Five ways to put a staff engineer on the problem
Pick the shape that fits. Most engagements start with one and grow — a build that becomes a retainer, an advisory call that becomes a build.
0→1 Product Builds
I design and build the first real version of your backend: the API, the data model, auth, payments, and the deploy pipeline. Lean and pragmatic, scoped to ship and to hand off.
↳ Logistics marketplace: empty repo → first paying customer in 11 weeks, owned by 2 engineers.how it works scale --reliabilityScale & Reliability
Your system works until it doesn’t. I load-test it, trace the bottlenecks, fix the data model and the queues, and put SLOs, backpressure, and autoscaling in place so growth stops being scary.
↳ Payments service: p99 1900ms → 280ms, carried a 9× launch-day spike with zero incidents.how it works integrateAPIs & Integrations
I design APIs and integrations the boring, durable way: idempotency, retries, webhooks, clear contracts, and event-driven syncs that replace fragile nightly batches.
↳ Replaced a nightly ERP batch with an event-driven sync — data freshness 24h → 28s.how it works join teamTeam Augmentation (Staff IC)
I embed with your engineers as a senior/staff IC: take the hardest work, review PRs, raise the bar on testing and observability, and mentor — measured by how well the team runs after I leave.
↳ Embedded two quarters: deploy frequency 4×, on-call pages down 52%.how it works adviseTechnical Advisory / Fractional CTO
When you need judgment more than hands: architecture and security reviews, build-vs-buy calls, interview and hiring design, and a technical roadmap you can take to a board — a few focused hours a week.
↳ A pre-Series-A architecture review caught a data-model dead end — avoided a ~$400k rebuild.how it worksThe same four steps, every engagement.
Whatever the shape of the work, it runs on the same rails: a scoped plan and a price before any code, visible progress weekly, and a deliberate handoff.
Discovery
A call and a short written brief: what you’re building, what hurts, what “done” looks like, and the real constraints. No charge, no pitch.
Architecture & plan
A lightweight design — diagrams, ADRs, and a scoped plan with milestones and a fixed or capped price, in writing, before any code.
Iterative delivery
Small, reviewable increments shipped behind a weekly demo and a written update. You see progress every week, not at the end.
Handoff & support
Docs, runbooks, and a walkthrough so your team can run it without me — plus a support window after launch. You own everything.
Not sure which fits? Tell me what you’re building on a call and I’ll recommend the smallest engagement that solves it. Email hello@haldenross.example.