# Freelance Backend Developer in the Netherlands

> Freelance backend developer in the Netherlands with 20+ years of experience. Node.js, TypeScript and Java APIs built for high traffic — from media to retail scale.

- Canonical URL: https://rocketsinthesky.com/backend-development
- Markdown: https://rocketsinthesky.com/backend-development.md
- Agent guidance: https://rocketsinthesky.com/llms.txt

I'm Michiel van Alphen, a freelance backend developer based in Amersfoort, the Netherlands, working remotely across Europe. For over 20 years I've designed and shipped the server-side systems behind products people rely on every day — from national news platforms serving millions of readers to order and fulfillment systems for large-scale retail.

As a hands-on Node.js consultant I don't just advise — I write, review and ship production code. Whether you need a new API built from scratch, an existing service hardened for scale, or senior reinforcement for your backend team, I bring the experience to deliver from first commit to production traffic.

Amersfoort, The Netherlands — remote across Europe · Available for new projects

- [Discuss your project](https://rocketsinthesky.com/#contact)
- [See my work](https://rocketsinthesky.com/#work)

## When to bring in a freelance backend developer

- Your product is growing faster than your backend can keep up with
- You need a production-grade REST or GraphQL API — designed, built and documented
- Your team is strong on frontend but needs senior backend depth
- Performance, reliability or test coverage is slipping and nobody has time to fix it
- You want a senior engineer who is productive in week one, not month three

## What the engagement covers

### API design & delivery

REST and GraphQL APIs in Node.js, TypeScript or Java — designed contract-first, documented, versioned and built to survive real-world traffic.

### Node.js consulting

Audits and hands-on improvement of existing Node.js services: performance profiling, memory issues, dependency health, security and upgrade paths.

### Production engineering

Testing strategy, CI/CD pipelines, observability and deployment on AWS and Kubernetes — so shipping stays fast as the system grows.

## What you get

- Production-ready services in Node.js / TypeScript / Java
- OpenAPI or GraphQL schemas your frontend team can build against
- Automated test suites and CI/CD pipelines
- Monitoring, alerting and runbooks for on-call confidence
- Clean handover with documentation and knowledge sessions

## Tools & technologies

Node.js, TypeScript, NestJS, Java, GraphQL, PostgreSQL, AWS, Kubernetes, Docker

## The value senior backend delivery brings

A backend is invisible when it works and existential when it doesn't. Senior, hands-on delivery pays for itself in what doesn't happen: outages, rewrites, and roadmaps stuck behind technical debt.

### Ship features faster

Well-designed APIs, solid tests and automated pipelines remove the friction that slows every release — so product work keeps moving instead of queueing behind infrastructure fixes.

### Stay up under real traffic

Systems designed for peak load, with monitoring and alerting in place, keep working on your busiest day — which is exactly when failure costs the most.

### Reduce key-person risk

Everything I build comes with documentation, tests and handover sessions, so your team owns the system long after the engagement ends.

### Raise the bar for the team

Code reviews, pairing and pragmatic standards leave your existing developers stronger — the improvement compounds after I'm gone.

## Frequently asked questions

### Do you work remotely or on-site?

I work remotely across Europe from Amersfoort, the Netherlands, and am happy to come on-site in the Randstad region for kick-offs, workshops and key sessions.

### Which backend technologies do you specialise in?

My core stack is Node.js and TypeScript (including NestJS), with solid production experience in Java and Kotlin. On the infrastructure side I work daily with AWS, Kubernetes, Docker, PostgreSQL and Kafka.

### Can you join an existing team, or do you only build solo?

Both. I regularly embed in existing product teams as a senior backend developer — picking up tickets, reviewing code and mentoring — and I also deliver complete services end-to-end when a team doesn't exist yet.

### How do engagements typically start?

With a short discovery: we map your goals, constraints and current system, and you get a concrete proposal with scope, trade-offs and estimates. From there I ship in short iterations with demos, so you always know exactly where things stand.

## Related services

- [Software Architecture](https://rocketsinthesky.com/software-architecture): Freelance software architect in the Netherlands. System design, architecture reviews and team coaching that turn business goals into blueprints your team can build.
- [Event-Driven Architecture](https://rocketsinthesky.com/event-driven-architecture): Event-driven architecture consultant in the Netherlands. Kafka-based event systems and microservices designed, reviewed and shipped to production.
- [Legacy Modernization](https://rocketsinthesky.com/legacy-modernization): Legacy modernization consultant in the Netherlands. Incremental, strangler-fig migrations that move critical platforms to modern stacks — without downtime.

## Need a senior backend developer who ships?

Tell me about your product and where the backend hurts. I'll respond within one business day with an honest take on whether — and how — I can help.

[Get in touch](https://rocketsinthesky.com/#contact)