Senior Software Engineer & Senior Project/Program Manager
Arif Khan
Specialising in Software Quality, Test Automation, Technical Program and Project Management. I help teams deliver reliable products through strong engineering practices, clear delivery plans, and thoughtful leadership.
11 years of building at scale
From software quality and test automation to leading cross-functional squads at one of the world's most-watched media organisations. Every step intentional.
Career Timeline
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Before software, there was teaching. These years gave me the human skills that still define how I lead: empathy, patience, simplifying complexity, and a deep belief that growing people is the most meaningful work you can do.
Entered software through quality engineering at Pakistan's top tech companies. Built my engineering foundation — manual testing, test strategy, exploratory testing — and learned that quality is not a department, it's a culture.
Joined Al Jazeera Media Network's Product & Digital Innovation team. Designed and scaled test automation frameworks across squads, embedded quality culture, and collaborated with senior engineers across Europe and the Middle East. Simultaneously earned MS in Project Management from FAST-NUCES (2021).
Joined Toptal's Core engineering team — fully async, globally distributed across dozens of countries. Contributed to platform quality strategy, E2E testing, contract testing (Pact), and API testing at scale across microservices.
Returned to Al Jazeera Media Network in a senior leadership role overseeing two squads. Responsible for product roadmap, vendor governance, editorial tooling, and stakeholder alignment across engineering, editorial, and executive leadership. Also active as a Toptal expert freelancer.
Core Expertise
Key Initiatives
AKRetro — Real-Time Sprint Retrospective Platform
AKRetro helps engineering and product teams run focused retrospectives, capture honest feedback, and turn discussion into measurable follow-through. I designed, built, and launched the platform end-to-end for teams that want retrospectives to produce clear outcomes, not just conversation.
Built with Next.js 16, React 19, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS 4. Supabase provides authentication, PostgreSQL storage, row-level security, and realtime collaboration. Teams can use anonymous feedback, hide-until-reveal voting, templates, timers, reminders, and CSV export.
Visit akretro.com ↗AI-Powered Technology Collaboration
Led a major strategic technology partnership driving AI capabilities across Al Jazeera's digital infrastructure — coordinating engineering, editorial, legal, and executive stakeholders across multiple geographies.
Managed end-to-end program ownership: stakeholder alignment, legal coordination, technical discovery, and cross-team integration. Navigated complex organisational dynamics across editorial independence and engineering pragmatism.
Large-Scale Media Platform Migration
Led a multi-milestone media platform migration with zero-downtime delivery at a 24/7 global news organisation reaching over 100 million viewers.
Navigated complex vendor relationships, technical constraints, and the operational reality of a newsroom that cannot afford downtime. Delivered all milestones on schedule with zero disruption to live broadcasts.
PakhtoEd — Pashto-Language EdTech Platform
A free Pashto-language EdTech platform delivering technology education to Pashtun communities worldwide — 100K+ views, 5K+ followers, 100+ lessons, 500+ students across 10+ countries.
Content spans YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram — all bilingual Pashto/English. A personal mission proving world-class tech education is achievable regardless of language or geography.
Visit pakhtoed.com ↗Teaching & Mentorship
University Lecturer — Software Quality Engineering
Designed and delivered a full-semester course on Software Quality Engineering to 5th-semester CS students at FAST-NUCES — Pakistan's most competitive CS university. Covered real-world test strategy, automation, quality culture, and the engineering mindset behind shipping reliable software at scale.
Volunteer Mentor — Teenagers & College Students
Volunteered across multiple mentorship programmes helping teenagers and college students break into tech — entirely free. Covers career roadmaps, entering software from non-traditional backgrounds, interview prep, and building the long-game mindset for a career in engineering.
Trainings
Recently invited to conduct an interactive training for educators on AI Literacy and its effective use for teachers and students. The session covered core concepts, hands-on tools, and what the future of AI means for education. Sharing what we learn about technology with educators helps future generations build on that knowledge.
Read the LinkedIn post ↗Webinars on Remote Work & Software Quality
Host and speak at webinars and talks on breaking into remote work, thriving on globally distributed async teams, and building a lasting career in software quality engineering — sharing the hard-won playbook from years working across time zones with Toptal and beyond. Recorded and shared freely for anyone starting out.
Watch on YouTube ↗Trusted by teams
at global scale
Core Team
members
tenure
Toptal community — Pakistan chapter
What Colleagues Say
Education & Credentials
How I Think
"Anyone can do mediocre work. Take ownership, exceed expectations, and leave a legacy — that's what sets truly great professionals apart."
"AI is not replacing human curiosity. The creative human always finds what pattern-based systems miss."
"The more you teach, share, and mentor — the more compounds back. Knowledge given freely is the highest-return investment."
Ideas & reflections
On product leadership, engineering culture, AI, and the career path less taken.