Work with me
Currently: accepting new engagements for Q2 2026. Freelance, remote-first, long-form engagements preferred.
What I take on
I’m most useful on engagements where the hard part isn’t the code, it’s the reasoning around the problem:
- Cloud & data platforms — designing and building the infrastructure, ingestion, and transformation layers for data-intensive products.
- AI / ML integration — wiring models into real systems, with a clear view of what’s production-grade and what’s still research.
- Technical leadership on early-stage products — acting as a software architect alongside a founding team, owning the system design and the non-obvious trade-offs.
- Research-to-production bridges — translating work from scientific codebases into something a product team can actually operate.
Languages I reach for most: Python, Rust, C++, SQL, bash, TypeScript when needed. Cloud: AWS, GCP, Azure at varying depths. Data: Postgres, object stores, batch and streaming pipelines, distributed systems when the workload genuinely demands it. ML: enough to build, evaluate, and deploy — I’m an engineer who ships ML, not a researcher who publishes it. AI: LLMs, agents, RAG pipelines, treated as engineering problems with real evaluation and real failure modes, not as demos.
What I don’t take on
Being clear about this saves everyone time:
- Pure staff augmentation at large consultancies.
- WordPress, Shopify, marketing sites, mobile apps.
- Ad-tech projects.
- Fixed-price fixed-scope quotes on genuinely novel work. I’m happy to do fixed-price on well-defined increments inside a larger engagement.
How an engagement usually starts
- Intro call (30 min, free). We talk about what you’re trying to build and whether I’m the right fit. If I’m not, I’ll say so and often I can point you somewhere better.
- Scoped discovery (paid, 1–2 weeks). A short, paid piece of work where I dig into the code, data, or architecture and come back with a written plan, risks, and a proposed engagement shape.
- Main engagement. Usually month-to-month, remote, with a clear check-in cadence and a written exit plan from day one.
Rates and contract shape are discussed on the intro call, based on scope and engagement length.
Contact
Email is best: alexsavio@gmail.com
Please include:
- A one-paragraph description of what you’re building.
- Team size and stage.
- Rough timeline and what “success” looks like for the first month.
I try to reply within two business days.