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Team Lead / Full-Stack Engineer

AI-Powered SaaS · RAG & LLM Agents · Next.js & NestJS · 4+ years

Team Lead / Full-Stack Engineer who takes AI-powered SaaS from prototype to production. Currently leading 5 developers across 6 client projects and owning system design for a multi-tenant site-intelligence platform built on multimodal RAG, LangGraph agents, and eval-gated LLM quality. 4+ years shipping React/Next.js, NestJS, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, and AWS products, including a recruitment SaaS with 7k+ active users.

Islamabad, Pakistan

Available for UK & international clients — remote, GMT/BST

// request lifecycle

About Me

01 / 04
01 / CLIENTorigin: islamabad, pk

I'm Muhammad Asad Akmal, a Team Lead / Full-Stack Engineer based in Islamabad, Pakistan (open to remote), with 4+ years of experience taking AI-powered SaaS from prototype to production with React/Next.js, NestJS, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, and AWS.

Asad — portrait
client: asad.png
02 / API GATEWAYcapabilities loaded

Today I lead 5 developers across 6 concurrent client projects—owning architecture and system design, code reviews, mentoring, and release planning. I architected Terravive, a multi-tenant AI site-intelligence platform built on multimodal RAG (pgvector, hybrid search, Cohere reranking), LangGraph agents with guardrails, and CI-gated LLM evals. Before that I shipped platforms serving 10k+ users, from AI recruitment to accounting SaaS, CRM, and payment integrations.

  • --tech-lead
    Technical Leadership — Leading 5 developers across 6 client projects: architecture, delegation, code reviews, mentoring, and release planning.
  • --ai-rag-agents
    Production AI — Multimodal RAG, hybrid search with reranking, LangGraph agents, guardrails, and CI-gated LLM evals.
  • --saas-scale
    SaaS & Scale — Multi-tenant platforms serving 10k+ users on Turborepo, NX, and microservices with Stripe billing.
  • --nextjs-nestjs
    Next.js & NestJS — End-to-end ownership from UI to APIs: React, GraphQL, REST, OpenAPI, and type-safe monorepos.
  • --clean-secure
    Clean & Secure — OAuth/JWT, RBAC, 2FA, tenant isolation, and AES-256-GCM so products stay fast, secure, and easy to extend.
03 / DATABASEmetrics: live
Years Experience
4+
Developers Led
5
Projects Shipped
10+
Users Served
10k+
04 / RESPONSE200 OK

When I'm not shipping features, I stay sharp with the latest in LLM tooling, React, Node, and cloud (AWS, Docker, CI/CD, OpenTelemetry) and enjoy sharing what I learn with the developer community.

payload: Next.js,NestJS,TypeScript,RAG,LangGraph,PostgreSQL,AWS
  • Core Full-Stack Expertise: TypeScript, Next.js 16, React 19, NestJS, PostgreSQL, REST APIs
  • AI / LLM Engineering: RAG Pipelines, LangGraph Agents, AI Agents & Tool Calling, Claude / OpenAI APIs, pgvector & Embeddings, Hybrid Search & Reranking, Guardrails, LLM Evals, Computer Vision
  • Frontend Engineering: TanStack Query & Table, Zustand, React Hook Form, Zod, TailwindCSS, Shadcn/UI, Radix UI, Base UI, Vite, Three.js, Recharts
  • Backend & Architecture: Express.js, Passport (JWT/OAuth), BullMQ, WebSockets / Socket.IO / SSE, Multi-Tenancy, Security (RBAC/2FA/AES-256-GCM), GraphQL (Apollo), OpenAPI (Swagger/Scalar), Microservices, DDD & Domain Events, NX Monorepo, Turborepo
  • Databases & ORM: Redis, Prisma, MongoDB, MySQL, TypeORM, Drizzle ORM, Mongoose, Django ORM
  • Cloud & DevOps: AWS (EC2/S3/RDS/SQS/SNS/SES/ECR/IAM), Docker & Compose, GitHub Actions (CI/CD), OpenTelemetry, Nginx, PM2, Linux
  • Developer Tools: Git, PNPM, Postman, ESLint / Prettier, oxlint / oxfmt, openapi-typescript, Husky / Commitlint, Vitest / Jest / RTL / Supertest / MSW
  • Additional Languages & Frameworks: JavaScript, Python, Solidity, Django, Django REST Framework

// skill system

Skills & Technologies

01 / 08

Core Full-Stack Expertise

scroll to explore all 8 orbits →

// also in orbit — 33 integrations

Anthropic ClaudeOpenAIGroqCohere RerankWhisperStripePayPalCloverPayrixPCIVaultQuickBooks Online (OAuth 2.0)HubSpotGoHighLevelJobberPipedriveAspireZapierPostHogResendAWS SESReact Testing LibrarySupertestWebSocketsGraphQL SubscriptionsMulti-tenancyRBAC2FAOAuth 2.0AES-256-GCMFeature FlagsATS IntegrationsSemantic CachingLLM-as-JudgeAnthropic ClaudeOpenAIGroqCohere RerankWhisperStripePayPalCloverPayrixPCIVaultQuickBooks Online (OAuth 2.0)HubSpotGoHighLevelJobberPipedriveAspireZapierPostHogResendAWS SESReact Testing LibrarySupertestWebSocketsGraphQL SubscriptionsMulti-tenancyRBAC2FAOAuth 2.0AES-256-GCMFeature FlagsATS IntegrationsSemantic CachingLLM-as-Judge

// ship log — 11 featured

Selected Work

terravive.app
Terravive — Multi-tenant AI site-intelligence SaaS for architects, built around a multimodal RAG pipeline and LangGraph agents on a type-safe Turborepo monorepo (NestJS 11 API + Next.js 16 RSC admin).
01 / 112025-2026

Terravive

Multi-tenant AI site-intelligence SaaS for architects, built around a multimodal RAG pipeline and LangGraph agents on a type-safe Turborepo monorepo (NestJS 11 API + Next.js 16 RSC admin).

★ RETRIEVAL QUALITY GATED IN CI WITH GOLDEN-SET EVALS: RECALL@3 1.0, MRR 0.90 ON REAL SITE DATA
RAGLangGraphpgvectorClaude / OpenAINestJS 11Next.js 16
View case study
stedi.app
Stedi — Virtual-CFO accounting SaaS, re-engineered from a low-code Base44 prototype into a production-grade Express + Prisma + PostgreSQL backend on AWS.
02 / 112025

Stedi

Virtual-CFO accounting SaaS, re-engineered from a low-code Base44 prototype into a production-grade Express + Prisma + PostgreSQL backend on AWS.

★ 28 PRODUCTION REST ENDPOINTS REPLACING THE LOW-CODE PROTOTYPE
Express.jsPrismaPostgreSQLAWSQuickBooks OAuth 2.0AES-256-GCM
View case study
siftsight.app
Siftsight — AI-powered recruitment SaaS scaled to 7k+ active users, featuring ATS pipelines, AI personality assessments, video interviews, and Stripe subscriptions. Spearheaded end-to-end delivery.
03 / 112025-2026

Siftsight

AI-powered recruitment SaaS scaled to 7k+ active users, featuring ATS pipelines, AI personality assessments, video interviews, and Stripe subscriptions. Spearheaded end-to-end delivery.

★ SCALED TO 7K+ ACTIVE USERS IN PRODUCTION
ReactNext.jsNestJSGraphQLPostgreSQLStripe
View case study
15fashion.app
15Fashion — SEO-driven fashion discovery platform, optimized for page-load performance and organic search visibility using Next.js SSR.
04 / 112024

15Fashion

SEO-driven fashion discovery platform, optimized for page-load performance and organic search visibility using Next.js SSR.

★ IMPROVED PAGE-LOAD PERFORMANCE BY 60%
Next.jsSSRSEOPerformance
View case study
density-blaster.app
Density Blaster — Marketing automation platform enabling users to design campaigns and creatives using a canvas-based editor. Frontend with Next.js and Polotno, scalable backend APIs in NestJS.
05 / 112024

Density Blaster

Marketing automation platform enabling users to design campaigns and creatives using a canvas-based editor. Frontend with Next.js and Polotno, scalable backend APIs in NestJS.

★ CANVAS-BASED EDITOR FOR CAMPAIGN CREATIVES
Next.jsPolotnoNestJS
View case study
deeplawn.app
Deeplawn — Drove the migration from v1 to v2 using Next.js 14 and NestJS within a microservices architecture and NX monorepo.
06 / 112024

Deeplawn

Drove the migration from v1 to v2 using Next.js 14 and NestJS within a microservices architecture and NX monorepo.

★ MIGRATED THE PLATFORM FROM V1 TO V2 ON A MICROSERVICES ARCHITECTURE
Next.js 14NestJSNXMicroservices
View case study
qoloring.app
Qoloring — Personalized coloring and sketchbook marketplace using the T3 stack (TypeScript, Next.js, Shadcn, Drizzle ORM, PostgreSQL).
07 / 112024

Qoloring

Personalized coloring and sketchbook marketplace using the T3 stack (TypeScript, Next.js, Shadcn, Drizzle ORM, PostgreSQL).

★ PERSONALIZED COLORING AND SKETCHBOOK MARKETPLACE SHIPPED LIVE
Next.jsDrizzle ORMPostgreSQLShadcn
View case study
candle-bet.app
Candle-BET — Web3-based betting platform with smart contracts built using Ethereum and Solidity. Led MVP development. Real-time data pipelines using The Graph Protocol and WebSockets.
08 / 112023

Candle-BET

Web3-based betting platform with smart contracts built using Ethereum and Solidity. Led MVP development. Real-time data pipelines using The Graph Protocol and WebSockets.

★ SHIPPED THE MVP WITH ON-CHAIN BETTING SMART CONTRACTS
EthereumSolidityThe GraphWebSockets
View case study
ensrig.app
ENSRIG — Ethereum Name Service (ENS) Marketplace with AI-powered domain appraisal. Users can buy, sell, and evaluate ENS domains via a Next.js web app and a Flutter mobile app backed by on-chain data.
09 / 112023

ENSRIG

Ethereum Name Service (ENS) Marketplace with AI-powered domain appraisal. Users can buy, sell, and evaluate ENS domains via a Next.js web app and a Flutter mobile app backed by on-chain data.

★ DECENTRALIZED ENS MARKETPLACE WITH AI-BASED APPRAISAL
Next.jsFlutterEthereumSmart Contracts
View case study
buy-with-metamask.app
Buy with MetaMask — Crypto payment integration for e-commerce, enabling cryptocurrency payments via MetaMask alongside traditional gateways like Stripe for seamless Web3 payment flows.
10 / 112023

Buy with MetaMask

Crypto payment integration for e-commerce, enabling cryptocurrency payments via MetaMask alongside traditional gateways like Stripe for seamless Web3 payment flows.

★ UNIFIED WEB3 AND TRADITIONAL CHECKOUT IN ONE FLOW
MetaMaskStripeWeb3
View case study
digiart.app
DigiArt — Online digital art marketplace for selling digital art assets including graphics, templates, fonts, and photos. Scalable architecture and optimized digital content delivery.
11 / 11

DigiArt

Online digital art marketplace for selling digital art assets including graphics, templates, fonts, and photos. Scalable architecture and optimized digital content delivery.

★ ONLINE DIGITAL ART MARKETPLACE
Next.jsE-commerceDigital Delivery
View case study

// career history

Experience

$ git log --graph --all career/▍

8572f49(HEAD → main, tag: ikonic-solutions)you are here

Ikonic Solutions

  • Team Lead / Full-Stack EngineerJul 2026 – Present
  • Full-Stack DeveloperJul 2025 – Jul 2026

Islamabad, Pakistan · Full-time

  • 5f04e5Lead 5 developers across 6 concurrent client projects: architecture and system design, delegation, code reviews, mentoring, release planning, and technical client discussions
  • 7713a1Architected Terravive's multimodal RAG pipeline: PDFs, CAD, GIS, LiDAR, photos, and audio ingested via BullMQ workers (OCR, Whisper, Claude vision) into pgvector, retrieved by hybrid vector + full-text search with RRF fusion and Cohere reranking
  • 3a3155Designed a LangGraph agent graph (planner, tool registry, input/output guardrails) on a multi-provider LLM layer (Claude, OpenAI, Groq) with circuit-breaker fallback, semantic caching, and per-tenant budget guards
  • 71282cBuilt Terravive's type-safe Turborepo monorepo (NestJS 11 + Next.js 16) where one Drizzle/PostgreSQL schema drives the OpenAPI contract and typed TanStack Query hooks, secured with JWT + OAuth, RBAC, tenant isolation, audit logging, Stripe billing, and PostHog feature flags
  • 5ce60fRe-engineered Stedi into an Express + Prisma + PostgreSQL platform on AWS with 28 REST endpoints, multi-realm QuickBooks Online OAuth 2.0 sync, and AES-256-GCM encrypted token storage
  • ★Gated retrieval quality in CI with golden-set evals (recall@3 1.0, MRR 0.90 on real site data), plus nightly LLM-as-judge scoring and OpenTelemetry tracing
  • ★Delivered Siftsight end-to-end, scaling to 7k+ active users with ATS pipelines, AI assessments, video interviews, OAuth/2FA identity verification, and Stripe subscriptions
  • ★Improved 15Fashion page-load performance by 60% and organic traffic by 30% via Next.js SSR
refs/tech:RAGLangGraphpgvectorClaude / OpenAIBullMQOpenTelemetryNext.js 16NestJS 11GraphQLDrizzle ORMPrismaPostgreSQLOpenAPITanStack QueryStripeAWSTurborepo
a3c83d0(tag: samsoft)

Samsoft

Full-Stack Developer

May 2024 – Jul 2025 · Islamabad, Pakistan · Full-time

  • cde75bShipped Density Blaster's canvas-based campaign editor (Next.js + Polotno) over scalable NestJS APIs
  • 9d733cDrove Deeplawn's v1 → v2 migration on Next.js 14 and NestJS in an NX monorepo microservices architecture
  • 11253cIntegrated 15+ CRM systems (HubSpot, GoHighLevel, Jobber, etc.) and payment providers
  • 77b9c2Built Qoloring, a personalized coloring marketplace on the T3 stack
  • ★Supported scaling to 10k+ active users
  • ★~40% reduction in manual operations through workflow automation
refs/tech:Next.jsNestJSPolotnoNXMicroservicesDrizzle ORMPostgreSQL
dea5031(tag: lighthouse-development)

Lighthouse Development

MERN Stack Developer

May 2023 – Apr 2024 · Islamabad, Pakistan · Full-time

  • 097bdfLed Candle-BET MVP
  • 4bc036Built Baaazaar e-commerce platform
  • 36e2b8Real-time pipelines with The Graph and WebSockets
refs/tech:EthereumSolidityThe GraphWebSocketsMERNNext.jsTailwindCSS
2ce70db(tag: icubemedia)

IcubeMedia

Full-Stack Developer

Oct 2022 – Apr 2023 · Remote · Full-time

  • e09aa8Developed Fullet Web3 identity SaaS
  • dd41cdNext.js and Chakra UI frontend
  • 71a5d1NestJS backend with WebSockets
  • ★Contributed to Fullet Web3 identity tracking SaaS MVP
  • ★Real-time backend with WebSocket and Socket.IO
refs/tech:Next.jsChakra UINestJSWebSocketSocket.IO

$ git tag --list

RAGLangGraphpgvectorClaude / OpenAI APIsLLM EvalsBullMQOpenTelemetryTypeScriptJavaScriptPythonSolidityReact.jsNext.jsZustandTanStack React QueryReact Hook FormZodRadix UIShadcnTailwindCSSChakra UINestJSExpress.jsDjangoMERN StackPostgreSQLMongoDBMySQLRedisPrismaTypeORMDrizzle ORMGraphQLREST APIsAWSDockerGitTurborepoStripe

// frequently asked

Working with me

Remote engagements for UK & international clients — the details that matter before we start.

  • Do you work with UK clients remotely?

    Yes. I work remotely with UK and international clients, keeping GMT/BST business hours for overlapping communication. I'm based in Islamabad, Pakistan, and have shipped production SaaS for teams across time zones — async-first, with clear updates and reliable delivery.

  • Are you available on a contract / outside-IR35 basis?

    Yes. I take on freelance and contract engagements on a day-rate basis, including outside-IR35 arrangements for UK companies. Engagements can be fixed-scope (e.g. an MVP build) or ongoing (embedded in your team as a full-stack engineer).

  • What kind of projects do you build?

    I specialise in AI-powered, multi-tenant SaaS platforms built end-to-end with Next.js, NestJS and TypeScript — including multimodal RAG pipelines, LangGraph agents with guardrails and CI-gated LLM evals, Stripe subscription billing, and CRM integrations (HubSpot, GoHighLevel, Jobber). I've scaled products to 10k+ users with secure auth (JWT/OAuth, RBAC, 2FA) and monorepo/microservices architecture, and I currently lead a team of 5 developers.

  • Can you build a SaaS MVP from scratch?

    Yes. I take SaaS products from idea to production — architecture, UI, APIs, payments, auth and deployment on AWS with CI/CD. For startups I focus on shipping a lean, well-architected MVP fast, then iterating as you find product-market fit.

  • Which technologies do you use?

    My core stack is Next.js, React, NestJS, TypeScript, PostgreSQL and GraphQL, with Turborepo/Nx monorepos, Stripe, AWS, and Docker. For AI work I use RAG with pgvector and hybrid search, LangGraph agents, and Claude / OpenAI APIs, with OpenTelemetry tracing. I also work with Prisma, Drizzle, Redis, MongoDB, BullMQ, and integrate third-party CRM and payment providers.

  • How do we get started?

    Send a short brief through the contact form or email m.asadakmal1999@gmail.com. I'll reply within 24 hours, and we can set up a call to scope the work, timeline and day rate before anything is committed.

// deploy to production

Let's build something that scales.

request.http

$ curl -X POST asadakmal.com/contact

{
}

// endpoints

status: available

Accepting new freelance & contract projects for UK & international clients — remote, GMT/BST hours, day-rate / outside-IR35.