Raheem Kawojue

Experience

1. CTO & Co-founder · Waysdrop

   Sep 2026 - present

   Own backend and platform architecture for the whole business: the ~5M-line NestJS backend, the agent fleet (support, notifications, activation/retention), multi-rail wallets, 6+ frontend apps (admin, API dashboard, affiliate, web, CRM, global-admin), 6 cross-language SDKs, and zero-downtime migration from Railway to AWS across 30+ resources including 4 RDS, 3 EC2, 2 Load Balancers, ElastiCache, 9 Amplify deployments, and 2 Lambda/EventBridge schedulers.

2. Head of Engineering · Waysdrop

   Jan 2026 - Aug 2026

   Led engineering for a platform where delivery ops, payment correctness, and AI automation all had to hold up in production: H3 courier matching, 15+ queues, the admin/API-dashboard/affiliate/web/CRM/global-admin frontends, 6 SDKs (Dart, Node, Go, PHP, Rust, Python), and 3 public reference architectures on GitHub.

3. Lead Backend Engineer · Waysdrop

   Jan 2025 - Dec 2025

   Built the entire platform server from early MVP to production: all NestJS services, Paystack/Nomba/Stripe wallet rails, Bull queues, the first Claude/Qwen support agent with 80+ tools, and the first internal admin and web frontends.

4. CTO & Co-founder · Terrakru

   2026 - present

   CTO and co-founder of a go-live-ready agricultural commerce marketplace connecting farmers and merchants across Nigeria. Owned backend architecture in a three-person founding team, built the NestJS backend with a colleague, paired on the Next.js frontends with another colleague, and single-handedly delivered the admin dashboard. Secure wallet, Paystack payments, in-app chat, geo-radius discovery via maps, and real-time listings ready for launch.

5. Co-founder · Lead Engineer · Opsettle

   2025 - present

   Building non-custodial stablecoin payment infrastructure from zero: merchant dashboard and gasless checkout on top of a NestJS API, backed by an audited settlement layer across Base, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, and BNB.

6. CTO · FixOrFlex

   2025

   Architected and shipped a two-sided services marketplace backend: Paystack escrow, concurrency-safe withdrawals, SSE job discovery, KYC gating, and TOTP 2FA.

7. Product Lead · Backend Engineer · Payshiga (Ojah)

   2024

   Led product and backend for Ojah, a cross-border marketplace on Payshiga's rails: live FX quotes, vendor-split checkout, dual logistics, and HMAC-signed webhook sync.

8. Co-founder · Backend Engineer · Videlabs · Metadawgs

   2024 - present

   VideSwap DEX aggregator across 5+ EVM chains with ERC-721 revenue sharing; five NestJS services for Metadawgs' Solana ecosystem covering presale, trading, SocialFi, and moderation.

9. Backend Engineer · Freelance · Independent

   2023 - 2024

   Shipped production backends for clients across e-commerce, fintech, healthcare, and Web3 gaming: StedShop, TalentSphere Africa, Amopedia, Omega Loan, and MemeGoat.

Selected systems

• Waysdropbuilt everything · cto · co-founder

  in production

  Logistics and commerce platform where backend correctness, money movement, and real-time operations all matter. I owned the system end-to-end: server, every web frontend, SDKs, architectures, and infrastructure, from early MVP through production scale as lead backend, then Head of Engineering, and now CTO and co-founder. The frontend fleet is 6+ production apps: waysdrop-admin, waysdrop-api-dashboard, waysdrop-affiliate, waysdrop-web, waysdrop-crm, and waysdrop-global-admin, plus partner portals and mobile wrappers for a total of 9 Amplify deployments. Led zero-downtime migration of all servers and databases from Railway to AWS: 4 RDS instances, 3 EC2 with 2 Elastic IPs, 2 Load Balancers, ElastiCache for caching, 2 Lambda functions with EventBridge Schedulers, 9 Amplify deployments, 2 ECRs, 3 CloudFront distributions, S3 for storage, 2 Secrets Managers, SES for email, and 2 WAF & Shield layers, everything instrumented with CloudWatch. Published 3 reference architectures on GitHub covering the location service, HTTP logger, and API key gateway, plus the courier matching algorithm writeup so the engineering decisions are legible, not just claimed. Authored 6 official platform SDKs in Dart, Node.js, Go, PHP, Rust, and Python so merchant and courier integrations ship in hours, not weeks. The AI layer is a production ops surface, not a demo chat box. A Claude/Qwen support agent with 80+ tools runs live on WhatsApp and Telegram and executes ops from a prompt. A notification decision agent chooses when and how to reach someone: push, email, SMS, or in-app, including new products, cart reminders, a nearby store, and holiday greetings. An activation and retention agent creates promos and pulls abandoned users back. Under that sit H3 geospatial courier matching, multi-rail wallets (Paystack, Nomba, Stripe, DVA, escrow), and 15+ Bull queues that keep delivery, payments, KYC, and webhook workloads moving outside request paths.

  • zero-downtime Railway → AWS migration across 4 RDS, 3 EC2, 2 ALBs
  • ElastiCache, 2 Lambda + EventBridge, 9 Amplify deployments, 2 ECRs, S3, 2 Secrets Managers, SES, 2 CloudFront + WAF/Shield — all on CloudWatch
  • 6 official platform SDKs: Dart · Node.js · Go · PHP · Rust · Python
  • 6+ production frontends: admin · API-dashboard · affiliate · web · CRM · global-admin (9 Amplify deployments with portals)
  • 3 public reference architectures: location · HTTP logger · API key gateway
  • Claude/Qwen support agent with 80+ tools across WhatsApp/Telegram
  • decision agent picks push, email, SMS, or in-app per user
  • activation/retention agent: promos, cart, geo, holiday triggers
  • read-replica routing + Prometheus/Sentry slow-query tracing
  • Redis circuit breaker on hot paths, no instance upgrade needed

  stack: nestjs · postgres · redis · bullmq · claude · qwen · aws · amplify · ec2 · rds · elasticache · react · sdk ×6 · waysdrop.com

• Opsettleco-founder · lead eng

  in progress

  Crypto payment infrastructure built so merchants can accept stablecoins without taking on wallet UX or custody complexity. Co-founded and built from zero: a merchant dashboard and gasless checkout on top of a NestJS API, backed by an audited smart-contract settlement layer across five EVM chains: Base, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, and BNB. The contract layer covers direct and relayed checkout, no-wallet deposit addresses, reusable customer wallets, escrow with dispute resolution, ERC-20 subscriptions, programmable payments like vesting, timelocks, and threshold triggers, donation campaigns, and cross-chain swaps, all fee-metered through a central token registry with oracle safety checks. Deterministic CREATE2 factories give merchants and customers the same wallet address on every supported chain. Non-custodial throughout: funds settle directly to merchant wallets; Opsettle never holds them.

  • TokenRegistry, MerchantRegistry, PaymentSettlement, PayoutRouter
  • Escrow, SubscriptionManager, ProgrammablePayments, cross-chain swap routing
  • EIP-712 merchant consent + ERC-4337 account abstraction

  stack: solidity · hardhat · nestjs · postgres · multi-chain (Base, Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, BNB)

• Terrakructo · co-founder · backend (pair) · frontend (pair) · admin dashboard (solo)

  ready to go live

  Agricultural commerce platform built to move farmers and merchants from offline coordination into a safer, searchable, payment-backed marketplace. As CTO and co-founder in a three-person founding team, I owned backend architecture, built the NestJS backend with one colleague, paired on the Next.js customer and merchant frontends with another colleague, and single-handedly designed and shipped the admin dashboard. Users get a built-in wallet with bank transfers, card payments, and instant payouts via Paystack and Bull-driven payout queues, replacing screenshot-based confirmation with an auditable payout flow. Farmers and buyers chat directly inside the app to negotiate prices and share product specifications. An interactive map and geo-radius filter lets merchants source produce by distance and price. Real-time listings, price comparison, photo-based produce uploads, and verified buyer offers complete the commerce loop from listing to secure payment to delivery.

  • verified listings with photos, geo-radius map search, and real-time price comparison across Nigeria
  • built-in wallet: Paystack card/bank intake + Bull-queued instant payouts with reconciliation
  • in-app chat for negotiation and spec sharing, plus admin dashboard (built solo) for ops and moderation

  stack: nestjs · nextjs · postgres · redis · bull · paystack · s3 · cloudinary · terrakru.com

• FixOrFlexcto

  in production

  Two-sided services marketplace connecting clients with professionals. As CTO I architected and delivered the backend from scratch: the full job lifecycle, escrow-based payments on Paystack (charges, transfers, webhooks), concurrency-safe wallet withdrawals, SSE job discovery with relevance ranking, in-app chat, KYC gating (NIN/CAC), and TOTP 2FA.

  • escrow lifecycle + concurrency-safe wallet withdrawals
  • SSE job discovery with relevance ranking + TOTP 2FA

  stack: nestjs · postgres · paystack · redis · fixorflex.com

• Ojahproduct lead · backend eng

  in production

  Cross-border e-commerce marketplace built on Payshiga's payment and wallet rails. I led product and backend: a multi-vendor catalog with HS customs codes, vendor-split checkout priced with live FX from Payshiga quotes, dual logistics providers (Shiip and Topship), HMAC-signed vendor sync from Payshiga business webhooks, and payment confirmation from Payshiga charge events queued through Bull.

  • vendor-split carts with Shiip/Topship comparison + HS codes on international routes
  • Payshiga quote API, payment links, and HMAC-signed business sync webhooks

  stack: nestjs · postgres · redis · payshiga · ojah.shop