Forward-deployed engineering
Drop an engineer into your company.
Andrew Stockus embeds with your team, sits with the people doing the work, and finds where time and money leak. Then he modernizes the systems underneath, with automation, integrations, legacy rebuilds, and AI agents, shipping working software every week.
- On site or remote
- Working software every week
- Your code, your data, your accounts
Why embed an engineer
The people who know where the work breaks rarely build the software.
A forward-deployed engineer closes that gap. Instead of a spec passed from your team to a vendor, the engineer sits with your team, sees the problem firsthand, and ships the fix.
Optimize
Bottlenecks found by watching the work, not by reading a requirements document. Steps that shouldn't exist get cut before anything is built.
Automate
Manual steps, double entry, and phone tag handed to software and AI agents, with a person alerted when one is needed.
Save
Every fix ranked by what it returns. One billing rebuild replaced card processing with ACH and cut $18,000+ a year in fees.
How an embed works
Inside the work from day one. A prototype in days.
The engineer learns the business by working inside it, so fixes start as the leaks are found, not after a long report is written and handed over.
- 1
Embed with your teams
On site or remote. Andrew sits with the people doing the work, in operations, finance, and the front line, and learns how the company actually runs.
You get: Every record, process, and system mapped
- 2
Map the leaks, ranked by return
Manual steps, double entry, fees, and workarounds, each listed with what it costs and what it takes to fix. You decide the order.
You get: A ranked list of fixes
- 3
Ship every week
A prototype in days, then working software every week on a preview link. Data is migrated and checked, and old and new run side by side.
You get: Live systems your team uses
- 4
Hand it over
Training for every team, documentation and runbooks, and everything in your name. Keep the embed going, or hand it to your in-house team.
You get: Runbooks, training, and a full handover
What gets modernized
The systems you already run, made to work together.
Most companies don't need a new everything. They need the systems they already have fixed, connected, and automated, starting where the leak is biggest.
Legacy systems
The aging database or desktop app everyone is afraid to touch, rebuilt as secure cloud software without losing data or stopping the business.
Custom softwareSpreadsheets and paper
Filing cabinets, scanned PDFs, and the master spreadsheet turned into structured records anyone with access can find in seconds.
Records digitizationManual processes
Onboarding, purchasing, billing, and approvals moved out of inboxes and into workflows that route themselves and leave a trail.
Process automationDisconnected systems
Accounting, CRM, POS, payments, and HR connected so data is entered once. QuickBooks, Buildium, Square, Clover, Toast, ACH, and Twilio are already connected in production.
Systems integrationRepetitive work
AI agents that answer calls, read documents, and chase invoices, with alerts when something needs a person.
AI employeesReporting
One live view across locations and departments, instead of a report someone rebuilds by hand.
Dashboards and BI
Systems in production
What modernized looks like.
Systems Andrew has built and still runs, across hospitality, property management, finance, logistics, retail, and customer service.
- Hospitality and venues
One multi-venue operator, digitized system by system.
A 100+ vendor food truck park and a 200-booth market, off paper and clipboards
Vendor onboarding and check-in, utility re-billing, QR parking validation, a violations system with photo evidence and automatic fines, employee onboarding, and a QR treasure hunt app, all built by us and still running.
- Vendor onboarding
- Check-in
- Utility re-billing
- QR parking validation
- Violations and fines
- Employee onboarding
- QR treasure hunt app
Read the build notes - Property management
ACH billing integrated with QuickBooks
$18,000+ a year in card fees eliminated
Custom auto-billing on direct bank payments, with settlement reconciliation and reporting, replacing card processing entirely.
Read the build notes - Finance operations
Payroll from spreadsheets to software
2 hours down to 90 seconds
Tips, overtime, and deductions calculated automatically and pushed straight into QuickBooks, every pay period.
Read the build notes - Logistics
Freight marketplace with built-in payments
Shippers and carriers on one platform
Load matching, payments, and a 79-test automated suite guarding every release.
See the system list - Multi-vendor retail
Business intelligence from POS data
One view across every vendor
Daily revenue trends, per-vendor performance, and foot traffic analysis aggregated from separate point-of-sale systems.
Read the build notes - Customer operations
AI voice agents on live phone lines
4 agents answering real customer calls
Inbound calls for retail, food hall, wellness, and agency lines answered, booked, and routed around the clock.
See the system list
Agency, hire, or embed
Why not an agency, or a new hire?
Both work. An embedded engineer gives you what each one is missing: someone inside the business who can also build what it needs.
| Compared on | Typical agency | A new hire | Forward-deployed engineer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where the work happens | Outside your walls, from a written spec | Inside, once they're recruited and ramped up | Inside your team, on site or remote |
| Who finds the problem | You do, then write it up for them | They do, after learning the business | Andrew, by sitting with the people doing the work |
| Range | Whatever the assigned team covers | One role, one skill set | Operations, software, integrations, and AI |
| Commitment | Per project | Salary, benefits, and a recruiting cycle | Monthly, working through your roadmap month by month |
| Who owns the work | Depends on the contract | You do | You do: code, data, and accounts from day one |
| When they move on | Handover documents, if they were scoped | What they knew leaves with them | Documentation, runbooks, and a full handover |
Where the work happens
- Forward-deployed engineer
- Inside your team, on site or remote
- Typical agency
- Outside your walls, from a written spec
- A new hire
- Inside, once they're recruited and ramped up
Who finds the problem
- Forward-deployed engineer
- Andrew, by sitting with the people doing the work
- Typical agency
- You do, then write it up for them
- A new hire
- They do, after learning the business
Range
- Forward-deployed engineer
- Operations, software, integrations, and AI
- Typical agency
- Whatever the assigned team covers
- A new hire
- One role, one skill set
Commitment
- Forward-deployed engineer
- Monthly, working through your roadmap month by month
- Typical agency
- Per project
- A new hire
- Salary, benefits, and a recruiting cycle
Who owns the work
- Forward-deployed engineer
- You do: code, data, and accounts from day one
- Typical agency
- Depends on the contract
- A new hire
- You do
When they move on
- Forward-deployed engineer
- Documentation, runbooks, and a full handover
- Typical agency
- Handover documents, if they were scoped
- A new hire
- What they knew leaves with them
Typical patterns, not claims about any specific firm or person.
Who gets embedded
An operator who became an engineer.
Andrew Stockus spent six years in retail, from sales associate to market manager running multiple stores and their P&L. Then he started writing production code in 2016 and hasn't stopped. He reads your business like an operator and builds like an engineer, so the fixes are the ones that move the numbers.
- apps, agents & automations shipped
- 35+
- writing production code since
- 2016
- ai voice agents on live calls
- 4
How an embed is set up
Inside your company, on your terms.
The controls your IT and security teams expect apply from the first day of the embed, not as an add-on at the end.
- Monthly engagement, working through your roadmap month by month
- On site or remote, alongside your team and your IT
- Works inside your accounts, with only the access you grant
- Under NDA and through your vendor security review
- Role-based access, encryption, and audit trails on sensitive records
- Single sign-on with Microsoft or Google
- Automated tests and a staging environment before every release
- Scope and price agreed in writing before work starts
What you own
From the first day of the embed, not at the end of it.
- Source code in your repository
- Cloud, database, and payment accounts in your name
- No per-seat licenses to us
- Full handover whenever you want it
Questions
Questions about embedding an engineer.
What is a forward-deployed engineer?
An engineer who works inside your company instead of from a distance. A forward-deployed engineer sits with the people doing the work, sees where it breaks, and builds the fix, rather than waiting for a spec to be written and handed over. At BigDevelop, that engineer is founder Andrew Stockus.
How is this different from hiring a developer?
There's no recruiting cycle, and you don't get one narrow skill set. Andrew ran multi-store P&Ls before he wrote production code, and has shipped 35+ apps, AI agents and automations since, so one engineer covers process, integrations, custom software, and AI. Everything is documented as it's built, so nothing leaves when the embed ends.
How is it different from hiring an agency?
An agency builds from a spec, outside your walls. A forward-deployed engineer finds the problem with your team first, then builds the fix and ships working software every week, so what gets built matches how your company actually runs.
Do you work on site or remote?
Either. Andrew embeds with your team on site or remote, whichever fits the work. BigDevelop is based in Central Florida.
What access do you need?
Only what you grant. Andrew works inside your accounts with the access you give, under NDA and through your vendor security review, with role-based access and single sign-on with Microsoft or Google. Every decision is documented, and your IT team can review it.
Which systems can you work with?
In production today: QuickBooks, Buildium, Square, Clover and Toast point-of-sale data, card and ACH payments, and Twilio messaging. ERPs and legacy systems connect through their APIs, databases, or exports, with data validated on the way in.
What happens when the embed ends?
You keep everything. Code, data, and cloud accounts are in your name from day one, and every system ships with documentation and runbooks your IT team can review. Keep going month by month, move to a monthly support plan, or hand it all to your in-house team.
How is it priced?
Forward-deployed engineering is a monthly engagement, and the scope and price are agreed in writing before work starts. If you'd rather buy one defined system, that's a fixed-price project instead. It starts with a free 30-minute strategy call.
Next step
Start with a strategy call.
In 30 minutes, Andrew learns how your company runs and where it's leaking time and money. If an embed fits, you get the scope and monthly terms in writing before any work starts.
Reply within 24 hours