Saad Tarhi

Saad Tarhi — Senior Full-Stack Engineer
ex-Automattic (WooCommerce Core Team)

I help teams stabilize, refactor, and scale their web applications: clean, tested, and production-ready.

About

About Me

I'm a senior software engineer with over 9 years of experience building and maintaining production-ready systems. At Automattic (WooCommerce Core Team), I worked across the full stack: React, TypeScript, and PHP; shipping stable features to millions of stores worldwide.

  • Deep expertise in React, TypeScript, Redux, and WordPress.
  • Experienced in testing (E2E + unit), CI/CD pipelines, and release automation.
  • Skilled in codebase stabilization and large-scale refactoring.
  • Focused on long-term code health and clean architecture.
  • Passionate about building maintainable software that scales safely.

I value clarity, reliability, and technical craftsmanship. My work centers on writing code that outlives trends: robust, maintainable, and easy to evolve.

Expertise

What I Do

Focused engagements for teams who need a steady, senior partner on code quality, reliability, and delivery.

Codebase Stabilization

I diagnose and fix brittle or AI-generated codebases. Refactoring, debugging, and restoring reliability in production systems.

Plugin & Maintenance Development

Modern WordPress / WooCommerce plugins built with React and PHP, Composer autoloading, and CI tests for long-term maintainability.

Testing & CI/CD Implementation

From flaky tests to full pipelines: I set up automated coverage, Playwright E2E tests, and GitHub Actions CI flows to keep deployments safe.

Work

Featured Projects

Selected engineering initiatives spanning architecture migrations, developer tooling, and launch-critical UX.

Scalable State Management Migration for WooCommerce

Scalable State Management Migration for WooCommerce

Challenge: WooCommerce Blocks relied on fragile React Context for critical checkout state.

Solution: Migrated the architecture to WordPress Data Stores with typed selectors, actions, and a safe rollout workflow.

Result: Third-party integrations gained a stable API surface and regressions decreased.

ReactReduxTypeScriptWordPressWooCommerce Blocks
Led End-to-End Test Migration to Playwright

Led End-to-End Test Migration to Playwright

Challenge: The Puppeteer suite produced flaky failures that blocked releases.

Solution: Rebuilt the E2E strategy in Playwright with deterministic fixtures, tracing, and GitHub Actions integration.

Result: CI stability improved dramatically and false positives dropped by over 40%.

PlaywrightPuppeteerE2E TestingTypeScriptGitHub ActionsCI/CD
Highlighting Payment Gateway Incompatibilities

Highlighting Payment Gateway Incompatibilities

Challenge: Merchants had no signal when incompatible payment gateways were activated together.

Solution: Built detection and notice surfaces in WooCommerce Blocks that explain conflicts directly in the checkout editor.

Result: Support tickets dropped and launches moved faster.

ReactReduxTypeScriptWordPressPHP

Social Proof

Testimonials

Notes from teammates who partnered with me on platform-level work.

“Saad is an exceptional Senior Software Engineer with an impressive skill set and a deep understanding of complex technical concepts.”
— Former colleague at Automattic
“I can attest to his technical abilities in both frontend, backend, and dev tooling, and most importantly, his character.”
— Team Lead, WooCommerce Blocks

Articles

Latest Articles

Long-form write-ups on testing, migrations, and delivery practices.

Engineering Notes: Coming Soon

I’ll be publishing short write-ups on debugging strategies, refactors, and build-system insights. Follow me on LinkedIn for updates.

Contact

Let's Work Together

Need help stabilizing, refactoring, or maintaining your product? I'm available for focused engagements or ongoing retainers.

Remote · UTC+1 (Morocco / EU hours)

hello@saadtarhi.com