Saad is available for hire
Hire SaadSaad Khoudmi
Verified Expert in Engineering
Software Engineering Developer
Paris, France
Toptal member since September 25, 2020
Bio
Saad is a software architect who has spent 15 years building back ends that survive their own growth. As a lead engineer at BeReal, he owned the core back end from 3 million to 30 million daily active users—rebuilding notifications on Go and Spanner and delivering search for 100+ million users at sub-millisecond latency. Before that, he worked at Airbnb, PayFit, and Eurosport and spent four years in the Toptal network.
Portfolio
Khhh! Games
Unity3D, Graphics, Game Design, Management, Production, Business Development...
BeReal
Go, Google Cloud, TypeScript, Google Cloud Spanner, Pub/Sub, Node.js...
Airbnb
React, TypeScript, Java, GraphQL, Web Architecture, Software Engineering...
Experience
- Software Engineering - 15 years
- Node.js - 10 years
- Algorithms - 10 years
- JavaScript - 10 years
- React - 10 years
- TypeScript - 8 years
- PostgreSQL - 5 years
- Web Architecture - 5 years
Work Experience
Founder and Director
2024 - PRESENT
Khhh! Games
- Founded Khhh! Games, an independent game and service studio, and took its first title from concept to a playable, cross-platform build — with full ownership of engineering, technical R&D, and creative direction.
- Shipped Za-id, a real-time tile-compounding game built in Unity, to running builds on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS from a single codebase, with a Steam page live and wishlists open.
- Delivered a demo build, trailer, and press kit to a fixed external deadline and exhibited at Gamescom 2026 on the Morocco pavilion alongside eleven studios, running publisher and partner meetings.
- Built the game's real-time rendering and simulation layer, unifying tile rendering into a single pipeline and tuning frame budgets for low-end mobile hardware as well as desktop.
- Recruited and led a small distributed team of engineers and contract artists across France and Morocco, running milestone-based contracts, code review, and a versioned release cadence.
- Defined the studio's production process end to end: a versioned release ladder from prototype to alpha, written specs per release, and validation gates that kill ideas early instead of late.
- Set up the studio as a going concern — incorporation, banking, accounting, trademark protection for the title, and contractor agreements — while keeping development on schedule.
Technologies: Unity3D, Graphics, Game Design, Management, Production, Business Development, AI Agents, Agentic AI Systems, Distributed Systems, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), LLM Integration, Go, Rust, Large Language Models (LLMs), Cursor AI, APIs, SQL, Python, API Integration, Agentic AI, Performance, Claude, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cloudflare, Architecture, Best Practices, Data Architecture, LLM Agents, C++, AI Architecture, AI Engineering, CI/CD Pipelines, Agentic Coding, Full-stack, Full-stack Development, Software Architecture, Team Leadership & Supervision, Technical Leadership, Startups, 2D Games, Game Development, Mobile Game Development, Mobile Games, Android, Unity, iOS, iPad, Technical Architecture, AI Integration, CTO, Fractional CTO, System Architecture, OpenAI, Scalability, Software System Architecture Development, System Architecture Design, API Design, Encryption, Third-party APIs, Reports, Finance, Financials, Financing, AI Model Integration, AI Model Training, Computer Vision, Image Processing, Web Applications, HDR Photography, .NET, C#.NET, Games, Solution Architecture, Mobile App Security, Tailwind CSS, Product Management, Real-time Systems, Front-end, Codex, ComfyUI, AI-generated Video, HLSL, Claude Code, AI Agent Orchestration, Agentic Frameworks, Model Context Protocol (MCP), Mobile Development, UGUI, UI Animation, UI Toolkits, UI Design, Godot, Unreal Engine
Lead Back-end Engineer
2022 - 2024
BeReal
- Scaled the back end from 3 million to nearly 30 million daily active users, holding top-tier performance under massive and unpredictable load through the app's viral growth period.
- Designed and shipped a typo-tolerant search and autocomplete engine serving 100+ million users at sub-millisecond latency, built on Postgres and Redis with pub/sub sync — removing the need for any third-party search vendor.
- Architected and delivered the v2 multi-post overhaul — a ground-up rebuild of BeReal's core posting model, and the first redesign of that scope since the app launched.
- Built the friend-of-friend feed that expanded discovery beyond direct connections, lifting onboarding and retention — Redis caching and heuristics kept it fast with minimal added complexity.
- Led development of an AI-driven moderation system filtering offensive content in real time at full platform scale, keeping the experience safe as daily post volume grew with the user base.
- Rebuilt BeReal's notification infrastructure on Go and Spanner, replacing the legacy system and enabling immediate, reliable delivery to millions of users simultaneously with intelligent grouping.
- Owned the technical delivery of Spotify and Apple Music integration for post tagging, navigating third-party API and licensing constraints to ship one of BeReal's most-used features.
- Acted as project referent on critical initiatives and built exhaustive telemetry across the back end, turning release decisions and performance work into data-driven calls rather than guesses.
Technologies: Go, Google Cloud, TypeScript, Google Cloud Spanner, Pub/Sub, Node.js, PostgreSQL, Redis, NestJS, Linux, AI Agents, Distributed Systems, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), LLM Integration, Protobuf, Large Language Models (LLMs), APIs, SQL, API Integration, Agentic AI, Observability, Performance, Privacy, Security, Supabase, Web Development, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Back-end, Back-end Development, Terraform, Auditing, Firebase, Testing, RPC, Cloudflare, Architecture, Audits, Best Practices, Data Architecture, LLM Agents, AI Architecture, AI Engineering, CI/CD Pipelines, Kubernetes, Agentic Coding, Full-stack, Full-stack Development, Software Architecture, Team Leadership & Supervision, Technical Leadership, Startups, Mobile Game Development, Mobile Games, Android, iOS, iPad, Technical Architecture, AI Integration, System Architecture, Cloud Architecture, PostgreSQL 10, OpenAI, Scalability, Software System Architecture Development, System Architecture Design, API Design, Encryption, Third-party APIs, Data Extraction, Reporting, Data Pipelines, Workflows, Reports, AI Model Integration, AI Model Training, Computer Vision, Image Processing, Web Applications, Solution Architecture, Firebase Authentication, Mobile App Security, Front-end Development, Product Management, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), Online Bidding, Real-time Systems, WebSockets, Elasticsearch, MySQL, AI Agent Orchestration, Agentic Frameworks, Google Cloud SQL
Senior Full-stack Software Engineer
2020 - 2021
Airbnb
- Performed a foundational overview of the front-end architecture with better design patterns, simpler component tree, and migration out of internal legacy modules.
- Improved the testing and accessibility of app patterns.
- Developed critical full-stack features to address scheduling and payment issues.
- Enhanced the team process and collaboration to achieve better productivity.
Technologies: React, TypeScript, Java, GraphQL, Web Architecture, Software Engineering, Microservices, HTML5, CSS, Data Structures, Code Architecture, Database Modeling, Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Deployment, GitHub, Computer Science, JavaScript, Distributed Systems, Protobuf, APIs, SQL, API Integration, Observability, Security, Web Development, Back-end, Back-end Development, Terraform, Server-side Rendering (SSR), Jest, Playwright, React Testing Library, Storybook, Webpack, Auditing, Testing, RPC, Architecture, Audits, Best Practices, Data Architecture, CI/CD Pipelines, Kubernetes, Full-stack, Full-stack Development, Software Architecture, Technical Leadership, Technical Architecture, System Architecture, SaaS, Cloud Architecture, PostgreSQL 10, Scalability, Software System Architecture Development, System Architecture Design, API Design, Progressive Web Applications (PWAs), Third-party APIs, Data Extraction, Reporting, Data Pipelines, Workflows, Finance, Financials, Web Applications, Solution Architecture, Travel, Mobile App Security, Express.js, Front-end Development, Product Management, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), Real-time Systems, Redis, WebSockets, Front-end, Elasticsearch, React Redux
Senior Full-stack Developer
2019 - 2020
Foncia Stark
- Defined the scaffold architecture of a micro-service project purposed to handle over 10,000 real estate transactions each year with 2,000 internal users and four million customers.
- Created a GraphQL server that has the role of the central gateway between external applications and front ends and the internal microservices, assuring fully explicit specifications exposure and secure authorization and authentication flow.
- Implemented the transverse and shared modules to empower the interoperability of services, types, and models across heterogeneous services.
- Built a productive local development stack and mature continuous integration and deployment pipeline.
- Developed the user and customer services that are dependencies of other real estate services.
- Imported and migrated data from the previous solutions used by the business actors.
Technologies: REST APIs, PostgreSQL, TypeScript, React, GraphQL, Docker, MongoDB, Node.js, Web Architecture, Software Engineering, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microservices, HTML5, CSS, Data Structures, Code Architecture, Database Modeling, Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Deployment, Computer Science, JavaScript, Linux, Distributed Systems, APIs, API Integration, Performance, Privacy, Security, Web Development, Back-end, Back-end Development, Server-side Rendering (SSR), Jest, Playwright, React Testing Library, Storybook, Webpack, Auditing, Testing, RPC, Architecture, Audits, Best Practices, Data Architecture, CI/CD Pipelines, Full-stack, Full-stack Development, Software Architecture, Team Leadership & Supervision, Technical Leadership, Startups, Technical Architecture, System Architecture, SaaS, Cloud Architecture, Scalability, Software System Architecture Development, API Design, Software as a Service (SaaS), Third-party APIs, Data Extraction, Web Applications, Solution Architecture, Express.js, Front-end Development, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), Real-time Systems, Front-end, Elasticsearch
Web Application Architect
2019 - 2019
Eurosport
- Conceptualized and developed the new video player for the main eurosport.com website to consume the premium channels content and free VOD content.
- Built a minimal state management system leveraging the new Hooks and Context API.
- Assessed and improved the new React-based architecture that is powering the new main website with the redefinition of the data hydration strategy and implementing a deep bundle pipeline to greatly enhance delivery.
Technologies: JavaScript, React, Node.js, Web Architecture, Software Engineering, HTML5, CSS, Code Architecture, Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Deployment, GitHub, Computer Science, APIs, Web Development, Server-side Rendering (SSR), Jest, Playwright, Storybook, Webpack, Auditing, Testing, Architecture, Audits, Best Practices, CI/CD Pipelines, Full-stack, Full-stack Development, Software Architecture, Team Leadership & Supervision, Technical Leadership, Technical Architecture, System Architecture, SaaS, Cloud Architecture, Scalability, Software System Architecture Development, System Architecture Design, API Design, Image Processing, Web Applications, Streaming, Solution Architecture, Express.js, Front-end Development, Product Management, WebSockets, Front-end, UI Design
Senior Full-stack Developer
2018 - 2019
Payfit
- Conceptualized and developed the new client dashboard and the time management interfaces that will help the client unlock a new market segment.
- Restructured and reshuffled the code structure to greatly enhance performance, leveraging inner knowledge of the React virtual domain and data propagation through the components tree.
- Helped the team grow and respect a tight release schedule by understanding the current process workflow and enabling better feedback and learning opportunities.
Technologies: MongoDB, TypeScript, JavaScript, React, Node.js, Web Architecture, Software Engineering, HTML5, CSS, Code Architecture, Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Deployment, GitHub, Computer Science, APIs, Privacy, Security, Web Development, Back-end, Back-end Development, Server-side Rendering (SSR), Jest, Playwright, Webpack, Testing, Architecture, Audits, Best Practices, CI/CD Pipelines, Full-stack, Full-stack Development, Software Architecture, Compliance, Startups, Technical Architecture, System Architecture, SaaS, Cloud Architecture, Software System Architecture Development, System Architecture Design, API Design, Software as a Service (SaaS), Finance, Web Applications, Express.js, Front-end Development, Product Management, Real-time Systems, Front-end, React Redux, UI Design
Senior Full-stack Software Engineer
2018 - 2018
Wunderkind LLC
- Conceptualized and developed a microservices architecture-based platform that connects multiple applications handling multi-tenant users.
- Developed the main back-office application NextJS that helps different grades of administrators, and empowered customers to author their data.
- Created a distributed PWA tablet application destined to be deployed to the on-site locations to be used by walk-in customers.
- Built a GraphQL server gateway that servers queries and mutations to different user-facing applications while authorizing and authenticating requests that have to interact with back-end services through gRPC communications.
- Designed and implemented Go and Kotlin-based microservices as well as the specification of Google Protobuff definitions and gRPC messaging instancing for inter-services communications.
- Made a productive local development stack that spawns all the business services and enables fast development on local computers.
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Next.js, Docker, PostgreSQL, TypeScript, React, GraphQL, Node.js, Web Architecture, Software Engineering, Microservices, HTML5, CSS, REST APIs, Code Architecture, Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Deployment, GitHub, Computer Science, JavaScript, Linux, Distributed Systems, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Go, Protobuf, APIs, SQL, API Integration, Observability, Performance, Privacy, Security, Web Development, Back-end, Back-end Development, Server-side Rendering (SSR), Jest, Playwright, Webpack, Testing, RPC, Architecture, Audits, Best Practices, Data Architecture, CI/CD Pipelines, Kubernetes, Full-stack, Full-stack Development, Software Architecture, Technical Leadership, Startups, Technical Architecture, System Architecture, SaaS, Cloud Architecture, PostgreSQL 10, Scalability, Software System Architecture Development, System Architecture Design, API Design, Progressive Web Applications (PWAs), Software as a Service (SaaS), Third-party APIs, Reporting, Data Pipelines, Workflows, Reports, Finance, Image Processing, Web Applications, Solution Architecture, Mobile App Security, Express.js, Front-end Development, Product Management, Real-time Systems, Redis, WebSockets, Front-end, MySQL, React Redux, UI Design
Senior Full-stack Developer
2016 - 2018
Gymlib
- Created a global React architecture that enables fast content creation, relying on a modular architecture with components that can be used inside bigger applications or as standalone.
- Developed multiple applications with independent builds and a shared codebase to fulfill different business requests, such as a B2B focused version of the website and an independent payment provider.
- Implemented a frictionless integration with non-React legacy code boasting bilateral data communication to allow a smooth technological evolution without cutting existing business features.
- Integrated a fully functional server-side rendering for a better user experience, fast delivery, and issue-less SEO targeting.
- Evolved the data flow pipeline towards GraphQL and Apollo for fast and modular data hydration.
- Managed and mentored a promising young and capable team.
Technologies: Docker, MongoDB, JavaScript, React, GraphQL, Node.js, Web Architecture, Software Engineering, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microservices, HTML5, CSS, REST APIs, Code Architecture, GitHub, Computer Science, Linux, Protobuf, APIs, API Integration, Observability, Performance, Privacy, Security, Web Development, Stripe, Back-end, Back-end Development, Server-side Rendering (SSR), Jest, Webpack, Stripe Connect, Testing, Architecture, Best Practices, Data Architecture, CI/CD Pipelines, React Native, Full-stack, Full-stack Development, Software Architecture, Team Leadership & Supervision, Technical Leadership, Startups, Technical Architecture, System Architecture, SaaS, Cloud Architecture, PostgreSQL 10, Scalability, Software System Architecture Development, System Architecture Design, API Design, Progressive Web Applications (PWAs), Third-party APIs, Web Applications, Solution Architecture, Mobile App Security, Express.js, Front-end Development, Product Management, Redis, Front-end, React Redux, UI Design
Senior Full-stack Developer
2015 - 2016
Kpsule
- Handled technical and conceptual decision making regarding various in-house projects.
- Developed the front end using diverse robust and even experimental technologies.
- Created the back end of RESTful Web Services and Node.js applications.
Technologies: Python, React, Node.js, Software Engineering, HTML5, CSS, Code Architecture, GitHub, Computer Science, JavaScript, APIs, Performance, Web Development, Webpack, Testing, Architecture, Best Practices, Full-stack, Full-stack Development, Software Architecture, Startups, Technical Architecture, System Architecture, Software System Architecture Development, System Architecture Design, Software as a Service (SaaS), Third-party APIs, Web Applications, Advertising Technology (Adtech), Angular, Express.js, Front-end Development, Product Management, Online Bidding, React Redux, UI Design
Full-stack Developer
2011 - 2015
Rakuten DX
- Developed fully interactive digital document readers to enhance the reading experience on the new tablet devices.
- Packaged and developed specific features for established publishing houses such as Canal+, Bayard, and Ouest France.
- Created web modules for iOS and Android to fast track the integration of cross-platform features.
- Developed digital document authoring and generation platforms, including InDesign Authoring, Comic Composer, and Cloud Authoring. These tools enable our users to easily create their interactive documents without coding.
Technologies: JavaScript, Software Engineering, Parsers, HTML5, CSS, Data Structures, Code Architecture, Computer Science, APIs, Web Development, Architecture, Best Practices, C++, Full-stack, Full-stack Development, Software Architecture, Technical Leadership, Startups, Mobile Game Development, Android, iOS, iPad, Technical Architecture, System Architecture, SaaS, Software System Architecture Development, Encryption, Third-party APIs, Image Processing, Web Applications, Streaming, Games, Mobile App Security, Angular, Front-end Development, Product Management, Front-end, React Redux, PHP, Mobile Development, UI Design
Project History
GAN Lagerfield Junction 2019 Hackathon Submission
https://github.com/saad-kh/gan-lagerfeldA hackathon project where we present our vision of an AI-powered tool that can dress you with retail outfits.
It aims to improve the online retail experience by giving fast feedback to customers so they can make more motivated purchases and reduce the rate of returns.
It aims to improve the online retail experience by giving fast feedback to customers so they can make more motivated purchases and reduce the rate of returns.
Crispy Physics
Crispy Physics is a 2D physics engine written in C# for Unity3D.
It's a close appropriation of Box2D assuming a similar structure along with heavily borrowed code.
The main feature of the engine is the ability to stop and rollback the simulated world freely along the timeline—foreseeing and keeping track of future and past states.
It's a close appropriation of Box2D assuming a similar structure along with heavily borrowed code.
The main feature of the engine is the ability to stop and rollback the simulated world freely along the timeline—foreseeing and keeping track of future and past states.
Za-id
https://za-id.com/A real-time tile game built in Unity for Steam and mobile, and the first title from my studio. I own it end to end: deterministic gameplay simulation, a unified rendering pipeline for thousands of animated tiles within a mobile frame budget, single-codebase builds across Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS, and the release process—versioned specs, validation gates, a demo delivered to a hard external deadline for Gamescom 2026.
Education
2010 - 2011
Exchange Program Participant in Computer Science
Nanyang Technological University - Singapore
2006 - 2011
Master's Degree in Computer Science
Polytech'Montpellier - Montpellier, France
Skills
Libraries/APIs
Node.js, React, React Redux, REST APIs, Protobuf, Stripe, Playwright, React Testing Library, Stripe Connect
Tools
GitHub, Claude, Webpack, UGUI, Claude Code, Firebase Authentication, Codex, ComfyUI, Terraform
Languages
GraphQL, TypeScript, JavaScript, Rust, C#.NET, HLSL, C++, Python, HTML5, CSS, C#, Go, SQL, Java, PHP
Frameworks
Jest, Unity, .NET, Express.js, Next.js, Unity3D, NestJS, React Native, Tailwind CSS, Angular, Agentic Frameworks, Unreal Engine
Paradigms
Web Architecture, Best Practices, Real-time Systems, Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Deployment, Microservices, Testing, Model Context Protocol (MCP), Mobile Development, UI Design, Management
Platforms
Android, iOS, Linux, Docker, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Firebase, Kubernetes, Godot
Storage
PostgreSQL, Redis, PostgreSQL 10, MongoDB, Database Modeling, Data Pipelines, MySQL, Google Cloud SQL, Google Cloud, Google Cloud Spanner, Elasticsearch
Other
Software Engineering, Computer Science, Data Structures, Code Architecture, Distributed Systems, APIs, API Integration, Observability, Performance, Web Development, Back-end, Back-end Development, Server-side Rendering (SSR), Architecture, Agentic Coding, Full-stack, Full-stack Development, Software Architecture, Startups, Game Development, Mobile Game Development, Mobile Games, iPad, Technical Architecture, System Architecture, SaaS, Cloud Architecture, Scalability, Software System Architecture Development, System Architecture Design, API Design, Software as a Service (SaaS), Third-party APIs, Web Applications, Games, Solution Architecture, Front-end Development, Product Management, WebSockets, Front-end, Algorithms, LLM Agents, AI Agents, Agentic AI Systems, LLM Integration, Large Language Models (LLMs), Cursor AI, Agentic AI, Privacy, Security, Supabase, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Storybook, Auditing, RPC, Cloudflare, Audits, Data Architecture, AI Architecture, AI Engineering, CI/CD Pipelines, Team Leadership & Supervision, Technical Leadership, 2D Games, AI Integration, CTO, Fractional CTO, OpenAI, Encryption, Progressive Web Applications (PWAs), Data Extraction, Reporting, Workflows, Reports, Image Processing, HDR Photography, Advertising Technology (Adtech), Streaming, Travel, Mobile App Security, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), Online Bidding, AI Agent Orchestration, UI Animation, UI Toolkits, Parsers, Pub/Sub, Graphics, Game Design, Production, Business Development, Compliance, Finance, Financials, Financing, AI Model Integration, AI Model Training, Computer Vision, AI-generated Video
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