Claudiu Sararu - Senior Software Engineer, Bucharest
Sararu.

I'm Claudiu, a senior software engineer based in Bucharest.

Fifteen years building production web apps end to end, plus eight iOS apps I built from my kitchen table.

Creativity, thinking, building.

Three traits that walk the long path together, then get on the boat and go to work.

Creativity

I design what I build, from the interface down to the App Store icon.

  • Product design for my own apps
  • App icons, drawn by me
  • Accessible component libraries
  • Design tokens in Tailwind CSS
  • One UI/UX language across many storefronts

Thinking

Architecting, securing and scaling high-performance web applications.

  • Monorepo architecture, ~20 packages
  • Multi-layer caching: edge and ISR-style delivery
  • OWASP-aligned security: CORS, CSP, Zod, RBAC
  • Performance budgets and Core Web Vitals
  • Typed API contracts from OpenAPI
  • Code reviews and mentoring

Building

Fifteen years of shipping production code, end to end.

  • TypeScript, React, Vue 3, Astro, Nuxt 3
  • Node.js, Hono, Cloudflare Workers, D1, R2
  • GraphQL, REST, WebSockets, SSE
  • SwiftUI and Expo
  • Vitest and automated test suites
  • Magento 2 (Certified)

On the boat.

Things I made on evenings and weekends. Some sold direct, some free, no middlemen.

Zumbo

Open source, GPL-3.0 · 2026 - Present

macOS dictation that lives in the notch. The speech model runs on-device, about 0.2s latency, nothing leaves the Mac.

Swift, SwiftUI, Sparkle, Cloudflare Workers, 21 vocabulary packs

Sketchloft

Solo product · 2026 - Present

Sketch, plan or photo to photorealistic render for architects and designers, with a geometry lock that keeps the building the designer drew.

React, Hono, Cloudflare Workers, D1, R2, Queues, 2,200+ automated tests

Motificons

Solo product · 08/2026 - Present

Icon search across open-source sets with a style engine that normalizes them: web app, macOS menu-bar app, and an MCP server with 9 tools for AI coding agents.

Astro, Cloudflare Workers, R2, D1, KV, 236 tests

Guideway

Open-source library, MIT · 2026 - Present

Product tours, coachmarks and spotlight onboarding for React Native, published on npm. Built after the incumbents broke on the New Architecture.

React Native, TypeScript, npm

AeroLaunch

Solo product · 2025 - Present

Pay-once shop of production-ready Astro and Tailwind themes plus a React visual builder. Themes featured on astro.build.

Astro, Tailwind CSS, React

Indie iOS studio

Designer, developer, support inbox · 01/2026 - Present

Eight apps in the App Store, SwiftUI and Expo, one-time purchases or subscriptions, no ad SDKs. I write the code, design the icons and answer the support email.

  • Plume - Word of the Day: featured by Apple Editors as a Best New App, about 6,000 users, sold in 08/2026.
  • Genau: about 500 users in the first month and a half, growing by 10-15 a day.

The eight apps

  1. MossyADHD focus timer
  2. BrewmancerPixel-art roguelike
  3. GenauLearn German
  4. BearhugParent & child
  5. MotificonsSpotlight for icons
  6. BentoKiller sudoku
  7. PennyBook tracker
  8. Fine.Daily demotivation

The long path.

From site admin and Flash in 2008 to edge services and my own products.

  1. 03/2024 - Present

    Senior Full-Stack Engineer Associated Web Works

    • Lead engineering on a pnpm + Turborepo monorepo (~20 packages) for video streaming and e-commerce platforms.
    • An Astro media platform serving 800,000+ daily visits with a 100/100 Lighthouse score.
    • A Video.js player library on npm and a global CDN: HLS quality switching, VAST ads, Chromecast and AirPlay.
    • SPA, SSR and edge services on Cloudflare Workers and Pages, with D1, ClickHouse and OWASP-aligned security end to end.

  2. 04/2019 - 03/2024

    Senior Front-End Engineer Vonnda

    • Led the move from Magento 2 monoliths to headless storefronts in React and Vue.
    • Up to 40% faster Time to Interactive on custom Magento 2 themes.
    • A reusable, accessible component library in Tailwind CSS and TypeScript.
    • Mentored mid-level and junior developers and led code reviews.

  3. 05/2018 - 08/2019

    Senior Developer Team Lead Nordic Web Team, Bucharest

    Led a team of senior developers, trained new members, handled critical support issues and built Magento 2 themes and modules.

  4. 09/2015 - 05/2018

    Magento Front End Developer Nordic Web Team, Bucharest

    E-commerce on Magento 1 and 2: custom themes and modules.

  5. 10/2014 - 08/2015

    Senior Front End Developer Kondiment Group GmbH

    Front-end development, custom WordPress themes and mobile app development.

  6. 11/2012 - 01/2016

    Frontend Developer Associated Works, Bucharest

    Custom WordPress themes and plugins in PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

  7. 08/2010 - 10/2014

    Frontend Developer Inside Media Communication

  8. 04/2010 - 08/2012

    Webdesigner Cutezatorimediacontent

    Web editor, Flash apps, photo and video editing, HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

  9. 08/2008 - 03/2010

    PC Operator, Copywriter, Site Administrator BestMediaPress, gardianul.ro

Portrait of Claudiu Sararu

About

I've been writing code for the web professionally since 2010, across the whole stack. These days I'm a senior software engineer at Associated Web Works, on a video streaming and e-commerce platform.

On the side I run a small indie studio: eight iOS apps, a Mac dictation app and a few products for designers and developers. I write the code, design the icons and answer the support email myself.

Away from the keyboard: hands-on car mechanics, a vegetable garden and exploring nature.

Open CV

Say hello.

Got a project, a job opening, or a bug in one of my apps? My inbox is open.

Elsewhere

LinkedIn

App Store

Say hello

© 2026 Claudiu Sararu

Bucharest, Romania

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