Flagship
Native iOS apps
Swift, SwiftUI, the full App Store song and dance. My apps run on building sites, in vans, on rooftops. Places where the network drops out and the work has to keep going.
Taking on one new project for Q3
I build the unglamorous software that real businesses actually need.
Helsh-js is a one-person software studio. I get hired by founders and product teams who need a hard piece of work done, on a real deadline, by someone who has done it before. I work across mobile, web, and infrastructure, with whatever back-of-house plumbing the project needs.
12+
Products shipped to real users
~6 weeks
Typical first ship for a new MVP
100%
Of clients pick up when I call
Swift SwiftUI TypeScript Astro Cloudflare Postgres Next.js Edge Offline-first GDPR-grade Receipts only Swift SwiftUI TypeScript Astro Cloudflare Postgres Next.js Edge Offline-first GDPR-grade Receipts only
What I do
Senior product engineering, in a studio that fits in one room.
I build native mobile, web, and the back-of-house infrastructure that makes both work. Big-company experience, one-person responsiveness.
Web apps
TypeScript, edge-rendered, the kind of infrastructure that is interesting only when it breaks. Built to ship and built to read six months later.
Compliance-grade audit trails
GDPR, DEFRA, evidence chains, signature flows. I make the regulator's homework feel like a feature instead of a chore.
Specialty
Offline-first sync
Cars in tunnels. Tablets in basements. Phones on building sites with one bar of signal. I design data flows that survive the real world and reconcile cleanly when the network comes back.
Design that doesn't yell
Typography, motion, restraint. Interfaces with a strong point of view, without the design-Twitter overproduction.
Migrations and rescues
Inherited a Rails monolith. A React app that boots in eight seconds. A Swift codebase your last developer left at 60% done. I have held messier projects, and I will be kind to yours.
Selected work
What I've shipped, and what I ship now.
A flagship product, a long-running client engagement, and a deliberate refusal to talk about anything I would not be proud to point at.
Flagship product. iOS, web, infrastructure.
WTN App
Digital waste transfer notes for UK producers, carriers and consignees. Built for the field. Ready for DEFRA's 2026/27 digital tracking mandate.
SwiftSwiftUIPostgresTypeScriptCloudflare
Read the case study
Engineering. Freelance contract.
Eagl
AI-powered accounting automation: real-time error detection across the month-end close, built for CFOs and accounting teams using Exact Online and NetSuite.
TypeScriptNext.jsPostgresLLMsERP integrations
Read the case study
How I work
A repeatable, boring, effective process.
No magic. No agile transformation. Just short loops, working software, and someone who picks up the phone.
- 01 1 week
Discover
I sit down with you, or jump on a video call, and pry the problem apart. What does success look like, what can be cut, what is non-negotiable. Output is a written plan.
- 02 1 to 2 weeks
Sketch
Fast loops on paper, in Figma, in throwaway prototypes. I would rather throw away the wrong idea cheaply than ship it expensively.
- 03 3 to 8 weeks
Build
You see working software end-to-end within ten days. I push to a staging URL every working day. No surprises on demo day, because demo day is every Friday.
- 04 1 week
Ship
Submit, certify, deploy. I handle App Store review, DNS, secrets, the lot. You get a calm release, not a midnight panic.
- 05 Ongoing
Support
Ongoing retainer, or a clean handover with documentation that does not lie to your future engineers. Your team should never feel locked in.
Reception
What my clients say.
We hired Helsh-js to build a thing we had been failing to build internally for 18 months. We had a working v1 in their hands in six weeks. Calm, fast, and they actually care.
Operations Director
Independent waste carrier, Yorkshire
Senior work without the senior performance art. We get a Slack message when there's something worth saying. We get code when there's code to ship. That's it.
CTO
B2B SaaS, ~30 employees
I have worked with five freelancers and three agencies on this product. Helsh-js is the only team where I have not had to rewrite half their code six months later.
Founder
Fintech startup, Amsterdam
Quotes paraphrased and anonymised at clients' request. Named references available on call.
Questions you probably have
Honest answers, no marketing voice.
How is Helsh-js different from a typical agency?
There is no account manager. You talk to the person writing the code. I pick a small number of engagements at a time so I can stay deeply attached to each one. Senior in, senior out. No retainer burnt on juniors learning on your project.
What technologies do you actually use?
Swift and SwiftUI for iOS. TypeScript across the web. Astro, React, Next.js, Node, chosen per project. Postgres, SQLite, Cloudflare Workers and Pages for infrastructure. I am deliberately boring. I pick tools that will still be a sensible default in five years.
Do you work fixed-price or time-and-materials?
Both. Most engagements start with a fixed-scope discovery sprint of one week at a fixed fee so I can write you an honest plan. From there I usually quote per phase. Retainers for ongoing support are billed monthly.
Will you sign an NDA?
Yes, gladly. Send yours over. I sign the same evening in most cases.
Can you take over an existing codebase?
Often. I do a paid one-week audit first and tell you honestly what is salvageable and what is not. About a third of the time I recommend keeping what you have and adding to it. About a third, incremental rewrite. The rest, full rebuild, but only when there's a real reason.
Where are you based, and which timezones do you work in?
I'm based in Belgium and work on Belgium time (UTC+1 / UTC+2). No graveyard shifts.
Are you taking on new projects right now?
I take on one new project per quarter. If I am full when you reach out I will be honest about it and put you on a short list with a real date.
Have a project in mind?
Tell me what you're trying to ship. I respond personally within one working day.