Founder-led software engineering

Your backend is too important to hand off to someone who won't own it

Artapel is a founder-led engineering partner for product teams that need senior ownership on their backend. Java, Spring Boot, APIs, integrations. No handholding required, no surprises delivered.

Book a free intro call See real outcomes
10+ Years building production backend systems
50+ Features shipped across healthcare, fintech and product platforms
0 Missed deadlines on committed scope
Founder-led Senior-level ownership from day one

How we can help

Pick the problem, we'll own the solution

Backend Engineering

  • Java / Spring Boot services
  • APIs and integrations
  • Distributed systems
  • Performance and reliability
  • Modernization and maintainability

Product Delivery

  • Feature ownership end-to-end
  • Technical discovery
  • Refactoring legacy systems
  • Stakeholder collaboration
  • Pragmatic implementation

AI-Enabled Features

  • Practical AI integrations
  • Workflow automation
  • Internal tooling
  • LLM-backed features with real use cases

Technical Leadership

  • Architecture direction
  • Engineering decision support
  • Mentoring
  • Delivery stabilization
  • Pragmatic process improvements

When to call me

Right fit, right expectations

Call me when you

  • Have a backend problem that needs someone senior to just handle it
  • Need to ship a feature but your team is stretched thin
  • Want someone who talks directly with product, not through three layers of management
  • Have a system that needs stabilizing, modernizing, or scaling
  • Need a partner for weeks or months, not a one-day consultant

Probably not the right fit if you

  • Need a team of 10 developers by next Monday
  • Want someone who just takes tickets without context
  • Expect "yes" to every scope change with no timeline impact
  • Need frontend-heavy work (React, mobile apps)

Selected work

Problems solved, outcomes delivered

Healthcare / AI

AI-powered clinical documentation

Built an audio-to-notes pipeline for a healthcare platform — from AWS Transcribe to OpenAI summarisation — turning field conversations into structured clinical records used in production.

Java / Spring Boot AWS + OpenAI Sole backend engineer
EV / Automotive

eRoaming platform integration

Integrated a fleet management and charging-point system with the European eRoaming network. Owned the full integration end-to-end, from spec to production.

Java / Spring Boot Third-party API integration Sole developer
Telecom / Enterprise

Mission-critical microservices

Maintained and evolved two core microservices at the heart of a large-scale messaging platform — account management and security — where downtime wasn't an option.

Java / Spring Boot Zero-downtime systems Prometheus / Grafana
Government / Fintech

Customs automation before Euro adoption

Delivered an import customs automation system for a government office on a hard deadline — the day Croatia switched to the Euro. API design, backend, and frontend, on time.

Java / Thymeleaf Hard deadline delivery Full-stack

How an engagement works

Simple process, zero drama

01

Understand the business problem

Before writing any code, we make sure we understand what success actually looks like.

02

Reduce ambiguity early

Surface unknowns, clarify scope, identify risks. The earlier, the cheaper.

03

Build incrementally with ownership

Ship working software in small increments. Own the outcome, not just the task.

04

Keep architecture pragmatic

The right amount of complexity for the problem at hand. No resume-driven development.

05

Optimize for maintainability

Code that the next person can understand, not demo-day fireworks.

Why me

Built to deliver, not to scale headcount

I'm Matej, founder of Artapel. 10+ years of backend engineering across healthcare platforms, product companies, and business-critical systems. Java and Spring Boot are my bread and butter.

Artapel exists because too many teams get burned by agencies that overpromise and underdeliver. Here, senior people do the actual work. You talk directly to the people who understand your system, not a middleman.

We've shipped production systems that handle real patient data, processed real payments, and survived real traffic. Not side projects. Not demos. Working software that businesses depend on.

You talk to senior engineers, not project managers Direct communication with the people doing the actual work
We own the outcome, not just the ticket If something breaks or slips, that's on me to fix and communicate
We'll tell you when something is a bad idea You're paying for judgement, not just keystrokes

Start here

Tell us what you're building. We'll tell you if we can help.

No sales pitch. A 20-minute call where you explain the problem, we ask the right questions, and we figure out if working together makes sense. If it doesn't, we'll say so.

Email [email protected]
Phone +385 95 828 3103
Location Zagreb, Croatia