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Senior Frontend Engineer

Ion Popa
London, UK

Senior Frontend Engineer with 7+ years building React/TypeScript applications across regulated SaaS, fintech, and e-commerce. I build Next.js/Remix server routes and Node BFFs to handle auth and data shaping so the client stays simple. Day to day I ship micro-frontends, own shared UI libraries, and focus on performance, testing, and safe releases. I lead small teams, write RFCs, mentor engineers, and work closely with product stakeholders and design teams from discovery to release.

Ⅰ.

What I Build

AI-Enabled Web Apps

Streaming UX, tool use, evals, and the production basics: logging, metrics, and guardrails

Scalable Frontends

Microfrontends, shared design systems, and performance-first UX

Frontend Platforms

Clear boundaries, typed contracts, reliable CI/CD, and tooling that keeps teams moving

Ⅱ.

Tech

Frontend

  • TypeScript
  • React
  • Next.js
  • Remix
  • Tailwind
  • shadcn/ui
  • Storybook
  • Module Federation
  • TanStack Query

State & Data

  • Redux Toolkit
  • Zustand
  • Apollo Client
  • TanStack DB
  • Zod

AI

  • OpenAI API
  • Vercel AI SDK
  • MCP
  • RAG
  • Vector Stores
  • Evals
  • Guardrails
  • Claude Code
  • Codex
  • GitHub Copilot
  • Amazon Q

Backend / BFF

  • Node.js
  • Express
  • Next.js / Remix server routes
  • GraphQL
  • REST
  • WebSockets
  • Bun
  • Elysia

Testing & Infra

  • Vitest
  • Jest
  • Cypress
  • MSW
  • Docker
  • GitHub Actions
  • Terraform
  • AWS
  • Web Vitals

Tooling

  • Vite
  • Webpack
  • Turborepo

Observability

  • OpenTelemetry
  • Grafana
  • Sumo Logic

Data Stores & Cache

  • PostgreSQL
  • Redis
  • MongoDB
  • MySQL

Edge / Platform

  • Cloudflare
  • AWS (ECS/EKS/S3)
Ⅲ.

Principles

  • Keep it simple, measurable, and testable
  • Optimize for change with clear boundaries and typed contracts
  • Ship value safely and often
  • Performance matters - and so does developer experience
Ⅳ.

Recent Focus

  • AI assistants inside enterprise UIs (streaming UX + guardrails)
  • Hardening microfrontend platforms and shared libraries
  • Developer tooling, local dev speed, and CI reliability
Ⅴ.

Learning

Frontend Masters
  • React performance
  • TypeScript
  • Testing
  • Frontend architecture
Academind
  • React ecosystem
  • Full-stack modules