Software Architecture
Freelance Software Architect
Good architecture isn't a diagram on a wall — it's the set of decisions that let your team ship confidently for years. As a freelance software architect with 20+ years in the field, I turn business goals and messy realities into clear, pragmatic system designs your developers can actually build on.
I've designed event-driven platforms for large-scale retail, shaped the architecture behind high-traffic media systems, and led domain-driven rebuilds of established products. I architect hands-on: I write ADRs, review pull requests and prototype the risky parts myself — because architecture that isn't validated in code is just opinion.
Amersfoort, The Netherlands — remote across Europe · Available for new projects
When to bring in a freelance software architect
- You're starting a build and want the foundations right the first time
- Your system has grown organically and every change now touches everything
- You need an independent architecture review before a major investment
- Your teams disagree on direction and need clear, documented decisions
- You want an architect who codes — not slideware
What the engagement covers
System design & blueprints
From requirements engineering to a concrete target architecture: bounded contexts, service boundaries, data flows and the trade-offs behind every choice.
Architecture reviews & audits
An independent, evidence-based assessment of your current system — scalability, coupling, cloud costs and risks — with a prioritised, actionable roadmap.
Team coaching & governance
Architecture Decision Records, design reviews and mentoring that raise your team's own architectural judgement — so decisions outlive my engagement.
What you get
- Target architecture with diagrams, trade-offs and migration path
- Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) your team maintains
- Cloud (AWS) strategy, cost model and DevOps guidance
- Proof-of-concept code for the riskiest decisions
- Design review cadence and coaching for your engineers
Tools & technologies
- Event-Driven Architecture
- Microservices
- Domain-Driven Design
- AWS
- Kafka
- Kubernetes
- C4 & ADRs
- GraphQL
The value good architecture brings
Architecture decisions are the most expensive ones to get wrong — they're baked into everything built on top of them. Getting them right early is dramatically cheaper than untangling them later.
Avoid expensive wrong turns
Trade-offs made explicit before the build starts prevent the rewrites, migrations and dead ends that consume entire quarters further down the road.
Align teams on one direction
Documented decisions and clear service boundaries end the recurring debates — teams build in parallel instead of blocking each other.
Scale without surprises
A design that names its bottlenecks and failure modes up front means growth is a capacity plan, not an emergency.
Keep the knowledge in-house
ADRs, design reviews and coaching transfer the reasoning, not just the result — your team can evolve the architecture without me.
Frequently asked questions
What does a freelance software architect actually deliver?
Concrete artifacts, not just advice: a target architecture with diagrams and trade-offs, Architecture Decision Records, a migration or delivery roadmap, and — where it matters — proof-of-concept code. Plus the coaching to make your team self-sufficient in maintaining it.
Do you also implement, or only design?
I stay hands-on. I prototype risky decisions, review pull requests and can lead implementation of the first critical services. Designs that were never tested in code tend to fall apart in production — mine are.
How long does an architecture engagement take?
An independent architecture review typically takes two to three weeks. A full target architecture with roadmap usually runs four to eight weeks, depending on system size. Longer-term I often stay involved part-time as the design gets built.
Can you work with our existing architects and leads?
Absolutely — that's the best setup. I work with your leads through design sessions and ADRs so decisions are shared and owned internally, rather than imported and forgotten when the engagement ends.
Related services
Ready to put your architecture on solid ground?
Describe your system and the decision you're facing. You'll get a straight answer on how I'd approach it — and a proposal if we're a fit.
Get in touch