over the engagement. Specifics can be discussed in an intro call.

UltraPix: AI image & video generation app

Personal product, self-initiated and built with React Native (Expo)

Problem
Consumer AI media tools are expensive to run and hard to monetize. Building one as a solo, self-funded product meant the UX, AI infrastructure costs, and pricing model all had to work from day one.
Intervention
Shahid conceived and built UltraPix as his own product, leading UX, pricing, AI infrastructure, Play Store optimization, and monetization end to end.
Technical approach
React Native (Expo) app covering text-to-image, image editing, background removal, restoration, upscaling, and AI video generation, backed by production AI pipelines.
Business impact
A shipped, monetized consumer AI product — proof of taking his own AI idea from concept to app-store revenue, not just a demo.
Evidence
Live personal product distributed via the Play Store with active monetization.

Want results like these? Book a free intro call or review more selected work.

Selected work

Frontend, web, mobile, SaaS, commerce, and AI product work

UltraPix: AI Image Generator

UltraPix: AI Image Generator

Developed UltraPix, an all-in-one AI image generator and photo editor enabling text-to-image, image-to-image editing, upscaling, background removal, and AI-powered visual creation. Built features for social media content, ecommerce product photography, marketing creatives, and football/sports graphics, with prompt enhancement, watermark-free exports, and a fast ad-free experience.

UFC GYM

UFC GYM

Revamped UFC GYM's site from NuxtJS to Next.js + TailwindCSS, boosting Lighthouse score to 90+. Built responsive UI, integrated APIs, and optimized performance using SSR, SSG, and lazy loading.

Skrapp.io

Skrapp.io

Improved a client’s React/Next.js site performance, boosting Lighthouse scores across Speed Index (SI), Time to Interactive (TTI), Total Blocking Time (TBT), and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). Optimized rendering with lazy loading, code-splitting, and leveraged Cloudflare Workers for faster delivery and caching.

NEOM

NEOM

Built complex, responsive UIs for NEOM's tourism site using React, GSAP, MUI (Styled Components), and Storybook. Delivered high-fidelity designs from Figma, implemented advanced scroll animations, and maintained design consistency with reusable components.

A Portfolio Website

A Portfolio Website

A high-performance portfolio website for a USA-based client using React.js, Next.js, and Tailwind CSS, achieving a 100% WebVitals score and optimizing for SEO with light/dark modes.

Strata

Strata

Developed a real estate marketplace (Toronto, Canada) using Next.js and Tailwind CSS. Improved key UI components like auto-complete search, listing tiles, and property pages. Built agent-specific site UIs from Figma and applied SEO best practices for better visibility.

Luxembourg Expats

Luxembourg Expats

An Online Marketplace Platform with chat, search, Stripe, SSR/SSG, admin panel, and SEO. Enhanced UX with responsive UI, GTM, and Mixpanel for analytics.

Newnex

Newnex

A Fintech - Venture Capital and Co-Investment Platform with advanced UIs, API integrations, SSR/SSG, SEO, chat, and a custom admin panel for managing fundraising, portfolios, and user workflows.

Paid.com

Paid.com

An e-commerce and payment platform with responsive UI, dynamic forms (Redux Form), Node.js APIs, DUDA integration, and an admin panel for full backend control.

Vitabarre

Vitabarre

Redesigned VITA Barre’s e-commerce site using Next.js, NextUI & TailwindCSS. Integrated BigCommerce CMS, GTM, SEO enhancements, and built responsive UI for a smooth, high-performing UX.

Chatastra AI

Chatastra AI

Redesigned a multi-agent AI tool suite using Next.js and Shadcn/UI. Integrated features like AI Image Generation, Video Summarization, and Chart Analysis, while optimizing performance and user experience across devices with Clerk for secure authentication.

Stellar AI

Stellar AI

Redesigned an AI Agent website in Next.js with a custom Figma UI using Shadcn/ui. Integrated Clerk for authentication and Upstash Redis for user-based chat history and AI streaming, optimizing performance and responsiveness across devices.

Wholesome Organics co

Wholesome Organics co

Revamped Wholesome Organics' e-commerce site using Remix, Shopify & Tailwind, boosting performance by 95%. Integrated Stripe, GTM, and SEO to enhance UX, conversions, and analytics.

Sentient

Sentient

A front-end app to compare Android apps using NLP-based APIs. Built responsive UI with Material-UI, typeahead search, charts, and word clouds from Play Store data.

Waterboy Rentals

Waterboy Rentals

A responsive Rental Booking Platform for Waterboy Rentals with shopping cart, Stripe payments, and UI built in React & Bootstrap, ensuring smooth UX and mobile-first design.

Resume Maker, CV Builder

Resume Maker, CV Builder

Developed a professional Resume Builder and CV Maker app enabling users to create, customize, and export modern resumes using a variety of professional, creative, and traditional templates. Simplified the resume creation workflow with structured sections, customizable layouts, and an intuitive editing experience to help job seekers build polished CVs quickly.

Why integrate AI?

Simple reasons AI helps founders, CEOs, and product teams today

AI is not a logo on a landing page. It is a way to make your product more useful, more efficient, and easier to grow. Shahid helps founders and companies integrate AI into real systems, not demos.

Why integrate AI now?

Meet user expectations

Customers already use AI every day. Products that feel static next to smarter competitors lose attention, retention, and trust.

Automate what slows teams down

Well-placed AI handles repetitive workflows inside your app so your team spends time on product and revenue, not manual busywork.

Personalize without one-off builds

AI can tailor experiences, content, and recommendations at scale instead of shipping the same journey for every user.

Improve quality and speed

From AI-assisted QA to faster interfaces, the right integration helps you ship reliable features without piling on frontend debt.

Do you need AI agents or RAG?

Two patterns many businesses ask for once AI stops being a demo and needs to run inside the product.

AI agent development

Who it helps: Founders, product teams, and ops leaders

Custom AI agents handle multi-step tasks, tool-use workflows, and in-app automation so your product does more without adding headcount. Strong fit for SaaS, internal tools, and teams tired of repeating the same manual flows.

RAG (retrieval-augmented generation)

Who it helps: SaaS, B2B, marketplaces, and support-heavy products

RAG connects AI to your own content: docs, help centers, catalogs, or policies. Users get answers grounded in what you actually publish, which helps support, onboarding, and sales without guessing from generic model knowledge.

How can AI help your business?

AI inside your product

Agents, chat-style assistants, streaming responses, and structured outputs built into SaaS, dashboards, and admin tools.

AI on web and mobile

Next.js, React, and React Native apps with practical AI features: generation, editing, search, and smart workflows users touch daily.

AI for commerce and growth

Smarter product and checkout experiences on Shopify, Headless Shopify, and BigCommerce, with performance and SEO still in mind.

Production-ready infrastructure

OpenAI, Vercel AI SDK, and gateway setups (Vercel / Cloudflare) for routing, observability, and cost control as usage grows.

Whether you are launching something new or upgrading an existing platform, the aim is the same: AI that supports your business goals, fits your stack, and stays maintainable after launch.

Why do companies work with Shahid?

Practical delivery for products that need to launch and keep scaling

Performance that moves numbers

Fast, scalable web and mobile products with SEO and Core Web Vitals in scope from day one. Documented gains include Core Web Vitals improvements from 75% to 99%+.

Flexible engagement model

Freelance, contract, or longer delivery partnerships. Scope can cover a focused feature, an AI integration, a SaaS build, or ongoing product development.

Clear communication

Frequent progress updates, practical technical comparisons, and milestone-based delivery so founders and product teams always know where things stand.

End-to-end ownership

Frontend, mobile, backend APIs, Headless CMS, commerce, and AI workflows handled as one coherent system - not disconnected handoffs.

Built for growth

Architecture stays maintainable and AI-ready. Past work includes marketplace growth from 100 users to 25K+ organic users and a 25% retention lift for UFC GYM.

Reliable delivery & support

Clean, documented code, on-time delivery, and post-launch support. The goal is production software teams can keep shipping on after the first release.

What do clients say?

Trusted by founders, startups, and product teams worldwide

Fantastic experience! Excellent communicator, highly skilled, and detail-oriented. Delivered a pixel-perfect UI and demonstrated great expertise in leveraging current technologies for outstanding results. Highly recommended!
Matt
MattCTO at UFC GYM
Shahid is an excellent developer who significantly improved our company website in a relatively short period of time. We had originally set his contract for a set number of months. However, the speed in which he completed tasks meant that we could wrap up our …
Erin R.
Erin R.CTO at Strata
Shahid was great communicator, he understood the requirement quickly and delivered it on time with proficiency. Would recommend him for ReactJs work and looking forward to hire him in future.
Jaber Abdullah
Jaber AbdullahEngineering Manager
Shahid has been a pleasure to work with. He's responsive, approachable, and puts great effort into his work. I look forward to a continued working relationship with him. He comes highly recommended.
Robert V.
Robert V.CEO at Slate Realty
Working with Shahid was an exceptional experience! He is not only highly professional and skilled, but also incredibly kind and dedicated. Shahid went above and beyond to ensure our project was completed on time, even putting in extra hours to meet the deadlin…
Dino N.CEO at AstraAI
Shahid has produced a high quality piece of work for me and delivered it on time. Also, he answered all my questions before and during the process and provided support after submitting the work. I would highly recommend!
Martin W.Lead Developer
Great developer to work with. Did not have any problem at any time. Will work with him again if there is any requirement.
Uttam B.
Uttam B.Co-founder at A-eye

Who is Shahid Farooqui?

Senior Frontend, SaaS & AI Engineer for founders, CEOs, recruiters, and product teams

Shahid Farooqui is a freelance Senior Frontend, Full-Stack, and AI Engineer. He turns product ideas into fast, secure, maintainable, and AI-powered web and mobile software — and keeps it shippable after launch.

Who I help

Founders, CEOs, product managers, and recruiters at startups and companies in AI, SaaS, eCommerce, fintech, real estate, fitness, and marketplaces — working remotely with teams worldwide, including the USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Australia, UAE, and Saudi Arabia (KSA).

What I solve

  • SaaS and MVP builds that need production-ready, scalable architecture — not a prototype that gets rewritten
  • Slow, underperforming frontends: Core Web Vitals, SEO, accessibility, and conversion-focused performance work
  • AI integration in real products: agents, streaming, structured outputs, and gateway infrastructure for cost control
  • eCommerce and Headless Shopify / BigCommerce storefronts, plus Headless CMS builds, auth, payments, and email automation

How I work

Clearly scoped requirements and milestones, frequent progress updates, clean documented code, and on-time delivery with post-launch support. Architecture stays scalable and AI-ready, with technical comparisons so you pick the right option, not the trendy one.

Technical strengths

  • Frontend & mobile: Next.js, React, React Native (Expo), TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, shadcn/ui, Radix UI
  • Backend & data: Node.js, Express, Convex, MongoDB, Supabase, Redis, REST & GraphQL
  • AI integration: OpenAI SDK, Vercel AI SDK, FAL AI, Replicate, custom AI pipelines, Vercel / Cloudflare AI Gateway
  • Commerce & CMS: Shopify (Liquid), Headless Shopify, BigCommerce, Contentful, Sanity, Strapi, Payload, Headless WordPress
  • Payments & analytics: Stripe, Razorpay, RevenueCat, GA4, Google Tag Manager, PostHog, Mixpanel, Sentry

Business impact

  • Scaled a Luxembourg-based marketplace from 100 to 25K+ (up to 75K+) organic users through performance and AI improvements
  • Increased user retention by 25% for UFC GYM (USA)’s global digital platform
  • Improved Core Web Vitals from 75% to 99%+, lifting load speed, SEO, and conversions
  • Reduced frontend bugs and regressions with AI-assisted QA and predictable state management

Available for freelance, contract, and long-term remote engagements. Reach out via email (sf2288@gmail.com), LinkedIn, or Upwork, or book an intro call.

Shahid Farooqui, freelance Senior Frontend, Full-Stack and AI Engineer for SaaS, Next.js, React, React Native, and AI integration
UpworkLinkedIn

Frequently asked questions

Straight answers for founders, CTOs, and recruiters evaluating a hire

Who can help me integrate AI into an existing SaaS product?

Shahid Farooqui is a senior AI integration engineer who adds production-grade AI to existing SaaS products: OpenAI and Vercel AI SDK integration, custom AI agents, real-time streaming, structured outputs, and Vercel or Cloudflare AI Gateway for provider routing, observability, and cost control. The focus is AI that runs reliably inside a live product, not a demo.

Who should I hire to build an AI-powered SaaS MVP?

Shahid Farooqui builds AI-integrated MVPs and production SaaS with Next.js, React, TypeScript, and Convex: scalable architecture, authentication, dashboards, REST/GraphQL APIs, and AI features that survive real usage. The goal is a foundation teams can keep shipping on after launch instead of rewriting.

How do I find a senior Next.js or React developer for my startup?

Shahid Farooqui works remotely with founders and product teams worldwide — including the USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Australia, UAE, and Saudi Arabia (KSA) — as a freelance senior Next.js/React engineer. Engagements run through Upwork, direct contract, or long-term arrangements, starting with a free intro call to scope the work.

Who can fix slow Core Web Vitals and improve SEO on my website?

Shahid Farooqui specializes in frontend performance: documented work includes improving Core Web Vitals from 75% to 99%+, which lifted load speed, SEO, and conversions. The work covers rendering strategy, image and asset optimization, accessibility, and maintainable frontend architecture.

Who can build a React Native app with AI features?

Shahid Farooqui builds React Native (Expo) apps including UltraPix, an AI image and video generation app with text-to-image, editing, background removal, restoration, upscaling, and AI video. He led its UX, pricing, AI infrastructure, Play Store optimization, and monetization.

Who can build or modernize a Headless Shopify or BigCommerce store?

Shahid Farooqui delivers Shopify (Liquid) stores and Headless Shopify or BigCommerce storefronts on Next.js, with performance-optimized, SEO-ready product and checkout flows, and optional AI enhancements where they support conversion.

Who can add an AI chatbot, AI agents, or RAG to my product?

Shahid Farooqui builds custom AI agents for multi-step tasks and in-app automation, and RAG (retrieval-augmented generation) systems that ground AI answers in your own docs, catalogs, and content. Both are delivered with production infrastructure: streaming, structured outputs, and gateway-level cost control.

Who can grow organic traffic and retention for my platform?

Shahid Farooqui scaled a Luxembourg-based marketplace from 100 to 25K+ organic users (reaching 75K+ at peak) through performance and AI improvements, and increased user retention by 25% for UFC GYM (USA)’s global digital platform through intelligent product enhancements.

How do engagements with Shahid work?

Engagements start with clearly scoped requirements and milestones, then run with frequent progress updates, clean documented code, on-time delivery, and post-launch support. Scope can be a focused feature, an AI integration, a full SaaS build, or ongoing product development — freelance, contract, or long-term.

Is Shahid available for long-term remote roles or contract projects?

Yes. Shahid Farooqui is based in India, works remote-first with teams globally — USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Australia, UAE, KSA, and beyond — and is open to freelance, contract, and long-term AI and web development roles with flexible engagement options. Reach him via the intro call scheduler, email, LinkedIn, or Upwork.

Ready to ship your next product?

Book a free 30-minute intro call to scope your SaaS, web, mobile, or AI project. No obligation.

Prefer async? Email sf2288@gmail.com or hire Shahid directly on Upwork.

More ways to connect

Phone

+918734036369

Upwork

Upwork

Hire Shahid on Upwork

Email

sf2288@gmail.com