Refining and scaling a UGC-driven beauty tech platform for faster growth

The company partnered with Binariks to accelerate its vision of a scalable, inclusive beauty technology platform. The engagement began with a comprehensive discovery phase, where we defined a scalable architecture and mapped out the functionality for three interrelated applications: the Widget, the Admin Portal, and the Twin (Creator) Portal, where users upload the content they have made.

The client had previously relied on custom-built sites that were expensive and time-consuming to launch. Our primary goal was to reduce time-to-market and development costs by building a flexible, multi-tenant SaaS solution from the ground up.

To meet this, we assembled a dedicated cross-functional team, including solution architects, business analysts, DevOps, and engineers. We aligned with the client’s designer on the product vision, set a clear scope, and prioritized features to ensure fast go-to-market.

Following discovery, we moved into full-cycle development with Agile methodology and continuous collaboration. The team adapted incrementally as the project evolved and remains engaged to this day, iterating on releases, improving performance, and rolling out new features.

The platform was developed as a modular system consisting of three core applications:

• Widget – an embeddable frontend component that showcases user-generated video reviews directly on e-commerce websites. Designed to boost conversion and user trust.
• Admin Portal – used by the client’s internal team to manage tenants, moderate content, and oversee platform activity.
• Twin (Creator) Portal – a self-service interface for content creators to upload and manage video reviews.

Each application communicates with the backend via APIs and operates independently, allowing flexible deployment and updates without disrupting the entire system.

Tech Stack and Hosting

To build a robust SaaS foundation, Binariks selected a modern cloud-native stack:

• Backend: Developed with Node.js and NestJS, enabling modularity and codebase consistency across services.
• Frontend: Built using ReactJS, with shared component libraries to unify UI across apps.
• Cloud infrastructure: Deployed in AWS leveraging:

- EC2 and S3 for compute and media storage

- AWS Lambda for asynchronous media processing and event-based scaling

- AWS MediaConvert to automate video transcoding

- AWS Cognito for identity and access management, including SSO integrations

• CI/CD: Implemented through GitHub Pipelines, ensuring streamlined, reliable deployments across development, staging, and production environments.

The project followed Agile practices, and engineering efforts were structured into iterative sprints. Early deliverables were prioritized to prove the value of the embeddable widget, which launched with the first tenant (Make Beauty) in February 2023. The Admin Portal followed this in September 2023, while the Twin Portal remains in progress.

Key Engineering Decisions

• Custom multi-tenant SaaS framework: Eliminated the need for separate codebases per client.
• Microservices-friendly backend: Allows for future decomposition if scaling requires further distribution.
• AWS-native tooling: Chosen over third-party tools to keep architecture consistent, improve integration speed, and reduce vendor lock-in.
• Media processing pipeline: AWS MediaConvert and Lambda integration ensured seamless video encoding with minimal latency and cost overhead.