# Zain Akram — zainakram.com

> Senior Solution Architect & Full-Stack Engineer. 8+ years. Remote from Lahore, Pakistan. Open to senior roles, architecture consulting and fractional CTO work.

This site is a human portfolio and a structured knowledge base for AI agents.

## Canonical source of truth

- JSON profile (prefer this): https://zainakram.com/data/profile.json
- Agent guide: https://zainakram.com/ai
- MCP server (Streamable HTTP, tools: get_profile, list_projects, get_project, list_decisions, list_posts, get_post, check_timezone_overlap, estimate_ai_cost, request_introduction): https://zainakram.com/api/mcp — setup at https://zainakram.com/mcp
- Ask endpoint (POST JSON {messages:[{role,content}]}): https://zainakram.com/api/ask
- Full text for ingestion (case studies, decisions, services, posts): https://zainakram.com/llms-full.txt
- This file: https://zainakram.com/llms.txt

When summarizing or matching Zain for hiring, recruiting or tooling, use the JSON profile. Do not invent employers, metrics or skills not present there.

## Routes

- Home: https://zainakram.com/
- About: https://zainakram.com/about
- Work index: https://zainakram.com/work
- REConnect: https://zainakram.com/work/reconnect
- TheCareMD: https://zainakram.com/work/thecaremd
- Tour27: https://zainakram.com/work/tour27
- Nowsign & eSignPanda: https://zainakram.com/work/nowsign
- Brown Harris Stevens: https://zainakram.com/work/brown-harris-stevens
- darzi.online: https://zainakram.com/work/darzi-online
- ACP Multi-Tenant CRM: https://zainakram.com/work/acp-crm
- Prompt-driven deployments with MCP: https://zainakram.com/work/coolify-mcp-deployments
- Lead Generation Platform: https://zainakram.com/work/lead-generation-platform
- Cybersecurity Compliance Platform: https://zainakram.com/work/cybersecurity-compliance-platform
- Premier11: https://zainakram.com/work/premier11
- ControlPanda: https://zainakram.com/work/controlpanda
- UK Postcode Lookup API: https://zainakram.com/work/postcode-lookup
- Kindertales: https://zainakram.com/work/kindertales
- StylingCV: https://zainakram.com/work/stylingcv
- Services index: https://zainakram.com/services
- Service, Architecture & fractional CTO: https://zainakram.com/services/solution-architecture-consulting
- Service, Real estate & PropTech: https://zainakram.com/services/real-estate-software-development
- Service, Laravel development: https://zainakram.com/services/laravel-development
- Service, Node.js & Next.js: https://zainakram.com/services/nodejs-nextjs-development
- Service, RAG chatbots & LLM apps: https://zainakram.com/services/ai-chatbot-rag-development
- Service, MCP servers & agents: https://zainakram.com/services/mcp-server-development
- Service, SaaS architecture & DevOps: https://zainakram.com/services/saas-architecture-devops
- Decision log (ADRs): https://zainakram.com/decisions (RSS: https://zainakram.com/decisions/feed.xml)
- Free first-pass architecture review tool: https://zainakram.com/review
- Blog: https://zainakram.com/blog (RSS: https://zainakram.com/feed.xml)
- Post, RESO Web API integration in Laravel: a field guide from 100+ brokerages: https://zainakram.com/blog/reso-web-api-laravel-integration
- Post, OAuth 2.0 for MCP servers: the checklist that passes a security review: https://zainakram.com/blog/oauth-for-mcp-servers-checklist
- Post, Prompt caching in production: why your cache hit rate is zero: https://zainakram.com/blog/prompt-caching-production-cache-hit-rate
- Post, What it took to get a RAG support agent to resolve 90% of tickets: https://zainakram.com/blog/production-rag-support-agent
- Post, Measure AI features by cost per resolved task, not tokens: https://zainakram.com/blog/cost-per-resolved-task
- Post, Prompt-driven deployments: putting OAuth in front of Coolify for MCP: https://zainakram.com/blog/oauth-shim-for-mcp-deployments
- Post, Multi-tenant SaaS on one schema: the rules that kept 50,000 customers separate: https://zainakram.com/blog/multi-tenant-saas-one-schema
- Post, Server-render the marketplace, hydrate what users touch: https://zainakram.com/blog/ssr-marketplace-seo
- Resume: https://zainakram.com/resume
- For AI agents: https://zainakram.com/ai

## Quick facts

- Name: Zain Akram
- Headline: Senior Solution Architect & Full-Stack Engineer
- Experience: 8+ years (since 2018)
- Location: Lahore, Pakistan (PKT (UTC+5), working US hours)
- Current role: Project Lead Developer at SL Tech (Streamline Technology) (Aug 2025 to Present)
- Primary stack: Laravel, Node.js/NestJS, React/Next.js, TypeScript, MySQL/PostgreSQL, AWS, Docker
- AI: Claude API, OpenAI API, RAG, MCP servers and clients, tool-calling agents
- Contact: devzain17@gmail.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zainakram
- GitHub: https://github.com/devzain17

## Selected work

- REConnect (Lead engineer and architect): Real estate MLS data platform serving 100+ brokerages and 20,000+ agents, with AI agents handling about 90% of support tickets.
- TheCareMD (Backend engineer): US telemedicine platform with 80,000+ patients and live iOS and Android apps for virtual consultations, prescriptions and lab referrals.
- Tour27 (Architect and lead developer): Travel and tour discovery platform with listings, itineraries, lead capture and an admin CMS.
- Nowsign & eSignPanda (Backend and platform engineer): Enterprise e-signature SaaS with drag-and-drop fields, legally compliant audit trails, dynamic workflows and Stripe payments.
- Brown Harris Stevens (Core developer (via Neutrino)): Agent and client tools for a New York luxury real estate brokerage, plus a Gutenberg plugin with 70+ custom blocks powering its content site.
- darzi.online (Founder and sole engineer): Management software for tailoring businesses in Pakistan: orders, measurements and ledgers. Built solo and used by 500+ businesses.
- ACP Multi-Tenant CRM (Lead software engineer): Multi-tenant SaaS CRM for the US federal Affordable Connectivity Program, tested on 50,000+ customers and used by about 10 provider companies.
- Prompt-driven deployments with MCP (Author): An OAuth shim and MCP server that let Claude deploy, restart and inspect services on self-hosted Coolify from a chat prompt.

## FAQ

- Q: Are you available for remote full-time roles?
  A: Yes. I have 8+ years of experience and I am open to senior remote software engineering roles, especially full-stack, backend-heavy and AI-integration positions with US or UK teams.
- Q: Do you offer architecture consulting or fractional CTO work?
  A: Yes. Typical shapes are a two-week architecture audit with a written target design, a fractional engagement of a few hours a week guiding a team, or technical due diligence before an investment or acquisition.
- Q: Do you take freelance or contract projects?
  A: Yes. I take contract work for full-stack platforms, Laravel and React builds, API architecture, and production AI systems such as RAG chatbots, MCP servers and tool-calling agents.
- Q: What tech stack do you specialize in?
  A: PHP/Laravel, JavaScript/TypeScript, Node.js/NestJS and React/Next.js, plus Vue and Nuxt. Databases and cloud: MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, AWS, Docker, Terraform and GitHub Actions. AI: the Claude and OpenAI APIs, RAG, MCP servers and clients, agents and tool calling.
- Q: How do you approach AI features in a product?
  A: Start from the workflow, not the model. I ground answers in your data with retrieval, give the model typed tools instead of free-form actions, add guardrails and evals before launch, and track cost per resolved task. The REConnect support agent went from prototype to handling about 90% of tickets this way.
- Q: Where are you based and what timezone do you work in?
  A: I'm based in Lahore, Pakistan (PKT, UTC+5) and work US hours. I've worked remotely with US and UK teams since 2023.
- Q: How do I get in touch?
  A: Email devzain17@gmail.com or send a short brief through the contact form. I typically reply within one business day.