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Senior Software Engineer · 5+ years
I build web products where performance is the experience - not an afterthought.
I'm Arqam - a senior engineer specializing in high-performance, SEO-first web applications across travel-tech, hospitality, and SaaS. I care about the boring parts that users feel: speed, reliability, reach, and interfaces that get out of the way.
- Currently
- Senior SWE @ Nice2Stay
- Based in
- Lahore, Pakistan
- Recent result
- 100/100 Lighthouse SEO
The short version
How the work took shape.
I started in a consultancy, shipping frontends across a stream of client projects. That breadth taught me to learn a domain fast and to respect a deadline - but it left me wanting to own outcomes, not just tickets.
So I moved toward product engineering: first building a vacation-rental platform end-to-end, then modernizing a legacy travel product, then leading a full frontend revamp as a senior engineer. The throughline was always the same - make it fast, make it findable, make it feel considered.
Frontend became my center of gravity because it's where engineering meets the person actually using the thing. Performance, UX, SEO, and systems-thinking stopped being separate concerns and became one craft.
The person behind the work
“The best engineering is invisible. Users don't notice the architecture - they notice that the product just feels right.”
Engineering philosophy
Six principles the work runs on.
01
Engineering decisions are product decisions.
I don't separate “the code” from “the product.” A date picker, a filter, a render strategy - each one moves a real number. Rebuilding Nice2Stay's booking interface wasn't about cleaner components; it was about turning more searches into bookings.
02
Performance is the experience, not a finish line.
Speed is the first thing a user feels and the last thing most teams budget for. A sub-3-second LCP and a 100/100 Lighthouse score aren't trophies - they're the difference between a product that feels considered and one that feels heavy.
03
Architecture should age well.
Most cost in software arrives later, as change. Decomposing a monolithic frontend into a modular component system cut feature delivery by 40%+ - not because it was elegant, but because the next person could move quickly and safely.
04
SEO is product infrastructure.
Discoverability is a feature with compounding returns. Treating SSR, structured markup, and Core Web Vitals as architecture - not an afterthought - is how a rebuilt platform earns organic traffic instead of buying it.
05
Build for everyone, everywhere.
Real products cross languages, scripts, and devices. Internationalized routing and full right-to-left support across 5+ markets taught me that inclusivity is an engineering constraint you design for early, or pay for forever.
06
Reliability is a form of respect.
When a booking flow fails, you've failed someone's plans. Error boundaries, retry logic, and 99%+ uptime on critical endpoints are how I show users - quietly - that the system was built to hold.
What I solve best
The problems I'm built for.
Working style
What it's like to build with me.
I take ownership end-to-end.
From the database to the last animation, I'd rather understand the whole system than hand off the parts I don't enjoy. Accountability doesn't fragment well.
I communicate in outcomes.
Stakeholders care about conversion, speed, and reach - not framework names. Working remote-first across time zones, I translate technical work into the language of the people relying on it.
I iterate against real signals.
Opinions start the conversation; metrics, audits, and user behavior end it. I'd rather measure than argue.
I leave systems better than I found them.
Refactoring, documentation, and mentoring aren't side quests - they're how the work keeps paying off after I've moved on.
The journey
Growth measured in scope, not titles.
Each role added a layer - from clean delivery, to full ownership, to modernizing systems, to senior architecture and reach.
- Foundations2021 – 2022
Wisdom Coders
Associate Software Engineer
Shipped frontends across 5+ multi-client projects in agile sprints. This is where the fundamentals set in - clean, maintainable code, performance tuning, and the discipline of delivering on a timeline.
- Owning the whole stack2022 – 2023
StayWithLumina
Full Stack Engineer (MERN)
Built a vacation-rental platform from database to deployment, integrating the Guesty PMS API with error boundaries and retry logic for 99%+ uptime. The first time I owned a product's reliability end-to-end.
- Modernizing systems2023
Hotel Weekend
Software Engineer
Rebuilt a legacy travel platform from the ground up on Nuxt and Vue 3 into an SEO-first discovery engine - near-perfect Lighthouse scores, better rankings, richer browsing. Learning to transform, not just create.
- Senior scope2023 – Present
Nice2Stay
Senior Software Engineer
Leading a full frontend revamp: a perfect Lighthouse SEO score, sub-3s LCP, a modular architecture that sped delivery by 40%+, and internationalization across 5+ markets with RTL. Architecture, performance, and product reach as one remit.
Beyond the resume
What keeps me curious.
AI-assisted product features
Where LLMs, RAG, and vector search genuinely improve a product - not where they're bolted on for a press release.
System design & architecture
The quiet decisions - boundaries, data flow, caching - that decide whether a product stays fast and flexible at scale.
Interface craft & motion
The small details - easing, rhythm, restraint - that make an interface feel considered rather than assembled.
Thoughtful products need strong engineering and clear communication.
If you're building something where performance, reach, and craft matter - for product work, consulting, or a deeper engineering conversation - I'd like to hear about it.