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Senior hands-on engineering / contracts and projects

Backend, data and cloud engineering

I build and improve production systems across backend services, APIs, data, cloud infrastructure, integrations, and internal tooling.

Discuss a project or contract

No prepared brief is required.

Or book a 15-minute call

Contract engineering

An experienced engineer on your team.

I'm Fabian Howard, an independent software engineer with over ten years' experience. I specialise in Python backend systems, APIs, data pipelines and AWS, with full-stack experience in React and TypeScript.

Alongside defined projects, I join existing teams on a contract basis: building features, improving production systems and working with your developers and data scientists to get software into use.

Based in London, working remotely or with teams on a hybrid basis. Let's discuss the days you need, your start date and my availability.

Discuss a contract

Tell me about the team, the work and your expected timing. You don't need a fixed-scope project brief.

When to bring me in

When your team needs extra technical help

Production

The same production problem keeps coming back

I investigate failures across your application, database, infrastructure and third-party services to find what is causing them.

Delivery

A change is taking longer than expected

I work with your team to understand what is involved, implement the change and test it in production.

Integration

Your systems are getting out of sync

Data is missing or inconsistent between systems, and your team is spending time checking and correcting it manually.

Visibility

It is hard to see what has gone wrong

I improve logging, monitoring and internal tools so your team can see what has run, what has failed and what needs attention.

Engagement formats

Ways to work together

Join your team for ongoing delivery, or start with a defined project. If the cause of a problem is unclear, we can investigate it first and agree the implementation separately.

3-5 working days

01

Technical Diagnostic

Investigate a specific technical problem before deciding what to change.

What you get

Findings, supporting evidence and recommended next steps, including risks and any remaining questions.

1-4 weeks

02

Focused Implementation

Build and release an agreed backend feature, integration, infrastructure change or internal tool.

What you get

Tested code, a verified release, documentation and handover to your team.

Contract engagements

03

Contract Engineering

I join existing teams to build and maintain backend services, data pipelines and platforms, working alongside your engineers on ongoing delivery.

What you get

Hands-on engineering, reviewed code and releases, with knowledge shared across the team.

Technical coverage

What I work on

Backend and APIs

  • Service and API design or repair
  • Authentication, permissions and third-party integrations
  • Production debugging
  • Safe changes in existing codebases

Data and integrations

  • Data pipelines and scheduled workflows
  • System synchronisation and reconciliation
  • External APIs, webhooks, and event-driven handoffs
  • Tracking failed jobs and records that need attention

Cloud and delivery

  • AWS-hosted application and service work
  • Troubleshooting deployments and running services
  • Logging, monitoring and alerts
  • Release testing and rollback planning

Internal systems

  • Focused operational tools and dashboards
  • Workflow automation around existing systems
  • Document search with links to original sources
  • AI-assisted workflows with human review

Good working conditions

  • Clear priorities and agreed responsibilities within the team
  • Access to the relevant code, logs and people who use or maintain the system
  • An agreed way to test whether the work meets your needs
  • Project scope or contract duration and working arrangements are agreed upfront
  • Time to test production changes and hand them over to your team

Not the right fit

  • Large change programmes without a clear problem to solve
  • Speculative products with no identified users or person responsible for them
  • Replacing a working platform without a clear reason
  • Work where access to the systems or a way to check the result cannot be agreed

Projects and contracts

Tell me what you need help with.

Tell me about the work, your team and your timing. I will let you know whether I can help and discuss a suitable arrangement.

Discuss a project or contract