Hotchand

Senior Full-Stack Engineer · PHP / Python · AI-Integrated Systems · 15+ Years Berlin, Germany · hotchand.sajnani@gmail.com · LinkedIn · GitHub


About

I’m a senior backend and full-stack engineer with 15+ years of experience building scalable eCommerce platforms, microservices, and since 2025 AI-native systems. I’ve led monolith-to-microservices migrations, architected event-driven platforms handling 500,000+ product catalogs, and now build production RAG pipelines and LLM agents using Claude API, OpenAI API, and MCP (Model Context Protocol).

I work across PHP (Symfony/Laravel), Python (FastAPI), and modern frontend (Vue.js/Nuxt.js), with deep experience in Magento, cloud infrastructure (AWS, Docker, Kubernetes), and CI/CD. Currently freelancing out of Berlin, open to full-time, freelance, and remote-first opportunities.


Skills

AI / GenAI - OpenAI API · Claude API · RAG Pipelines · Agentic Workflows · MCP · Vector Databases · Prompt Engineering · Cursor · Claude Code

Languages & Frameworks - PHP 8 · Symfony · Laravel · Magento (1.x/2.x) · Wordpress · Woocommerce · Joomla · Typo3 · Shopware · Shopify · Python · FastAPI · Node.js

Frontend - Vue.js · Nuxt.js

Databases - MySQL · PostgreSQL · MongoDB · Redis · Elasticsearch

Architecture - Microservices · Event-Driven Systems · Monolith Decomposition · API-First · Domain-Driven Design

Cloud & Infrastructure - AWS · GCP · Docker · Kubernetes · Terraform · CI/CD (GitHub Actions, GitLab)

APIs & Auth - REST · GraphQL · OAuth 2.0 · JWT · Webhooks

Monitoring & QA - Datadog · ELK Stack · PHPUnit


Experience

Senior Software Engineer & Tech Lead (Freelance) - Berlin, Germany (Remote) March 2025 - Present Architected a full marketplace eCommerce platform with microservices, event-driven processing, and AI-powered agents (MCP, RAG, Claude API, OpenAI API), reducing operational effort by 35–70%. Led CI/CD, Kubernetes, and ELK infrastructure end-to-end; mentored 2 engineers, cutting deployment time by 60% and production issues by 30%.

Senior Backend Developer - ProByte Pvt. Ltd., Karachi, Pakistan Aug 2024 - Feb 2025 Built scalable PHP backend services, REST APIs, and enterprise OAuth integrations, reducing integration failures by 40%. Optimized high-traffic databases and async ETL processing (MySQL/PostgreSQL, Redis) for 50% faster query performance.

Team Lead / Senior Backend Engineer - Salsoft Technologies, Karachi, Pakistan Aug 2023 - Jul 2024 Decomposed a monolith into modular services, driving a 40% platform performance improvement that contributed to 15% revenue growth. Introduced CI/CD pipelines and automated testing across cross-functional teams.

Senior Software Engineer - Kaiser Inc., Karachi, Pakistan Nov 2020 – Jul 2023 Led a PHP monolith-to-microservices migration, improving scalability and fault isolation. Delivered a 40% performance uplift on a 500,000+ product catalog through caching and search optimization; mentored junior developers.

PHP Backend Developer / Tech Lead - Salsoft Technologies, Karachi, Pakistan Oct 2015 – Oct 2020 Developed and maintained Magento 1.x/2.x platforms, custom modules, and migrations. Improved store scalability through caching, DB optimization, and cloud-based CI/CD for large, high-traffic catalogs.

Earlier Experience


Projects

Browse my full repository list on GitHub.


Education

Bachelor of Science, Information Technology University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan · 2002 – 2006


Languages

English (Fluent/Professional) · Deutsch (A2 - Active Learner) · Urdu/Sindhi (Native)


Contact

Open to full-time, freelance, and remote-first opportunities. 📧 hotchand.sajnani@gmail.com · 💼 LinkedIn · 💻 GitHub