Karan Mahajan
Developer.
I build fast, scalable web applications — and I use AI to do it better.
A developer who ships — and keeps shipping.
I'm Karan Mahajan, a full-stack web developer based in Ontario, Canada. Over five years and across two countries, I've worked in agency, in-house, and independent settings — building production applications that range from headless CMS architectures to AI-integrated SaaS platforms. I hold a Master's in Applied Computing from the University of Windsor, where I also contributed as a Programming Research Assistant on a client-facing platform redesign.
My primary stack is Next.js, React, TypeScript, and GraphQL, with strong command of WordPress, Drupal, and headless CMS patterns on the content side. On the backend, I work comfortably with Node.js, Python, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and Django, and I've led integrations across Stripe, WooCommerce, ERP systems, JWT/OAuth authentication, and REST APIs. I write SCSS, enforce BEM, and care deeply about component architecture — having built and published reusable npm packages with cross-framework support across React, Angular, and Vue.
Beyond the code, I've owned performance audits and Core Web Vitals improvements, implemented CSP and CORS security standards, ensured WCAG accessibility compliance, and set up CI/CD pipelines using AWS and Jenkins. I've worked in Agile environments using Jira and Confluence, and I bring the same structured thinking to independent and contract work.
I treat AI as a practical tool — embedded into how I review code, structure content workflows, and approach problems upstream of implementation.
Experience & Education
Five years across two countries — agency, in-house, and independent.
Full Stack Web Developer
- Built scalable CMS-driven and headless architectures using WordPress and Drupal, integrating with Next.js via REST and GraphQL to deliver flexible, high-performance web applications
- Developed modern frontend applications with React and Next.js (SSR, SSG, ISR), improving performance, SEO, and user experience while supporting scalable SaaS platforms
- Customized themes, plugins, and backend systems using CPTs, taxonomies, WP-CLI, and hook-based architecture, streamlining workflows and enhancing content management efficiency
- Led complex integrations including Stripe (payments, subscriptions, webhooks) and WooCommerce with ERP systems, managing data pipelines, authentication (JWT/OAuth), and role-based access
- Strengthened application performance, security, and accessibility through caching, code splitting, Core Web Vitals optimization, WCAG compliance, and best practices like CSP, CORS, and SEO implementation
Programming Research Assistant
- Led the frontend redesign of a client-facing platform, improving usability, navigation, accessibility, and overall user experience while aligning with business requirements
- Built dynamic, data-driven UI components and integrated RESTful APIs (Velo by Wix) to enable real-time dashboards, seamless frontend-backend communication, and enhanced user engagement
- Managed CMS-driven architectures across Wix and WordPress, handling structured data, customer profiles, dynamic content, and implementing SEO best practices for improved search visibility
Master of Applied Computing
Software Engineer
- Led development of a reusable React component library, integrating with Node.js and MongoDB backends while ensuring WCAG-compliant accessibility standards
- Built and published reusable component packages (npm + Stencil.js), enabling cross-framework support (React, Angular, Vue) and reducing integration time across projects
- Implemented robust testing and documentation using Jest and Storybook, improving component reliability, usability, and design-developer collaboration
- Maintained high-quality frontend architecture using TypeScript, SCSS, BEM, and responsive design, while managing code with Git/Bitbucket and Agile workflows (Jira, Confluence)
Software Craftsperson
- Developed responsive web applications and PWAs using React, Next.js, HTML, and CSS, improving user engagement and mobile retention through optimized UI/UX
- Built dynamic dashboards and custom UI components (BEM, Material UI) to enhance data visualization, scalability, and maintainability
- Integrated Node.js APIs with MongoDB backends, ensuring efficient data flow, system reliability, and seamless frontend-backend communication
- Deployed and optimized applications using nginx and Vercel, while performing end-to-end testing to ensure performance, stability, and high-quality user experience
Member of Technical Staff
- Managed and optimized MySQL databases by writing efficient SQL/PL-SQL queries, procedures, and packages, ensuring data accuracy, performance, and quick resolution of production issues
- Developed and enhanced frontend features using JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, including form validations and UI improvements for core product functionality
- Contributed to backend development using Java, implementing new features (e.g., multi-attachment forms) and improving system scalability and reliability
- Streamlined deployment and testing workflows using AWS and Jenkins CI/CD pipelines, while performing end-to-end testing and handling change requests, bug fixes, and Jira-based production support
Skills
Tools I use in production every week — grouped by where they live in the stack.
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Projects
Scroll to flip through the deck — each card pins until the next one takes over.
findabl
findabl is a full-stack SaaS platform I single-handedly designed and built to help businesses improve their visibility across AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot. Built with Next.js 16 App Router, React 19, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS 4, Supabase, Stripe, and SendGrid, it covers the entire customer-facing product — from marketing and authentication all the way through billing, onboarding, and a post-subscription dashboard.
I built the complete user journey from scratch: visitors land on the marketing site, register with reCAPTCHA v3 server-side verification, choose between a Starter or Growth subscription plan, acknowledge a dynamically generated PDF service agreement, and complete checkout through Stripe. Stripe webhooks keep Supabase in sync and trigger automated welcome emails and activity logging. After subscribing, users fill out a detailed business intake form collecting competitor data, service areas, CMS credentials, and Google Business Profile access — which gets routed directly to the internal findabl team for execution.
On the technical side, I implemented dual AI-powered business search using GPT-4o-mini and Gemini 2.5 Flash with IP-based rate limiting, promotional campaign flows with automatic Stripe coupon application matched by email, and a user dashboard with account management, an activity log, and security settings. Marketing pages use Next.js's "use cache" directive with week-long TTLs and Suspense-based skeleton loading for performance.
Alectra Utilities
Built and maintained a large-scale, multi-brand enterprise web platform serving two major Ontario utility companies — Alectra Utilities and Guelph Hydro. The platform powers public-facing websites, online customer portals, and shared UI components consumed by third-party billing and account management applications. Engineered custom Drupal modules for interactive billing, security widgets, content access control, and dynamic header/footer endpoints integrated into external JSP applications. Implemented a full search infrastructure using Apache Solr with support for advanced filtering and spellcheck. Delivered a responsive, branded front-end experience built on a custom Foundation-based theme with robust multi-region layout architecture, inline alert systems, and accessible navigation. The platform is hosted on Pantheon with enterprise-grade caching, CSP security headers, two-factor authentication, bot protection, and automated spam prevention — designed for reliability, security, and scale.
Interstone
Designed and developed a custom WordPress theme for Interstone, a premium building materials company, turning their product catalogue into a polished, fully responsive browsing experience with no transactional features. The site uses WooCommerce purely as a catalogue engine, with all cart and checkout UI removed, allowing users to explore products organised by category and filtered by attributes such as material type, colour, and finish. A live search feature delivers instant results as users type, while a dedicated AI-powered Visual Search page lets users upload a photo of their space and receive relevant product recommendations. The front-end was built with a strict SCSS token system, Bootstrap 5, and a Gulp pipeline handling compilation, autoprefixing, minification, and source maps, with seven reusable custom Gutenberg blocks built on Advanced Custom Fields Pro for flexible content management.
Alectra Corporate Website
Alectra Corporate Website is an enterprise-level Drupal 11 website built for Alectra Inc., one of Ontario's largest electricity distributors serving over 1 million customers. It features a fully custom theme built on Foundation for Sites, with a flexible paragraph-based content system comprising 60+ reusable components. My contributions spanned frontend development and custom module development — including building the Safety Data Sheet section with responsive tables, a full Careers section with grid layouts, testimonials, and CTA banners, and three custom Drupal modules covering automated cache management, employee document handling, and security headers. I also managed a major CMS upgrade from Drupal 10 to Drupal 11
WEAL Website
Developed and designed a comprehensive website using Wix, enabling efficient sample submission and result management. Implemented an admin dashboard for streamlined sample analysis and results uploading, improving overall administrative workflow
Campus Cart
Crafted a University Marketplace web application with Django, Python, and PostgreSQL, tailored for staff/student-exclusive use. Enabled trading across various categories, secured access via email-authenticated user profiles, and enriched listing with search and navigation with maps
News Article Recommender
Developed a news article recommender system with Python (Pandas) and NLP, featuring a React JS UI and MongoDB storage. Enhanced user engagement through personalized recommendations and Tableau visualizations of user data interactions
Let's work together
Got a product to build, a team to augment, or just a sharp idea worth prototyping? I read everything.