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Shahid Yousuf

Shahid Yousuf Senior Software Engineer

  • Frontend
  • Backend
  • Distributed Systems
  • Databases
  • Observability
  • AWS Cloud
  • AI-Enabled Apps

Real problems. Reliable software.

Building software end to end for 10+ years across Frontend, Backend, Distributed Systems, Databases, Observability, AWS Cloud and AI-Enabled Applications.

Hire me Schedule a meeting with me

Recently shipped

A typical project team 6 handoffs
  1. You
  2. Account manager
  3. Project manager
  4. Designer
  5. Developers
  6. QA
  7. DevOps
Working with me 0 handoffs
  1. You
  2. Shahid , working with AI coding agents, AI code review, Automated tests, CI/CD pipelines, Infrastructure as code and Observability
  3. Your product

The right engineer, with modern AI tools, workflows, processes and capabilities, delivering with you and your team.

  • Saves time

    No handoff delays

  • Saves money

    No resource waste

  • Better product

    No outdated processes

Live on GitHub

4,122

contributions, last year

How I can help your business

I help businesses design, build and run the software they depend on, from the first version of a product to the systems that keep it fast, secure and reliable as it grows.

Bring me in as a freelance engineer to build it, or as a consultant to review your architecture, plan a migration or guide your team. Either way, you work directly with me across the full lifecycle: understanding your goals and product requirements, planning and estimation, development workflows and CI/CD, secure deployments, observability, and ongoing maintenance and support.

See past work
Web Applications
Responsive, accessible and SEO-friendly web applications, from customer-facing sites and SaaS products to internal tools and dashboards.
AI Applications and Workflows
LLM-powered assistants, AI agents, retrieval-augmented search (RAG) and workflow automation built on your own data, with accuracy and cost kept in check.
APIs and Integrations
REST and event-driven APIs, backend services and third-party integrations, built in the language and framework that suits your stack, with data kept consistent across systems.
Database Systems
Data modelling, query tuning, replication and safe migrations across relational databases, caches and event streams, with backups you can restore.
Cloud Infrastructure
AWS architecture and migrations, multi-account governance and landing zones, with compute, messaging, storage and serverless services defined as infrastructure as code and costs under control.
Security
Application, infrastructure and data security, from identity and access management, threat detection and secrets management to secure workflows, development processes and compliance guardrails.

The gaps between people cost more than the code

Most software delays come from handoffs: a brief rewritten for the next person, context lost between roles, a decision waiting on the next meeting. With AI and modern tooling now covering much of the work that used to need extra hands, one experienced engineer can take a well-scoped project from the first conversation to production without those gaps.

I work with AI-enabled software engineering workflows: AI-assisted development and code review alongside automated tests, infrastructure as code and CI/CD, which take care of the repetitive work. My time goes on the decisions. When a project genuinely needs more people, I will say so at the start and help you plan for it.

Recent writing

All posts

Featured, 6 Oct 2026

GitHub Actions OIDC Trust Policy for AWS

GitHub now issues two OIDC subject formats. Here is a trust policy that accepts both, a way to prove it against every repository, and a safe order for retiring keys.

SCP vs RCP vs Declarative Policies in AWS

Deny a verb or assert a state? A practical guide to choosing between SCPs, RCPs and declarative policies, with examples and a safe rollout checklist.

AWS13 min read

Move an AWS Account to Another Organization

The order of operations for moving an AWS account between organizations: invite from the destination, enroll in Control Tower, then close the sign-on, guardrail and old-role gaps.

AWS12 min read

Selected work

All work

My own product, 2026

RajyaPrep, a daily exam platform built and run solo

A paid daily practice platform for UPSC, State PSC, SSC, banking, railways and defence aspirants. I designed, built, launched and operate the whole product myself.

  • A 30-question daily paper, with every option explained and the source of every question named
  • Subject tests across eleven subjects, mapped to more than thirty named exams
  • One-time plans from a single paper to a full year, with no auto-renewal

Product DesignFull-Stack Web ApplicationAI-Assisted ContentOnline PaymentsSEOCore Web VitalsMobile-First Design

My own product, 2026

Zuni, a real-time voice AI assistant

A personal voice AI assistant I built end to end: a native iPhone app with natural, interruptible conversation and a backend that lets the AI act on real accounts.

  • Version 1.0 shipped on both the iPhone app and the backend in about two weeks of build time
  • Full-duplex conversation: it listens while it speaks and can be interrupted mid-reply
  • Model time to first token cut from about 3.4 seconds to under 1

Native iOSReal-Time VoiceStreaming SpeechLLM Tool UseOAuthPythonAutomated Testing

Cybersecurity managed services provider, 2026

AWS governance and security for a cybersecurity provider

For a cybersecurity managed services provider, I set up AWS Control Tower over a live multi-account estate, rolled out preventive guardrails and CIS security monitoring, cleaned up identity and access, and built a safe method for moving accounts between AWS organizations.

  • AWS Control Tower set up over a live estate, with every account the client controls in its main organization enrolled
  • Baseline guardrail policies on nearly every enrolled account, rolled out from a test unit outward with no production incidents
  • CIS security monitoring across the centrally managed workload accounts in every Region in use

AWS Control TowerAWS OrganizationsService Control PoliciesResource Control PoliciesDeclarative PoliciesIAM Identity CenterAWS Security HubCIS BenchmarkAWS ConfigIAM Access AnalyzerCloudTrailCloudFormation StackSetsTerraformGitHub OIDCPython

Have a project in mind?

Share your goals, timeline and any constraints, whether you need it built or want expert advice. I read every message myself, as the engineer who would build it, and reply with a clear view on approach, scope and next steps.

Hire me