Turn Technical Chaos Into Scalable Systems

Your engineering team is smart, but velocity is dropping. Features that took days now take weeks. Your best engineers are burning out. AWS costs keep climbing while performance gets worse.

I’ve seen this pattern at StackAdapt, Instacart, CultureAmp, Seek, and a dozen startups. And I know how to fix it.

Real Results From Recent Engagements

Platform Observability Transformation (StackAdapt, 2024-2025)

  • Reduced mean time to repair by 67% through comprehensive monitoring infrastructure
  • Architected AWS CloudWatch + Datadog + custom Ruby instrumentation
  • Coached 10+ engineers on observability best practices
  • Impact: Production incidents resolved in minutes instead of hours

GraphQL Gateway Migration (StackAdapt, 2024)

  • Led cross-team architecture serving 8 backend services
  • Reduced API response times by 40%
  • Eliminated 60% of redundant network calls
  • Impact: Significantly improved developer productivity across teams

Zero-Downtime Database Migration (CultureAmp, 2023)

  • Migrated enterprise HR platform (3M+ users) from MongoDB to PostgreSQL
  • Used CQRS and Strangler Fig patterns with feature flags
  • Reduced infrastructure costs by 30%
  • Impact: Zero customer disruption, major cost savings

Event-Driven Architecture Migration (Seek, 2018-2021)

  • Migrated monolithic Rails to microservices using AWS EventBridge and Lambda
  • Built platform serving 2M+ users globally across US, EU, APAC
  • Reduced operational overhead by 70% through automation
  • Impact: Eliminated recurring outages, enabled rapid feature development

AI/ML Spam Detection (Seek, 2019-2020)

  • Built production ML system processing millions of daily classifications
  • Achieved 95% accuracy with Random Forest and XGBoost models
  • Integrated into Rails platform via Sidekiq background jobs
  • Impact: Saved 14+ hours/week in manual moderation

The Problems I Solve

For Engineering Managers

  • Velocity declining as codebase complexity grows — features that took days now take weeks
  • New hires taking months to contribute — 3-6 month onboarding for simple changes
  • Technical decisions paralysed — too many opinions, not enough experience
  • “Quick wins” becoming expensive mistakes — shortcuts compound into technical debt

For CTOs

  • Board asking hard questions about technical strategy and timeline delays
  • Rewrite vs. incremental improvement — $2M bet or strategic refactoring?
  • Technical risk assessment for acquisitions, fundraising, or major pivots
  • Build vs. buy for critical infrastructure — when to invest, when to integrate

How I Help

Architecture Health Check

1-2 week engagement

Deep technical assessment of your systems, team, and processes.

What you get:

  • Technical debt assessment with quantified business impact
  • Scalability bottleneck analysis with timeline projections
  • Concrete 3, 6, 12-month roadmap with priority rankings
  • Risk assessment of current architectural decisions
  • Specific recommendations based on 20+ years building similar systems

Investment: $15,000 - $25,000

Example outcome: Identified that “slow deployments” weren’t a CI/CD problem — they were a test suite architecture problem. Fixed root cause, deployment time dropped from 45min to 8min.

Technical Advisory

Ongoing retainer relationship

Strategic guidance for sustained architectural improvement.

What you get:

  • Monthly architecture reviews and strategic planning
  • Technical hiring support (interview design, candidate evaluation)
  • Real-time consultation on major technical decisions
  • Mentoring for senior engineers transitioning to architecture roles
  • Access to 20+ years of pattern matching across industries

Investment: $5,000 - $10,000/month (6-month minimum)

Example outcome: Guided team through Rails 6→7 upgrade while simultaneously migrating 2M users to new authentication system. Zero downtime, completed 3 months ahead of schedule.

Crisis Intervention

Immediate availability for urgent situations

Senior expertise when you need it most.

What you get:

  • Production emergency troubleshooting and resolution
  • Pre-acquisition technical due diligence
  • Legacy system rescue and modernisation strategy
  • Expert technical leadership during team transitions
  • 20+ years of “I’ve seen this break before” pattern recognition

Investment: Starting at $2,500/day

Example outcome: Stabilised production system experiencing cascading failures. Identified root cause (connection pool exhaustion), implemented circuit breakers, system recovered in 4 hours instead of projected 3 days.

My Approach: Pragmatic Over Perfect

I don’t believe in silver bullets. Every architecture decision depends on your team, constraints, and business context.

I focus on:

  • Solutions your team can maintain — not impressive GitHub demos
  • Incremental improvements that deliver value while reducing risk
  • Boring technology that works over exciting technology that breaks
  • Asking the right questions before proposing solutions
  • Concrete metrics — not vague promises

This philosophy has delivered:

  • 67% reduction in incident resolution time (StackAdapt observability)
  • 70% reduction in operational overhead (Seek automation, Redbubble self-service)
  • 40% API response time improvement (StackAdapt GraphQL gateway)
  • 35% API latency reduction (Redbubble PostgreSQL optimisation)
  • 30% infrastructure cost reduction (CultureAmp AWS optimisation)
  • Zero-downtime migrations serving millions of users (CultureAmp, Seek)

My Background

20+ years building and fixing systems at high-growth companies:

  • Ovie Health (Tech Consultant, Current): AI startup — Technical architecture and AI/ML integration
  • StackAdapt (Staff Engineer, 2024-2025): Led 8-person distributed team, platform architecture
  • Instacart (Senior Engineer, 2023-2024): Enterprise retail integration platform
  • CultureAmp (Senior Engineer, 2023): Platform migration, 3M+ users
  • Redbubble (Senior Engineer, 2021-2022): Global marketplace optimisation
  • Seek (Senior Engineer, 2018-2021): Led distributed team, 2M+ users globally
  • Earlier: Sony Mobile, Hero Gaming, SoftServe (Nissan, BMC), plus 15+ consulting projects

Technologies I specialise in:

  • Ruby/Rails ecosystem (15+ years): from MVPs to enterprise systems at scale
  • AWS infrastructure: CloudFormation, CDK, EventBridge, Lambda, ECS, RDS, DynamoDB
  • Event-driven architectures: Migration from monoliths to microservices
  • Database expertise: PostgreSQL optimisation, migrations, multi-tenant patterns
  • Observability & DevOps: Comprehensive monitoring, CI/CD, infrastructure as code
  • AI/ML integration: Production models, LLM workflows, intelligent automation

Leadership experience:

  • Led teams of 4-15 developers across distributed time zones
  • Managed multiple concurrent projects while maintaining hands-on development
  • Agile delivery (Scrum Master certified), product collaboration, stakeholder communication
  • Mentored 20+ engineers on architecture, Ruby best practices, AWS patterns

Who This ISN’T For

I’m not the right choice if you’re:

  • Looking for staff augmentation — I multiply your team’s effectiveness, not add headcount
  • A team smaller than 3 engineers — You need builders, not strategy
  • Seeking the cheapest option — I provide premium expertise for teams ready to invest in excellence
  • Wanting bleeding-edge for its own sake — I favour boring, proven solutions your team can maintain
  • Not ready to empower your team — My solutions require giving engineers ownership

Red Flags: When You Need Help Now

If 3+ of these apply, we should talk:

  • Deployments take hours and often fail
  • “Simple” features consistently take weeks instead of days
  • Engineers actively avoid certain parts of the codebase
  • Customer-reported bugs increasing month over month
  • Your best engineers are burning out or leaving
  • Technical discussions end in deadlock
  • You’re considering a full rewrite because “it’s the only way”
  • Board asks questions about “technical debt” you can’t quantify
  • New features consistently break existing functionality
  • Monitoring alerts are ignored or constantly firing

Client Success Stories

“Tolic led our migration from MongoDB to PostgreSQL with zero downtime serving 3 million users. His use of CQRS patterns and feature flags gave us confidence throughout the rollout. Infrastructure costs dropped 30%.” — Engineering Manager, CultureAmp

“The observability infrastructure Tolic architected reduced our incident resolution time by 67%. More importantly, he coached our entire team on best practices — the impact continues long after the project.” — Director of Engineering, StackAdapt

“Tolic led our distributed team through multiple concurrent projects while maintaining hands-on development. His AI/ML spam detection system processes millions of classifications daily with 95% accuracy.” — VP Engineering, Seek

Ready to Get Started?

Free 30-minute technical assessment call — No sales pitch. Just an honest conversation about your challenges and whether I can help.

During our call:

  • Your biggest technical pain points
  • What you’ve tried and why it didn’t work
  • Whether your situation fits my expertise
  • Potential engagement options and timeline

Currently booking 4-6 weeks out for new engagements.

Schedule Your Free Assessment Call

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you work with remote teams? Yes, 80% of my clients are fully remote or hybrid. I’ve led distributed teams across US, EU, and APAC time zones.

What size companies do you work with? Primarily startups and scale-ups (10-200 engineers), though I also advise larger enterprises on specific modernisation projects.

Do you write code? Yes — I maintain hands-on development while providing architecture and strategy. I led 8-person teams at StackAdapt while still shipping features.

How do you measure success? By your team’s improved velocity, reduced operational overhead, and confidence in technical decisions. Every engagement includes specific, measurable outcomes.

What if we need ongoing support? Most clients transition to a monthly advisory retainer. I believe in building long-term relationships, not one-time transactions.

What makes you different from other consultants? 20+ years of hands-on experience at high-growth companies. I’ve led teams, shipped features, and fixed production systems. I know what works at scale because I’ve built it.

Ready to turn your technical challenges into competitive advantages?

Connect: LinkedIn | Email

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