Engineer Who Builds Digital Products That Matter
I build digital products that solve real problems, from mobile apps and web platforms to AI-powered experiences and intelligent automations. I care deeply about clean architecture, performance, and delivering real business impact.
About Me
I’m a software engineer with 4+ years of experience building digital products that people use and businesses rely on. From mobile apps and web platforms to AI-powered experiences and intelligent automations, I help turn ideas into scalable, production-ready solutions that create real value.
Over the past 4+ years, I’ve delivered mobile apps, web platforms, AI integrations, and automation solutions using modern technologies such as Flutter, React Native, React, Next.js, and Node.js. Working with startups and businesses worldwide, I’ve helped transform ideas into scalable products that serve real users and drive business growth.
I believe great software goes beyond functionality. By combining thoughtful engineering, clean architecture, and a deep understanding of user needs, I strive to build solutions that are performant, maintainable, scalable, and impactful.
Experience
The Commons App
Mar 2025 – PresentLead Mobile Engineer
- Led mobile engineering for a school device safety platform, owning the Flutter app, its native iOS and Android layers, and the React admin app, from architecture to App Store and Google Play release.
- Built a native VPN service with 99.9% reliability in background and terminated states (Swift, NetworkExtension, Kotlin, VpnService, Platform Channels).
- Automated VPN activation by school zone and class schedule, cutting manual app launches by 90%+ (Geofencing, iBeacon, Background Services).
- Implemented per-school content policy with per-student exceptions and real-time sync (Screen Time API, Family Controls, Device Activity Extension).
- Architected a feature-first app and shared packages that sped up feature delivery by 15% and cross-team integration by 40% (Flutter, Riverpod, GraphQL, Clean Architecture).
- Designed a privacy-first sign-in that collects zero personal data (QR Code, OAuth).
- Led technical decisions and code reviews, and shipped with automated releases and monitoring (Fastlane, GitHub Actions, Sentry, Unit Testing).
- Contributed SSO, device policy and CSV export features to the admin web app (React, Vite, TypeScript, GraphQL Codegen, Material UI).
Upwork
Jan 2021 – Mar 2026Freelance Software Engineer (Top Rated Plus)
- Top Rated Plus (top 3%) after 5,000+ hours, shipping 15+ production apps for clients in the US, Europe and the UAE.
- Shipped SowGood, a live coaching app, to both stores in 5 months with 1,000+ streamed minutes (Flutter, VideoSDK, WebRTC, Stream Chat).
- Built SowGood's billing and AI chat assistants on serverless functions (Supabase Edge Functions, Stripe, OpenAI API).
- Built MarketWhale, a finance app with an AI assistant for stock analysis, real-time signal alerts and a subscription paywall (Flutter, OpenAI API).
- Delivered Omtech, a UK asset management app with role-based access for 5 user types, crash-safe offline data and Excel export (Flutter, Isolates, Offline-First).
- Built AI agents and workflow automations for client operations (OpenAI API, Claude API, n8n).
- Built backend APIs for client apps (Node.js, REST APIs, Firebase Cloud Functions).
- Built apps and websites for restaurants, e-commerce, salons, education and media editing (Flutter, React.js).
- Owned delivery end to end, from first sketches to App Store and Google Play publication.
Do Your Order
Jan 2023 – Feb 2025Software Engineer
- Developed the order management, Kitchen Display and self-ordering modules, which made orders 30% more efficient and raised user satisfaction by 25% (Flutter, Firestore, WebSocket).
- Shipped the inventory, reservations, POS and loyalty modules, saving 15 minutes per order at peak hours.
- Integrated in-person card payments with a SumUp hardware terminal through a custom Flutter plugin (SumUp SDK, Platform Channels).
- Built online payments with custom webhooks for order and payment status (Stripe, Webhooks, Node.js).
- Added Bluetooth thermal printing for customer receipts (ESC/POS, Bluetooth).
- Moved iOS, Android and web onto one codebase, cutting maintenance cost by about 60% (Flutter, React, Redux).
- Localised the app into 22+ languages, added on-device PDF and Excel reports, and reached 10k+ Google Play downloads.
- Deployed the company website with automated testing and deployment (React, AWS S3, CloudFront, GitLab CI/CD, Jest).
Aga Khan Development Network Digital Health Resource Centre
Dec 2020 – Dec 2022Flutter Developer
- Developed and maintained several health-related projects using Flutter, such as CoronaCheck, PPEMA, and Hayat. These projects have made a significant impact, being widely used by healthcare professionals and individuals in the healthcare field.
- Utilized Flutter, Firebase, Rest API, Local App Syncing, and Video integration to develop mobile apps that provide essential services in the healthcare industry.
- Acquired extensive experience in problem-solving within the healthcare field, collaborating with interdisciplinary teams to develop innovative solutions that address critical challenges and improve patient care.
Technical Expertise
A comprehensive overview of my current technology stack and specialized tools I use to build scalable products.
Languages
Frameworks
Backend & Cloud
AI & Automation
Testing & DevOps
Architecture & Design
Featured Projects
A selection of my recent work across web platforms, mobile applications, and AI integrations.
The Commons
Built a cross-platform student app with a custom native VPN that auto-activates based on school-zone geofencing, time-based scheduling, and phone-unlock detection — requiring zero manual interaction from the student. Integrated OAuth-based authentication for privacy-preserving login, real-time school config sync, and reliable background services that keep enforcement running even when the app is closed or terminated.
Do Your Order
Built a full-stack restaurant management platform for Android, iOS, and Web — featuring real-time order sync, QR code scanning, thermal receipt printer integration, document scanning, deep linking, multi-provider social authentication (Google, Apple, Facebook), in-app purchases, hardware payment terminal integration, on-device PDF and Excel report generation, advanced sales analytics with interactive charts, table reservation calendar, text-to-speech kitchen announcements, and 22+ language localisation.
Sportsmet
Built a cross-platform sports social platform with real-time live score feeds and in-app chat, an in-app subscription paywall managing purchases across iOS and Android, social video sharing with on-device compression and adaptive playback, threaded comments with emoji reactions and link previews, sports analytics with interactive charts and gauge visualisations, and QR code profile sharing.
All Projects
Every project I've shipped — mobile apps, web platforms, and everything in between. Some are still live and growing; others ran their course and were sunset.
The Commons
Built a cross-platform student app with a custom native VPN that auto-activates based on school-zone geofencing, time-based scheduling, and phone-unlock detection — requiring zero manual interaction from the student. Integrated OAuth-based authentication for privacy-preserving login, real-time school config sync, and reliable background services that keep enforcement running even when the app is closed or terminated.
Live on the App Store and Google Play, deployed across schools with zero personal data collected and no browsing history logged. Automated VPN enforcement cut manual app launches by over 90%, giving administrators a real-time compliance dashboard while students retain full device ownership outside school hours.
Do Your Order
Built a full-stack restaurant management platform for Android, iOS, and Web — featuring real-time order sync, QR code scanning, thermal receipt printer integration, document scanning, deep linking, multi-provider social authentication (Google, Apple, Facebook), in-app purchases, hardware payment terminal integration, on-device PDF and Excel report generation, advanced sales analytics with interactive charts, table reservation calendar, text-to-speech kitchen announcements, and 22+ language localisation.
Live on the App Store and Google Play with active restaurant clients worldwide. A single Flutter codebase handles real-time orders, financial reporting, inventory, and multi-restaurant coordination — reducing development and maintenance costs by approximately 60% compared to building separate native apps.
Sportsmet
Built a cross-platform sports social platform with real-time live score feeds and in-app chat, an in-app subscription paywall managing purchases across iOS and Android, social video sharing with on-device compression and adaptive playback, threaded comments with emoji reactions and link previews, sports analytics with interactive charts and gauge visualisations, and QR code profile sharing.
Live on the App Store and Google Play, serving sports fans who compete in pools, follow live scores, and connect with their community through a shared sports social economy.
Dipfinding
Built the React Native app for iOS and Android for a real-time stock alert service that pushes a notification when a US stock makes a big move. Includes four alert channels (General, Momentum, Big Spike, Big Drop), custom Pro channels with user-set move size, share price, and liquidity thresholds, AI-written context on why a stock is moving, a filterable alert feed, a watchlist with live quotes and daily trends, and a tiered subscription paywall with a 14-day free trial.
Live on the App Store and Google Play in the Finance category, alerting users to market moves about a minute after they happen, from 4am to 8pm ET every trading day.
SowGood
Built a Flutter coaching platform with live video sessions and real-time audience chat, session recording and on-demand replay, persistent in-app messaging with full chat history, AI-powered features for coaches and users, a rich text editor for coach content creation, native device calendar integration for scheduling, push notifications and audio alerts for session reminders, and a screen wake-lock to keep the display active throughout live sessions.
Live on Google Play in the Lifestyle category, enabling coaches to host and monetise live sessions while giving users on-demand access to recordings, persistent chat, and personalised scheduling.
MarketWhale
Built a cross-platform finance app that surfaces real-time institutional buy/sell signals, lets users follow whale movements for smarter trade timing, and features an AI-powered chat assistant for contextual stock analysis with markdown-rendered responses. Includes interactive financial charts for visualising market data, real-time push alerts for whale activity, multi-provider authentication (Apple, Google), local market data caching for fast load times, and an in-app subscription paywall — all in a clean, minimalist interface.
Live on the App Store and Google Play in the Finance category, helping retail investors align their strategy with institutional market momentum through a proven, minimalist high-win-rate approach.
Omtech
Built a cross-platform asset management app where project owners, managers, asset engineers, and maintenance workers each get a tailored view of real-time asset locations and status, work order logging with time tracking, camera-based asset photo uploads, QR code scanning for instant asset lookup, a full maintenance scheduling calendar, on-device Excel report export, and video playback for complex asset documentation — with persistent app state so no data is lost across sessions or crashes.
Live on the App Store for the UK market, serving construction and facilities-management businesses to streamline project closeout and quality management — reducing manual overhead and improving asset visibility across entire project lifecycles.
Boat With Friends
Refactored this Flutter-based iOS social boating app to Clean Architecture and raised test coverage above 70% — writing unit tests, widget tests, and integration tests, plus automated end-to-end tests with Appium, WebdriverIO, and Selenium, to validate trip scheduling, dynamic guest invitation flows, automated reminders, and group cost-splitting features.
Live on the App Store with a 5-star rating across 13 reviews. Test suite improved confidence in core features — scheduling, dynamic invitations, automated reminders, and Venmo-linked cost splitting — enabling faster iterations without regressions.
Open Source Contributions
PRs merged into official frameworks, published plugins, and open projects I've shipped and shared with the community.
Flutter Framework — Stepper Widget Enhancement
Contributed customizable header and content padding properties to the Flutter Stepper widget, giving developers fine-grained control over spacing in step headers and content areas. PR reviewed and merged by the official Flutter team.
Merged into Flutter SDK · Feb 2026 · Used by millions of Flutter developers worldwide
GitHub Timeline — Flutter App
An open-source Flutter app that uses the GitHub API to let users search GitHub profiles, explore public repositories, and browse activity timelines — with clean Material UI and live API integration.
8 GitHub stars · Live GitHub API integration
ESC/POS Thermal Printer Plugin
Extended and maintained a suite of Flutter plugins for ESC/POS thermal receipt printing — adding Bluetooth support, receipt formatting utilities, and hardware integration for the Do Your Order restaurant platform.
Powering thermal receipt printing in a live restaurant SaaS platform
What I Can Build For You
Every category below is backed by a shipped product — not a side project or tutorial.
Cross-Platform Mobile Apps
One codebase. Two stores. Full submission handled.
Flutter and React Native let me ship a production-quality app to both the App Store and Google Play without building two separate native apps — cutting cost and timeline roughly in half. I handle architecture, state management, store listings, certificates, and compliance.
Built it: The Commons · Do Your Order · Sportsmet · MarketWhale · SowGood · Omtech · Dipfinding
Real-Time SaaS Platforms
Live sync across roles, devices, and locations.
I've built multi-user platforms where kitchen staff, managers, and waiters each see a different live view of the same data — updating in real time without a page refresh. The same architecture works for dashboards, ops tools, or any product where state needs to stay in sync.
Built it: Do Your Order · Omtech
AI Features & Workflow Automations
OpenAI, Vertex AI, or n8n — wired into your product.
I've built AI assistants that analyze stock data and surface insights in real time inside a mobile UI. I also build n8n-based automations that connect APIs, process data, and orchestrate tasks without manual intervention.
Built it: MarketWhale · Upwork clients (custom agents + n8n pipelines)
Subscription & Payment Systems
Cross-platform paywalls, in-app purchases, and Stripe.
I've shipped subscription systems covering trial, active, and expired states across iOS and Android — including receipt validation, paywall UI, and upgrade flows. Also integrated Stripe with custom webhooks and a hardware payment terminal plugin.
Built it: MarketWhale · Sportsmet · SowGood · Do Your Order
Live Video & Coaching Platforms
WebRTC streaming, recording pipelines, and real-time chat.
I've built a coaching platform where hosts go live, audiences chat in real time, and users replay recordings on demand — with scheduling, timezone management, and a screen wake-lock for uninterrupted sessions.
Built it: SowGood
Location-Aware & Hardware Apps
Geofencing, native VPN, QR scanning, thermal printers, and more.
I've built a native VPN that auto-activates based on GPS location and schedule — no user action required, even when the app is terminated. I've also integrated thermal receipt printers, hardware payment terminals, camera-based scanning, and QR asset lookup.
Built it: The Commons · Do Your Order · Omtech
Role-Based Enterprise & Field Apps
Multi-role access, offline-first, and on-device reporting.
I architect role-based access and state management for apps that serve multiple user types each seeing a different data surface. I've also built offline-first apps for healthcare field workers in areas with no reliable connectivity.
Built it: Omtech · AKDN Ppema & Corona Check
Client Testimonials
Amazing job Safwan. So great getting work with you!
Upwork Client
2nd time working with Safwan. Great freelancer with a goal-oriented attitude, accountable for the results. Highly recommended!
Kun
I had the pleasure of working with Safwan, and I can confidently say that he is an exceptionally skilled developer with expertise across a wide range of technologies. His proficiency in Flutter, React.js, Node.js, and Firebase is truly impressive, and he consistently delivers high-quality work. Safwan has a deep understanding of both JavaScript and TypeScript, and his ability to seamlessly integrate Python and Dart into various projects demonstrates his versatility. Safwan also excels in test-driven development (TDD) and has a strong command of Appium for testing, ensuring that applications are both robust and reliable. His experience with CI/CD pipelines and task management using Jira makes him a well-rounded professional who can handle complex projects with ease. Overall, Safwan is a standout developer with strong technical skills, excellent attention to detail, and a commitment to delivering results. He would be a tremendous asset to any development team
Richard
Safwan did a great job as always! This time he developed both Front End (ReactJS) and Back End (Cloud Functions with NodeJS and Google APIs).
Pawel R
I had an excellent experience working with Safwan. He is a true expert in the mobile development field. He quickly understood how the app I envisioned should look like and laid out a clear path. His work is always very precise and often requires no revisions at all. He supported me from A to Z — from sketches all the way to publication on the App Store and Google Play.
Serven
The freelancer was very cooperative and helpful. He suggested good changes and took great care of code quality.
Usoof
Safwan was fantastic to work with. He finished ahead of schedule and was able to take the initiative to think of things I hadn't even considered.
Ebede M
Hard worker. Always available. Definitely will use him again.
Ezaddin M
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to the most common questions clients ask before starting a project.
I specialise in Flutter and React Native mobile app development (iOS & Android), React web applications, Node.js backends, and Firebase integrations. I also offer SaaS platform development, AI/chatbot integrations, and end-to-end product builds from design handoff to App Store deployment.
Pricing depends on the scope, complexity, and timeline of your project. A simple MVP typically starts from $3,000–$5,000, while a full-featured cross-platform app can range higher. I provide a detailed quote after a free discovery call where we go through your requirements.
A basic MVP can be delivered in 4–6 weeks. A more complex app with custom backend, third-party integrations, and multi-platform support typically takes 8–16 weeks. I'll give you a timeline estimate specific to your project after our initial discussion.
Yes. I use Flutter and React Native, which each produce a single codebase that runs on both iOS and Android. This significantly reduces cost and development time compared to building two separate apps.
Absolutely. I'm experienced in jumping into existing Flutter, React Native, React, or Node.js projects — whether it's adding features, fixing bugs, refactoring, or scaling the architecture.
Yes. I handle the full submission process for both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, including setting up certificates, provisioning profiles, store listings, screenshots, and compliance requirements.
Yes, full source code ownership is transferred to you upon project completion and final payment. You'll have complete control over your codebase with no lock-in.
Yes. I offer post-launch support and maintenance packages. Even outside a formal package, I'm available for bug fixes and minor updates within a reasonable period after launch.
I work async-first using Slack, WhatsApp, or email depending on your preference. I provide regular progress updates, share builds for review via TestFlight/Firebase App Distribution, and schedule video calls for milestone reviews.
I'm open to both long-term contracts and project-based engagements. If you're looking for a dedicated developer to join your team on a retainer or contract basis, feel free to reach out and we can discuss the arrangement.