Services
Django, PostgreSQL, and AI-backend consulting — architecture reviews, performance audits, migrations, LLM integration, and fractional backend leadership.
I take on a small number of consulting engagements alongside my own products. The common thread: backends that founders bet the business on — Django and DRF systems, PostgreSQL databases that have started to creak, migrations nobody wants to touch, and increasingly the AI features that have to survive contact with production. I work remote-first from Bengaluru (IST), overlap with US and EU hours when a call matters, and put everything in writing.
What I help with
- Django & DRF architecture — API design, service boundaries, app structure, and admin-heavy internal tools. The decisions that are cheap to change now and expensive to change in a year.
- Performance work — I work from
EXPLAIN ANALYZEand query plans, not guesswork: N+1s, missing indexes, serializer hot paths, caching layers, task queues. I’ve turned 30-second endpoints into ~200ms ones this way. - Migrations without the mess — platform moves, framework upgrades, and database changes that keep URLs and data intact. Strangler-fig planning instead of big-bang rewrites, and the site stays up throughout.
- LLM & AI backends — multi-vendor LLM integrations, agent infrastructure, and RAG systems built on the same boring, reliable foundations as everything else. I’ve shipped one Django codebase serving four LLM vendors with per-tenant keys and isolation, and I build open-source agent tooling.
- Multi-tenant data isolation — row-level security enforced by
PostgreSQL rather than by hoping every developer remembers a
.filter(). I wrote django-rls and its Flask and FastAPI siblings, so this is a solved problem when I arrive. - Fractional backend leadership — code-review culture, CI/CD, testing discipline, and delivery cadence for small teams that need a senior hand without a full-time principal.
How an engagement runs
Most work starts with a fixed-scope audit: I read the code and the data, run the query plans, and deliver a written findings document with ranked, prioritized recommendations — usually inside a week. From there it takes whatever shape fits: a few hours for a focused second opinion, a fixed-scope build with testable milestones, or an ongoing retainer where I’m the senior hand in your design discussions and thorniest reviews. Every engagement gets a written plan before we start, so you know the shape and the cost up front.
Proof, not promises
The case studies walk through real engagements with real trade-offs: scaling a Django platform past 30,000 users on a non-profit budget, an AI voice-agent platform, an investor-matching product with per-tenant LLM vendors. I’ve owned SOC 2 compliance end to end, and I teach this material at DjangoCon US, DjangoCon Europe, and EuroPython — so a fair amount of what I consult on, I’ve already had to defend on a stage.
Looking for something specific?
- Django & Python: Django Consultant · Django Developer in India · Remote Django Developer · DRF Developer · Python Consultant · Python Developer in India · Backend Engineer in India
- PostgreSQL & data: PostgreSQL Expert · PostgreSQL Performance Consultant
- AI & LLM: AI Engineer in India · LLM Engineer · RAG Engineer
- Leadership: Fractional CTO in India · Fractional CTO for Startups · Startup Technical Advisor · Technical Co-founder
FAQ
What does an engagement cost? Fixed prices: a second opinion (one 90-minute call on a specific decision, written recommendation within 48 hours) is $500; an architecture or performance audit (ranked written findings in 7 calendar days plus a 60-minute walkthrough, fee credited toward any retainer or build started within 60 days) is $4,000; an advisory retainer (two 60-minute calls plus async review of up to 4 design docs or PRs per month) is $2,000/month; and fractional CTO (weekly leadership call, architecture ownership, hiring input, monthly written state-of-engineering report) is $6,000/month. All prices in USD plus GST where applicable; India-registered companies are billed in INR at India-specific rates — see the India pages, e.g. Fractional CTO in India. Builds are quoted in writing after the audit — either way you have the cost in writing before we start, no surprises mid-engagement.
Do you work with international teams? Yes — most of my clients are in the US and EU. I’m based in India (IST) and structure hours to overlap when it matters.
Consulting or building? Both. If you need judgment — architecture reviews, audits, second opinions — that’s consulting. If you need a system built or rescued, that’s a fixed-scope build. Many engagements start as one and become the other.
Get in touch → — or grab a slot directly: