Nicolai Berghan

Shopify Hydrogen / React / TypeScript contractor — Melbourne, AU

Focus: senior front-end implementation for agencies and product teams that need a reliable pair of hands on commercially important builds.

Available for contract and project work — email or call.

Summary

I'm a Melbourne-based senior front-end engineer with a graphic design background and deep production experience across Shopify Hydrogen, React, TypeScript, design systems, and modern web applications.

My strongest lane is headless commerce: Shopify Hydrogen storefronts, Storefront API architecture, performance work, structured content models, analytics, and the front-end craft needed to make a commerce build feel fast and dependable.

I also work as a React / TypeScript generalist on product interfaces, dashboards, internal tools, migration work, and delivery-heavy agency projects where teams need senior momentum without permanent headcount.

What I'm useful for

• -Shopify Hydrogen and headless commerce builds
• -Storefront API architecture, typed data flows, and Oxygen deployment work
• -Performance improvements across mobile storefronts and React applications
• -React / TypeScript web applications, dashboards, portals, and internal tools
• -Legacy React migrations into cleaner modern front-end stacks
• -Design-system-minded implementation and UI architecture
• -Complex forms, booking flows, product flows, and configuration interfaces
• -Senior agency overflow when delivery needs to move quickly

Best fit

I'm a strong fit when you need someone who can take ownership of implementation, make sensible technical calls, and keep the build moving.

That usually looks like:

• -A Shopify or commerce frontend that needs senior technical direction
• -A React / TypeScript project that needs clean foundations
• -An agency team with more client work than delivery capacity
• -A product interface where UX quality and engineering quality both matter
• -A migration where the codebase needs to improve without stopping feature work

Highlights

• -Migrated Crate Clothing from Shopify Liquid to Hydrogen, taking mobile LCP from 31.9s to 2.2s
• -Built structured commerce systems with Shopify metaobjects, metafields, typed Storefront API queries, and Oxygen deployment
• -Led legacy React modernisation work in a long-running production codebase
• -Improved developer experience through clearer component boundaries, shared UI patterns, and front-end testing infrastructure
• -Bridged design and engineering to keep shipped interfaces consistent, usable, and maintainable

Selected work

• -Crate Clothing — Shopify Hydrogen storefront rebuild and performance migration
• -Edrolo — legacy React to modern front-end migration in a production SaaS environment

Experience

Edrolo — Senior Front-End Engineer (2022–Present)

• -Driving the frontend modernisation across a complex legacy React codebase while continuing to ship production features
• -Own frontend stack selection and patterns for the migration, including TypeScript, TanStack Query, shadcn/ui, and Tailwind
• -Define data fetching, caching, hooks architecture, and design system practices that sit on top of the underlying monorepo
• -Improve developer experience through clearer component systems, frontend testing infrastructure, and maintainable boundaries between application code, shared UI, and data layers
• -Work across planning, implementation, review, and delivery, bridging product intent, design quality, and engineering execution

Independent / Freelance — Front-End, Shopify & CMS (2017–Present)

• -Delivered Shopify, CMS, and custom front-end work for commercial clients and small agencies
• -Rebuilt Shopify Liquid storefronts as Hydrogen / headless commerce experiences
• -Built modern React / TypeScript interfaces with practical attention to UX, performance, and maintainability
• -Helped translate loose business requirements into practical web products that could actually ship

Design background — Digital / UX / UI

• -Started in graphic and digital design before moving fully into front-end engineering
• -I bring visual judgment, UX sensitivity, and client-facing communication into technical delivery

Contact

Available for contract and project work — email or call.

• -Email: nicolai.berghan@gmail.com
• -Phone: 0410 979 180
• -LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nicolaiberghan