> Markdown alternate of https://steerscale.com/ Senior software engineering · Production systems # Senior engineering for systems where production behaviour matters. SteerScale designs, builds and operates backend platforms, distributed systems, cloud infrastructure and AI systems — software that has to hold under real load, real failure and real cost. Hands-on, senior-engineer-led, measured rather than guessed. [Discuss your system](https://steerscale.com/contact) Engineering capabilities Backend & distributed systems · Cloud & reliability · AI systems · Architecture \[Figure: Illustrative production system architecture: API gateway, Kotlin and Java services plus an AI assist service, Kafka event bus, PostgreSQL, Cassandra and Redis, Kubernetes on AWS across three availability zones, with traces, metrics and logs feeding an observability column showing p95 latency 41 milliseconds, availability 99.95 percent and 80,000 writes per second.\] 15+ YEARSProduction engineering 16MConcurrent users at peak 80K TPSSustained write throughput EXPERIENCESky · Tesco · ClearScore · Lufthansa Systems · Gamesys 01 / Engineering capabilities ## Four disciplines. One senior engineer across all of them. [All services](https://steerscale.com/services) [SVC-01 ### Backend & Distributed Systems APIs, event-driven architecture and high-throughput services that behave predictably under real load. Java · Kotlin · Scala · Kafka · Cassandra · PostgreSQL Backend & Distributed Systems →](https://steerscale.com/services/backend-distributed-systems) [SVC-02 ### Cloud, Platform & Reliability Kubernetes and cloud platforms where capacity, latency, observability and resilience are measured targets. AWS · Azure · Kubernetes · Terraform · OpenTelemetry Cloud, Platform & Reliability →](https://steerscale.com/services/cloud-platform-reliability) [SVC-03 ### AI Systems Engineering LLM and agent systems run as production software — evaluation, observability, reliability and economics designed in. Orchestration · RAG · routing · evals · tracing AI Systems Engineering →](https://steerscale.com/services/ai-systems-engineering) [SVC-04 ### Architecture & Technical Leadership Architecture reviews, decision records, delivery leadership and hands-on mentoring for teams shipping hard systems. ADRs · reviews · roadmaps · tech lead cover Architecture & Technical Leadership →](https://steerscale.com/services/architecture-technical-leadership) 02 / How we engage ## Build, improve or diagnose. Always with a written scope. Every engagement starts with a short technical conversation and a one-page proposal: goals, deliverables, cadence, fixed price or time-and-materials, exit criteria. The code lands in your repository. BUILD ### New systems and services Embedded senior engineering for a defined window: design docs, code, non-functional tests, handoff. WEEKS TO MONTHS · IN YOUR REPO IMPROVE ### Existing production systems Performance, reliability, scalability, cost and operability work on software that is already live. MEASURED BEFORE AND AFTER DIAGNOSE ### Fixed-scope assessments Evidence-driven reviews of one system with quantified findings — such as the [AI Systems Audit](https://steerscale.com/services/ai-systems-audit). FIXED PRICE · 2–3 WEEKS 03 / Featured productized engagement ## AI Systems Audit For teams whose LLM or agent workflow has reached production: a fixed-scope, evidence-driven analysis of one real workflow across economics, reliability, observability and evaluation. Quantified findings ranked by impact, controlled comparisons where practical, and a prioritized remediation plan your engineers can act on without us. [About the audit](https://steerscale.com/services/ai-systems-audit) Fixed price · Fixed scope · 2–3 weeks TYPICAL TRIGGERS - “Our AI bill is growing faster than usage.” - “The agent usually works. Occasionally it really doesn't.” - “A new model looks better. We don't know if it's actually better.” - “One request cost ten times more than another. Why?” ILLUSTRATIVE OUTPUT — NOT A CLIENT RESULT FINDING 3 OF 11 · WORKFLOW #A83F AI-007 HIGH MODEL EFFICIENCY ### High-cost model used for deterministic classification EVIDENCE 38% of inference calls perform a bounded classification task (12 labels, deterministic output schema) on the same model used for open-ended reasoning. Output agreement with a smaller candidate model was measured on 4,200 replayed production requests. CONTROLLED COMPARISON · 4,200 REPLAYED REQUESTS METRIC CURRENT CANDIDATE Quality / agreement 99.0% 98.8% Cost / request €0.018 €0.003 p50 latency 1.8s 0.7s POTENTIAL IMPACT ~€4,700/ month ≈ 83% of current classification spend ENGINEERING EFFORT LOW CONFIDENCE HIGH REMEDIATION PRIORITY \[Figure: Priority 1 of 5\] Route bounded classification to the candidate model behind a quality gate; keep the current model as fallback below 98.5% agreement. Subject to production validation 04 / Experience ## Built on 15+ years of production engineering. Streaming platforms serving millions of concurrent viewers. Retail pricing and payment backends. Fintech microservices, airline operations control, real-time gaming platforms. Different domains, the same engineering problems: load · concurrency · retries · state · latency · failure domains · observability · deployment safety · cost That experience now also covers AI systems — LLM orchestration, model selection, inference economics and evaluation — as one more workload that has to run reliably inside a distributed system. 16M concurrent users — live streaming, NFL playoff broadcast 80K writes / second sustained — bookmarking API on Cassandra SELECTED PRODUCTION WORK - Sky / NBCUniversalGlobal video streaming · high-throughput backend - TescoRetail pricing & payment platforms - ClearScoreFintech · reactive microservices - Lufthansa SystemsAviation · operations control - Gamesys / Ladbrokes CoralHigh-traffic gaming & real-time platforms Client names shown typographically; full work history on the [About page](https://steerscale.com/about). ## The engineer you speak to is the engineer doing the work. SteerScale is a small, senior-engineer-led practice. The person scoping the work is the person writing the code, reading the traces and presenting the results. One or two engagements at a time, written status every week. No sales-to-junior handoff. Barnabás Szőke Senior Software Architect / Founder 15+ years building and operating backend, distributed and cloud-native systems across streaming, retail, fintech, aviation, gaming and SaaS — Java, Kotlin and Scala services, Kafka, Cassandra, Kubernetes on AWS and Azure. Current specialization: AI systems in production — orchestration, model selection, inference economics, evaluation and observability — built on that distributed-systems foundation. [About Barnabás →](https://steerscale.com/about)[LinkedIn](https://uk.linkedin.com/in/barnabasszoke)[GitHub](https://github.com/szokebarnabas) FAQ ## Questions engineering leaders ask first. **Is SteerScale an agency or a contractor?** Neither in the usual sense. SteerScale is a senior-engineer-led consultancy: one principal engineer, one or two engagements at a time, embedded in your repository and standups for a defined window with a written scope and exit criteria. **What kind of systems do you work on?** Backend platforms, distributed and event-driven systems, cloud and Kubernetes infrastructure, and AI systems in production — typically where throughput, latency, reliability or cost has become a real constraint. **How do engagements start?** With a 20–30 minute technical conversation and a one-page proposal: goals, deliverables, cadence, fixed price or time-and-materials, and clear exit criteria. Fixed-scope assessments such as the AI Systems Audit have a fixed price agreed before work starts. **Do you only do AI work now?** No. AI systems engineering is an important current specialization, but most of the practice is backend, distributed-systems and cloud engineering. AI systems are treated as one more workload that has to run reliably inside those systems. **Who owns the result?** You do. Code lands on your branch in your CI, decisions are written down as ADRs, and handoff means your engineers are comfortable making the next change without us in the room. ## Have something difficult in production? Bring one real system and the problem behind it — a service that misbehaves under load, a platform that needs to scale, an AI workflow whose cost or reliability nobody can explain. The first conversation is a short technical call. [Discuss your system](https://steerscale.com/contact) [hello@steerscale.com](mailto:hello@steerscale.com) 20–30 minutes · Technical conversation · No sales presentation