Vova ZakharovVova Zakharov

Fractional CTO

Playgram (March – August 2026)

Read the case studyRead the case study: vovazakharov.com/case-studies/playgram

Rebuilt a live, feature-rich AI chat product — multiple model providers, realtime team chats, image and file libraries, memory and knowledge management, voice input — from Bubble, a no-code builder, into a production Next.js 16 codebase, while it stayed in production for its users throughout.

Delivered in 158 days — parallel AI sessions, up to 20 agents working at once:

• 1,395 commits on main and 250,000 lines of TypeScript, tests included, none of it hand-written.
• 48 releases and 18 hotfixes: a production deploy every 2.4 days.
• 4.5–5× the changes a week per developer than the app shipped on Bubble before the rebuild.
• Sub-second cold loads, down from multi-second.
• Feature-sliced architecture held by linters, so a crowd of agents working at once could not drift the structure.
• A repeatable agent pipeline: plan, implement, review, finalize — each stage its own session, with a reviewable artifact between them.

Next.js 16, Supabase + Drizzle, Weaviate, LiteLLM, Railway, feature-sliced design

Senior Fullstack Developer

October 2025 – February 2026

AI-powered English learning application for kids, combining generative AI with time-tested pedagogical methodology to make language acquisition engaging and effective.

• Interactive game-based learning experiences powered by LLM-generated content.
• Adaptive difficulty and personalized learning paths based on individual progress.
• Integration of proven teaching methods with modern AI capabilities.

Next.js, OpenAI API, custom game engine

Senior Fullstack Developer

Orcool (June – August 2025)

Short-term project shaping an AI-agent–based review intelligence tool for brand marketing.

Built the system end-to-end, covering:

• Automated review collection from diverse public sources.
• AI-driven summarization with structured outputs (SWOT, competitive positioning, feature insights).
• Early productization steps toward a scalable SaaS-style platform.

Next.js/NestJS, Cloudflare Workers, Firebase, custom LLM orchestration framework

Fullstack Developer

randddb.com / DDB (2023 – 2025)

Experimental AI platform at one of the world's largest ad firms. Built, back to front, a suite of interlinked AI tools:

• Chatbot: ChatGPT-style assistant for corporate needs — secure, document-aware, image-savvy, with personas and real-time multi-user support.
• Robowriter: Build-your-own-agent tool for content generation. Functions as both user-facing product and meta-backend for LLM ops.
• Picmaker: Replicate-powered image generation/training tool with UX optimized for rapid iteration and intuitive pinning.
• Client-specific apps: Including YesYouCannes, which builds Cannes award decks from idea to imagery in minutes.
• Spaces: White-label mini-platforms for agency clients (e.g. randddb.com/s/ikea).

Django + DRF, PostgreSQL + pgvector, Redis, Vue + TypeScript

Demo available on request.

Developer – Independent Projects

2020 – Present

Selected highlights:

• mitko: Telegram bot where an LLM matches IT candidates with employers: aiogram, pgvector, PydanticAI.
• Jukebox Web UI: Gradio-based UI running inside Google Colab for OpenAI's music model.
• almostmagic: TypeScript package for instant LLM integration – one line, zero ceremony.
• JobGenie: AI assistant for job seekers that helps create roles as much as apply for them.

Prototyper – Experience & Innovation

Voicemod (2023)

Prototyped bleeding-edge tools for audio + AI experimentation.

• Built a YAML-powered Discord bot framework for zero-code bot creation.
• Developed a local Python web API with a ChatGPT-style interface.