How I work
Two ways to work with me.
Start with a focused AI product review, or bring me on as your hands-on engineering partner. Most engagements begin with one and become the other.
How I work
Founder-first. Hands-on. Specialist.
Founder-first
I work directly with the technical founder or CEO. Decisions move at the speed of one conversation.
Hands-on, not advisory theater
I write code, run review sessions, sit in hiring loops. Not just opinions on slides — actual engineering work when it moves the needle.
Bounded or ongoing
Start with a 1–2 week review, or commit to a monthly retainer. Both have clear scope, written deliverables, and a defined start.
Specialist, not generalist
AI-powered products and Go/Kubernetes backends. I turn down work outside this — that is how I stay sharp where it counts.
01 · Entry engagement
AI Product Review
A 1–2 week deep read of your AI product before you commit to the architecture, the vendor, or the stack.
For teams 1–3 months into building an AI-powered product who want a senior outside read before locking in major architecture, vendor, or stack decisions.
Format: 1–2 weeks, mostly async, 1–2 live sessions. Written report delivered.
Price: let's talk scope first.
Review of your inference stack, orchestration, data flow, and infrastructure
Scaling risks, reliability gaps, and security exposure identified
Written report with prioritized recommendations
Final session walking your team through the findings
02 · Ongoing partnership
Hands-on Engineering Partnership
Engineering work alongside your team as you build, decide, and ship.
For teams who need a senior technical partner who ships code alongside them — architecture decisions, hard reviews, infrastructure setup, hiring loops — without a full-time hire.
Format: Monthly retainer. 3-month minimum, then month-to-month.
Price: let's talk scope first.
8–15 hours/month: strategy, code review, architecture, hiring — mixed as needed
Weekly async checkpoints plus 1–2 live sessions per month
Hands-on when it counts: PoC code, infrastructure setup, hiring loops
Direct line for the moments that actually matter
How an engagement starts
Step 1: 15-min intro call
Book a slot on Cal.com. We talk about what you are building and whether I am the right person to help.
Step 2: Scope conversation
A free 45-min follow-up where we agree on what success looks like and which engagement fits.
Step 3: Written proposal
Scope, deliverable, timeline, and price in writing. You approve before any work starts.
Step 4: Engagement begins
Review (1–2 weeks) or retainer (monthly), depending on which you chose.
Step 5: Outcome
Written report and walkthrough (review) or ongoing checkpoints and decisions (retainer).
Who you'll be working with
ex-CTO and team lead
Scandiweb and Dynatech — over 5 years of engineering leadership across e-commerce builds for enterprise clients.
Senior engineer at AI and security companies
Graip.AI (document-processing AI platform) and Codenotary (supply-chain security in Go and Kubernetes).
Open-source author
ScandiPWA — PWA storefront for Magento 2, production-deployed by enterprise teams. Go Agent Skill Runtime — AI agent skill infrastructure.
Common questions
How is this different from hiring a full-time CTO?
You get senior engineering leadership without the cost, equity dilution, and commitment of a full-time hire. Most founders bring me in for the 6–18 months before they're ready to commit to a permanent CTO — sometimes I help them hire that person.
I'm pre-revenue / early. Is this for me?
If you have a real AI product in build and a clear technical decision in front of you, yes. If you are still validating the idea or building a prototype solo, a 1–2 week product review is usually a better fit than an ongoing partnership.
What kinds of AI products do you work on?
Products where AI is core to how users work, not a chatbot bolted onto something else. Document processing, retrieval systems, realtime assistants, agent workflows, LLM-powered automation. If your hardest engineering problems are about making AI reliable and maintainable in production, this fits.
Do you write code or just advise?
Both, depending on what moves things forward. PoCs, infrastructure setup, code review on the hard parts, hiring-loop technical interviews. Advisory theater without hands-on work is not what I sell.
Do you take equity in lieu of cash?
Not at this stage. I work cash-only on monthly retainer or fixed-fee engagements.
Do you sign NDAs?
Yes. Standard mutual NDAs are fine and I will sign one before the scope call if you prefer to share details upfront.
What timezone do you work in?
Europe/Riga (CET/CEST). I overlap comfortably with European working hours and US East Coast mornings.
How do we start?
Book a 15-min intro call on Cal.com or email me a short note describing what you are building. I will reply within 24 hours on working days.
Want to see if this fits?
15 minutes. No pitch. Just a conversation about what you are building and whether I am the right person to help.