Robel Belihu
Senior Frontend Engineer
I've spent 5+ years shipping React and Next.js in production. I'm the sole frontend engineer at BigLittleThings, a B2B e-commerce platform for the German market, where every client-side decision is mine. I do my best work where the frontend genuinely matters: complex interactions, data-heavy interfaces, and performance users can feel.
Frontend Engineer at BigLittleThings
Addis Ababa · UTC+3
hello@robelbelihu.com
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"It's been great working with Robel. We'll definitely be working together again."
Client, Template creator website
About
I'm the frontend engineer at BigLittleThings, a B2B e-commerce platform. I handle the frontend from start to finish, from how the app is structured to getting releases out the door. Working this way has made me care a lot about keeping code easy to change, since I'm usually the one who comes back to it.
I've also built an admin panel for a sports and casino operator, with separate access levels for shop owners, cashiers and sub-admins, and the frontend for a social reading platform for the Ethiopian diaspora, with the whole interface in Amharic.
I like work where the small things matter, like a page that loads fast or a screen that makes sense the first time you see it. On Upwork, I've completed client projects with a 100% Job Success Score.
Outside of work, I sketch and I'm slowly learning guitar.
Experience
My professional journey and key milestones.
Senior Frontend Engineer
BigLittleThings
Oct 2024 – Present
B2B e-commerce platform for the German market.
- Sole frontend engineer on a product team, responsible for the full frontend from architecture decisions through to production deployment.
- Building a React and Next.js codebase against a typed backend API, collaborating closely with backend engineers and designers in a cross-functional team.
- Translating Figma designs into responsive, accessible UIs while maintaining performance standards across customer-facing surfaces.
- Driving incremental improvements to Core Web Vitals, rendering performance, and frontend architecture as the product scales.
Frontend Engineer
Uptrine Technology Solutions
Jan 2021 – Sept 2024
Product startup, multiple SaaS products.
- Built frontends for multiple SaaS products from greenfield — component libraries, design-system patterns, and state management reused across the organization.
- Led a Next.js migration that significantly reduced page load time and improved SEO across the platform.
- Standardized global state with Redux Toolkit, cutting redundant API calls and smoothing complex multi-step user flows.
- Improved rendering performance through memoization, virtualization, and code splitting across high-traffic surfaces.
Freelance Frontend Engineer
Upwork
May 2021 – Present
Contract work alongside full-time roles.
- Five completed contracts, all five-star rated, 100% Job Success Score, with repeat clients across engagements.
- Shipped production React and Next.js applications for clients in e-commerce, real estate, and SaaS.
- Built reusable component systems that cut delivery time across subsequent project phases.
Featured Projects
A selection of recent work.
Production · B2B SaaS · EU marketBigLittleThings
Sole frontend engineer on a production B2B e-commerce platform for the German market. Own the full frontend from architecture through deployment: a React and Next.js codebase against a typed API, Figma-to-production UIs, and ongoing Core Web Vitals and rendering-performance work as the product scales.
Live · Publishing platformRipple
A Medium-style publishing platform where anyone can read, write, and engage with ideas across tech and beyond. Built with Next.js, Prisma, and Supabase, with Google auth, a rich text editor, likes, comments, and a clean dark/light UI.
Eliminated manual reportingEmerald
Designed and built a high-density admin panel for a sports and casino operator: role-based access across shop owners, cashiers and sub-admins, user and shop management, and real-time reporting on retail activity, cashiers, and slips. Replaced a manual spreadsheet workflow with reporting that runs in seconds.
Live · Personal finance appFinanceer
A personal finance dashboard built with Next.js 15, TypeScript, and Framer Motion. Features a financial health score ring, income and expense tracking, savings goal progress, and a full theming system with 4 accent palettes and dark/light mode — all persisted to localStorage.
DecommissionedNebeb
Built the frontend for a social reading platform for the Ethiopian diaspora: a curated editorial layer alongside user-written articles, multi-step onboarding with interest-based personalization, and a fully Amharic UI. Scaled to thousands of active readers and set the frontend architecture the product ran on.
Live · Ethiopian real estateTaza House
Engineered a property marketplace for the Ethiopian real estate market from scratch — advanced search and filtering, Firebase real-time sync for live listings, and an intuitive listing management flow for agents. Went from wireframes to production in under 8 weeks.