# Freelance Software Architect > Freelance software architect in the Netherlands. System design, architecture reviews and team coaching that turn business goals into blueprints your team can build. - Canonical URL: https://rocketsinthesky.com/software-architecture - Markdown: https://rocketsinthesky.com/software-architecture.md - Agent guidance: https://rocketsinthesky.com/llms.txt 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 - [Discuss your project](https://rocketsinthesky.com/#contact) - [See my work](https://rocketsinthesky.com/#work) ## 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 - [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. - [Backend Development](https://rocketsinthesky.com/backend-development): 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. ## 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](https://rocketsinthesky.com/#contact)