Founder & Systems Architect

Engineering with
High Agency & Intention

I am a software engineer and solo founder with a deep foundation in Computer Engineering and active leadership roots in the IEEE technical community. My engineering journey is defined by high-agency building—taking ideas from bare conceptual schemas all the way to production systems serving real users.

Over the past 5+ years, I have architected and deployed full-stack web platforms, mobile engines, and intelligent automations. As a builder, I specialize in clean architecture, offline-first resilience, and bridging the gap between cutting-edge AI capabilities and intuitive human psychology.

Today, I lead product development across flagship projects including Emerge (an identity-first habit engine built on behavioral science with Flutter and Firebase) and SocialSense (an AI market intelligence engine for African commerce), while consulting for founders and teams looking to launch resilient MVPs with zero bloat.

Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.) in Computer Engineering

Afe Babalola University (ABUAD)IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) (Member & Technical Project Contributor)

Distributed Systems Architecture
Embedded Systems & Microcontroller Programming
Clean Architecture & Functional-Reactive State Management
Applied Machine Learning & Multimodal LLM Pipelines
Joshua Ukpai

Joshua Ukpai

@jaykayhq

Available for Q3/Q4 2026
Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
WAT (GMT+1)
Operating Principles

Product & Engineering Philosophy

Identity-First Habit & Product Design
Behavioral Psychology Meets Software Engineering

Software should not merely record activity; it should reinforce user identity and agency. In systems like Emerge, every interaction is a vote for the person the user wants to become.

Intentional Minimalism & Zero Bloat
Code That Does Not Rot

Reduction is the ultimate sophistication. We reject superficial templates and bloated dependencies in favor of clean architectures, strict type boundaries, and high-performance primitives.

Pragmatic Applied AI
Invisible Leverage Over Gimmicks

AI should eliminate friction, synthesize unstructured complexity, and automate repetitive overhead without compromising deterministic reliability or security.

Full-Stack Agency & Rapid Velocity
Solo Builder Agility

Owning the full stack from relational and NoSQL schemas up to fluid UI micro-interactions enables lightning-fast iteration, immediate feedback loops, and uncompromised quality.

Offline-First & Fault Tolerance
Built for Real-World Conditions

Network connections are volatile. Applications must guarantee instantaneous local persistence (Drift/SQLite) and seamless background synchronization.

Technical Capabilities

Full-Stack & Systems Skill Matrix

Native & cross-platform mobile architectures optimized with Impeller
Flutter
Expert

Core stack for Emerge RPG habit engine & client mobile apps

Dart
Expert

Strict typing, macros, isolate concurrency & sound null-safety

Riverpod 2.0 (Codegen)
Expert

Reactive state management, auto-dispose providers & clean architecture

Drift (SQLite)
Expert

Local offline-first relational database with reactive query streams

Impeller Engine & Shaders
Advanced

60/120fps stutter-free rendering and custom shader pipelines

Career Milestones

Experience & Track Record

Founder & Principal Systems Architect

Studio / JaykayHQPort-Harcourt, Nigeria (Remote)
2024 – Present

Architected, built, and brought to market flagship software products while leading bespoke MVP engineering for venture-backed and solo founders.

Key Highlights:
  • Architected and engineered Emerge: an identity-first RPG habit engine utilizing Flutter, Riverpod codegen, Drift SQLite, and Firebase Gen 2.
  • Engineered SocialSense: an AI-driven social listening and market intelligence platform for Nigerian retail commerce and SMEs.
  • Delivered scalable cloud architectures and client MVPs with 100% on-time milestone delivery.
Flutter
Next.js 15
Firebase Gen 2
Google Genkit
Supabase
TypeScript

Senior Full-Stack & Mobile Engineer

Independent Product ConsultancyPort-Harcourt, Nigeria
2023 – 2024

Engineered specialized automation tools and financial management utilities, including Veridrop and LedgerNote, streamlining complex data operations.

Key Highlights:
  • Developed Veridrop automated workflow tool for high-volume operational efficiency.
  • Shipped LedgerNote, an intuitive financial data management utility with offline persistence.
  • Advised 8+ early-stage startups on technical feasibility, database design, and MVP velocity.
React
TypeScript
Node.js
PostgreSQL
Flutter
Tailwind CSS

Software Engineer & Technical Lead

Tech Ecosystem & Collaborative LabsNigeria
2021 – 2023

Led cross-functional frontend and mobile initiatives, engineered responsive single-page applications, and conducted technical workshops for developers.

Key Highlights:
  • Built enterprise-grade web dashboards with Next.js and robust RESTful API microservices.
  • Mentored 50+ junior developers across Nigeria in Flutter state management and clean architecture principles.
  • Authored open-source utilities and modular state architectures.
Flutter
Dart
React
Firebase
Git
REST APIs

Computer Engineering Researcher & IEEE Lead

Academic Institution & IEEE Student ChapterNigeria
2019 – 2021

Completed intensive B.Eng. in Computer Engineering studies with emphasis on digital logic, embedded microcontrollers, distributed systems, and algorithmic efficiency.

Key Highlights:
  • Honored as active IEEE technical contributor and student project coordinator.
  • Conducted research in microcontrollers, signal processing, and low-latency client-server communications.
  • Organized university-wide engineering hackathons and algorithmic competitions.
Computer Engineering
C/C++
Microcontrollers
Algorithms
System Design

Ready to build something exceptional?

I am currently accepting select MVP builds, mobile applications, and AI integrations for Q3/Q4 2026.