Saif Muhammad Ganatra

Product Owner + Architect + Developer — August 2026 - Present

Self-Employed, Aberdeen, UK

Founded and lead the independent development of a cross-platform prayer management application, applying end-to-end product ownership — spanning requirements, architecture and ongoing development. Currently under active development.

• Own the product roadmap as founder, architect and developer, translating end-user needs into a structured feature set covering daily worship tracking (Namaz, Roza, and voluntary Nawafil prayers).
• Designing and building a dedicated Qaza tracking engine to let users systematically record and clear a backlog of long-outstanding missed prayers.
• Developing integrated modules for Zakat, Sadaqah, Fitra and Fidya, giving users a single place to monitor and manage their charitable obligations.
• Architecting a scalable backend using NestJS and TypeScript, exposing RESTful APIs to support the mobile application.
• Building the cross-platform mobile application using React Native and TypeScript, targeting Android and iOS from a unified codebase.
• Designing privacy-focused data models to securely handle sensitive religious and personal activity data.
• Managing the full product lifecycle independently — requirements, architecture, development and iterative improvement — as sole product owner.

Technical Lead + Developer — August 2024 - July 2026

PayiO Ltd., Leicester, UK (Hybrid)

Serve as lead for a secure, PSD2-compliant open banking platform (Account Information & Payment Initiation Services), ensuring the application remains stable, secure and fit for purpose while supporting evolving compliance and business requirements.

• Act as application lead, gathering business requirements from stakeholders and translating them into technical documentation and development priorities.
• Own application architecture (Laravel/PHP, ReactJS + TypeScript, PostgreSQL), ensuring stability, security and performance across busy release periods.
• Manage AWS infrastructure (EC2, RDS) and coordinate Git-based version control and release processes for collaborative, trackable code management.
• Delivered a full client onboarding workflow (automated communications, secure credential management, 2FA), improving operational efficiency and compliance.
• Coordinate issue resolution, bug fixes and ongoing support activities to maintain client satisfaction and system uptime.

Lead Application Developer — January 2025 - March 2025

Pay2EU, Leicester, UK (Remote)

Fully accountable for a real-time liquidity management application for blockchain-based exchanges, from stakeholder requirements through design, delivery and deployment.

• Managed the application end-to-end requirements, architecture, development and deployment as sole technical owner, ensuring on-time, high-quality delivery.
• Coordinated integrations with four external technology and financial partners (Crassula, ClearJunction, Kraken, FireBlocks), managing vendor requirements and reducing transaction processing time from hours to seconds.
• Oversaw AWS DevOps operations, including deployment pipelines, scaling and uptime monitoring, to ensure continuous service availability.
• Translated business requirements into detailed technical documentation to support governance and future maintenance.

Lead Developer — October 2021 - July 2024

Proteus, Aberdeen, UK

Led the ongoing development of a multi-tenant business application for the oil & gas sector, directing module development, release management and client support following the company's acquihire by Proteus.

• Directed the application roadmap and led a cross-functional team in developing new modules aligned with client needs and industry standards, boosting client satisfaction ratings.
• Coordinated project milestones using agile methodologies, improving on-time delivery and reducing overall project costs.
• Oversaw application support, bug fixes and release processes, maintaining a client satisfaction rate above 95% and securing repeat business.
• Mentored team members and promoted a culture of continuous improvement across the development function.

Application Associate Architect — February 2020 - September 2021

Next Generation Innovations (NextGenI), Karachi, Pakistan

Architected Proteus, a project management application, owning codebase and database design while engaging directly with stakeholders and integrating third-party payment services.

• Defined codebase and database schema architecture, achieving a 20% increase in system performance and scalability.
• Facilitated stakeholder workshops and feature presentations to gather requirements and prioritise the development roadmap, driving a 40% increase in client conversions.
• Managed the integration of a third-party payment vendor (MangoPay) for subscription-based billing.
• Documented client feedback and feature requests, improving alignment between development teams and stakeholders and cutting development cycle time by 20%

Senior Application Engineer / Application Lead Engineer — January 2015 - January 2020

Next Generation Innovations (NextGenI), Karachi, Pakistan

Directed multiple concurrent application projects across eCommerce, logistics and non-profit sectors, overseeing architecture, database development, team leadership and vendor integrations.

• Led delivery across five concurrent projects (Lagarconne.com, Femi9.com, CLEX Logistics, FeelingBlessed.org, Proteus), contributing to a combined 50% revenue increase over five years.
• Directed team leadership and code review processes, ensuring adherence to industry standards and reducing post-deployment issues by 25%.
• Managed integrations with multiple third-party payment vendors (PayPal, Authorize.net, Payfort, Stripe), maintaining seamless, secure transactions.
• Supervised deployments across projects, minimising downtime, and mentored engineers on cross-industry startup initiatives.

Senior Software Engineer — September 2013 - December 2014

VectraCom (Pvt) Ltd, Karachi, Pakistan

Developed applications for telecom sectors, including conference call applications for Mobilink and Zong, a Ramazan quiz app, a complaint management system, and IVR services.

• Implemented development frameworks (CodeIgniter, Laravel) for telecom clients including Mobilink and Zong, and collaborated with QA, VOIP and client stakeholders to ensure requirement-aligned delivery.

Internship | Software Developer | Senior Software Engineer — July 2008 - August 2013

PNT Global, Karachi, Pakistan

Focused on developing eCommerce portals using osCommerce and Magento, catering to bespoke requirements.

• Delivered bespoke eCommerce applications (osCommerce, Magento), integrating design with content management systems to meet customised client specifications.