Baraa Fraigeh / Full-Stack Software Engineer
Shipping SaaS from schema to server.
Full-stack engineer working across React, Next.js, Node.js, Laravel and PostgreSQL. I take a business problem from data model and APIs to polished dashboards, customer-facing interfaces and production deployment.
00At a glance
The 30‑second version.
A backend-focused full-stack engineer who owns features from database design and API implementation through integration and deployment — in startups, with distributed teams, and on my own SaaS in production.
- Role
- Full-Stack Software Engineer · backend-focused · product-minded
- Profile
- I design and build production-ready web platforms from backend architecture and APIs to responsive user interfaces, integrations, background processing, deployment and production operations.
- Builds
- SaaS platforms · multi-tenant systems · REST APIs · admin & customer dashboards · subscription systems · third-party integrations · analytics · automation & scheduled reporting
- Core stack
- Node.jsTypeScriptLaravel / PHPPostgreSQLRedisNext.jsReact
- Engineering
- Backend architecture · API design · database modeling · authentication & authorization · background jobs & queues · caching · third-party APIs · production debugging · deployment
- Strengths
- Turning business requirements into scalable software · owning features end-to-end · backend system design · solving production issues · building maintainable product architecture
- Current focus
- Building and shipping SaaS products, business platforms and automation systems with a strong focus on scalability, maintainability and real-world business value.
- Experience
- ValYou — Founder & Product Engineer, Aug 2026 – PresentKilow — Full-Stack Developer, Jan 2025 – Mar 2026Azer — Backend Developer, May 2024 – Jun 2024MaakMaghdouche — Backend Developer
- Education
- BSc in Computer Science, Lebanese International University · Applied AI Diploma — Python, data analysis & AI foundations
- Languages
- Arabic (native) · English (professional working proficiency)
- Location
- Lebanon · Remote · Hybrid · On-site
01Engineering snapshot
One engineer across every layer of the product.
Most portfolios show the top layer. The work that keeps a product alive sits underneath it.
- L5
Product
Turn a business problem into scoped features, plans and roles.
- Subscriptions & plans
- Feature gating
- SaaS
- L4
Frontend
Dashboards and customer-facing flows that are fast, accessible and bilingual.
- Next.js
- React
- React Query
- Tailwind / shadcn
- L3
Backend
APIs and services with clear boundaries, authorization and background work.
- Node.js / Express
- Laravel / PHP
- TypeScript
- RBAC
- BullMQ jobs
- L2
Data
Relational models that encode the business rules and stay correct under load.
- PostgreSQL
- MySQL
- Redis
- Indexing
- L1
Infrastructure
Ship to Linux, keep it observable and keep it up.
- VPS
- Docker
- CI/CD
02Selected work
Systems I've designed, built and shipped.
Short summaries here. Each case study goes deep on architecture, decisions and production.
ValYou
NFC & QR customer engagement platform for physical businesses.
A multi-location SaaS that turns a tap or scan at the counter into a Google review, an optional customer contact and analytics the owner actually reads — delivered as a weekly email report.
The challenge
Restaurants, cafés and shops live on Google reviews, but asking for one is awkward, and the moment leaves no data behind. Owners can't tell which location, table or touchpoint drives engagement — and they don't have time to live in a dashboard.
Key decisions
- Subscription and feature gating at the business level
- Dynamic redirects instead of hard-coded card URLs
- Rotating refresh tokens with single-flight refresh on the client
- Idempotent provisioning to prevent duplicates
What I engineered
- Designed the multi-business domain: businesses, locations, cards, subscriptions and roles
- Built the Express/TypeScript API with access/refresh-token auth and role-based authorization
- Implemented tap/scan analytics with NFC vs QR source attribution
- Moved reports, email and integration sync to BullMQ workers on Redis
- Deployed and operate the stack on Ubuntu with Nginx, PM2 and TLS
Overview
All locations
Taps (NFC)
Scans (QR)
Review clicks
Contacts
Interactions by source
Top locations
- Downtown
- Waterfront
- Mall kiosk
Architecture preview
- Next.jsdashboards
- ExpressREST · RBAC
- PostgresPrisma
- RedisBullMQ
- Workersjobs
- Next.js
- React
- TypeScript
- Tailwind CSS
- shadcn/ui
- React Query
- Node.js
- Express
- Prisma
- PostgreSQL
- Redis
- BullMQ
- Nginx
- PM2
- Brevo SMTP
03Experience
Where I've shipped.
Startup, freelance and founder work — mostly backend, always end to end.
Aug 2026 — Present
CurrentLebanon
Lebanon
Customer engagement platform combining NFC and QR review experiences with customer data collection and business insights.
- Developing backend workflows for businesses, locations, review cards, customer contacts, engagement tracking and weekly email reports.
- Building responsive customer-facing and business-owner experiences with optional data sharing and privacy-focused messaging.
- Implementing card and location tracking, customer contact management, logo uploads, analytics and scheduled reporting.
- Owning product development across backend, frontend, database design, deployment and customer experience.
- Node.js
- TypeScript
- PostgreSQL
- Redis
- BullMQ
- Next.js
Jan 2025 — Mar 2026
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia · Remote
Full-Stack Developer
·KilowStartupRiyadh, Saudi Arabia · Remote
- Led the architecture and development of a greenfield internal CMS and CRM for managing user data, inventory and content workflows for a 13-person operations team.
- Refactored a legacy Node.js mobile API into a Clean Architecture and Repository-Service structure.
- Reduced technical debt and improved average API response times by 40% through backend restructuring and performance improvements.
- Focused on backend development while contributing across the full stack, in a distributed team using Git, Jira and sprint-based delivery.
- Node.js
- Clean Architecture
- Repository-Service
- CMS / CRM
May 2024 — Jun 2024
Backend Developer
·AzerFreelance contract- Built the backend API for a personalised life-coaching MVP: session booking, goal-setting workflows and user progress tracking.
- Implemented Firebase Cloud Messaging for session reminders and goal-related push notifications.
- Optimised MySQL queries behind user progress dashboards, achieving sub-second data retrieval.
- Worked with the mobile developers to define and integrate API endpoints.
- REST API
- MySQL
- Firebase Cloud Messaging
Project-based
Backend Developer
·MaakMaghdouche- Integrated the Wish payment gateway into a legacy PHP system for secure online donations, supporting payment workflow requirements related to PCI compliance.
- Provided post-launch maintenance and technical support.
- PHP
- Payment gateway
- PCI requirements
04Approach
How I take something from idea to production.
Not a methodology. The order of questions I ask, and what each step should leave behind.
- 01
Understand the business problem
Who pays, who uses it, what has to be true for it to work. Constraints before code.
→ Scope, roles, plan limits
- 02
Design the domain & data model
Entities, ownership and invariants — enforced in the schema, not only in the UI.
→ Schema, relations, constraints
- 03
Build maintainable APIs
Thin controllers, services that hold the rules, explicit authorization on every route.
→ Endpoints, policies, jobs
- 04
Create the frontend experience
Dashboards that answer the owner's question in one screen. Fast on mobile, bilingual where needed.
→ Flows, states, empty & error UI
- 05
Test the edge cases
Retries, double submits, expired tokens, plan downgrades, disconnected integrations.
→ Idempotency, guards, fallbacks
- 06
Deploy
Reverse proxy, TLS, process management, environment config and email deliverability.
→ Running production system
- 07
Monitor & improve
Watch errors and real usage, then refine the product with what production teaches.
→ Fixes, iterations, next release
05Journey
From fundamentals to production systems.
A Computer Science foundation, then a steady move down the stack — from features, to architecture, to running the whole thing.
- 2021 — 2024
Computer Science
BSc at Lebanese International University. Algorithms, databases, systems and software engineering fundamentals.
- 2024
Backend & integrations
Freelance and project-based backend work: a coaching MVP API with push notifications, and a payment gateway in a legacy PHP system.
- 2024
Applied AI
Applied AI training covering Python, Pandas and Matplotlib for data analysis and visualisation.
- 2025 — 2026
Full-stack in a startup team
Kilow (remote): greenfield CMS/CRM architecture and a Clean Architecture refactor of a legacy Node.js API.
- 2026 — now
Production SaaS & infrastructure
Founding ValYou System architecture, deployment, queues, email and monitoring.
BSc, Computer Science
Lebanese International University
2021 — 2024 · Saida, Lebanon · GPA 3.43
Applied AI Training
Jaber M. Jaber
2024
- Python
- Pandas
- Matplotlib
- Data analysis
Languages
Arabic
Native
English
Professional working proficiency
6Contact
Building something that has to work in production?
I'm open to full-time engineering roles and selected product work. Tell me about the team, the product or the problem.