Senior Frontend Engineer

Ion Popa
London, UK

I build production frontends and the platform around them: clear boundaries, typed contracts, performance, accessibility, and tests that catch real issues. I also build backend-for-frontend routes (Next.js/Remix and Node) for authentication, data shaping, and edge cases to keep the client lean. I enjoy high-ownership teams, mentoring engineers, and helping teams ship safely - especially in regulated environments - through pragmatic standards, lightweight RFCs, and measurable improvements to delivery speed and quality.

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

Backend / BFF

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

Testing & Infra

Vitest
Jest
Cypress
MSW
Docker
GitHub Actions
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