Part-time senior engineer · Builds AI and software that ships

I build AI and software into your business. You get something that works, not a slide deck.

Companies bring me in part-time when they need a senior engineer to build the thing - AI tools, apps, automations - and get it running live in the business. Twenty years in technology. Three products shipped in the last year.

cognitiv // recently shipped
2026
280ms
An insurance claim check that now decides in a blink, down from 11 seconds
~$1M / yr
A staff-scheduling system projected to save a 350-person company about a million dollars a year
75%
Faster weekly staff scheduling (projected)
Scorafy live on Australian infrastructure2026-07-02
Scorafy v2 PII retention shipped2026-05-18

The stack I ship on

Next.jsReactTypeScriptNode.jsSupabasePostgreSQLVercelStripeAnthropicSanityTailwind CSS
What I actually do

One person, one job: build your software and make it work.

I join your team part-time and build the software you need - AI features, apps, automations, whole platforms - then get it running live in your business. You can also lean on me for the bigger calls: what to build, how to build it, who to hire. But it always ends in working software, never just advice.

Build the thing

AI features, apps and automations, built and running live in your business - not a prototype, not a document.

Make the calls

What to build, what to skip, how it should be put together, who to hire. The senior judgement, not just the hands.

Stay on as your engineer

Part-time, month to month, with no full-time hire to make. Senior engineering when you need it, gone when you don't.

How I work

Start with a Ship Sprint. Move to a retainer.

A two-week paid on-ramp that ends deployed, then an embedded monthly retainer. 30-day rolling, 90-day checkpoint.

Ship Sprint

The on-ramp

Two weeks, fixed scope. Ends with something deployed and working in production, not a document. The fastest, lowest-risk way to start.

USD $4,000
two weeks
Start

Build

USD $8,000/ month

I embed and ship your roadmap. One to two days a week, 30-day rolling.

  • Embedded engineering
  • Production delivery
  • 30-day rolling
Anchor tier

Build + Lead

USD $12,000/ month

Embedded delivery plus technical direction - architecture, hiring, vendor calls.

  • Everything in Build
  • Technical direction
  • Architecture + hiring

Fractional CTO / AI Lead

USD $15,000/ month

Full technical leadership for a business that needs a senior engineer on staff.

  • Everything in Build + Lead
  • Full technical ownership
  • Board-ready

Equity co-build available for founders building an AI-dependent product - fee plus economic interest, or pure equity. See the full ladder →

Engagement log

A running record of the work.

Dated notes on what I've shipped and when, updated as the work happens.

Build / Scorafy2026-07-02

Scorafy live on Australian infrastructure

Scorafy now runs on Sydney infrastructure at au.scorafy.com, with customer data held in Australia end to end. For Australian training organisations that matters: assessment records and personal data never leave the country.

Build / Scorafy2026-05-18

Scorafy v2 PII retention shipped

Trial users now self-select 30, 90, 180, or 365-day anonymisation windows on Scorafy. The evaluation scores survive the redaction; the raw personal answers do not.

Build / Scorafy2026-04-22

Scorafy eval pipeline stable across two billing months

The per-respondent Claude pass on Scorafy has now run two full billing months without a regression on the eval suite. Throughput sits around twelve hundred submissions per minute under peak load on a single Vercel region with cold-start...

Who you're working with

I'm Adam Broons.

Technology Partner to Sensational League since November 2025, building and leading their digital platform and member hub. Built Scorafy from zero to live - an AI compliance and assessment platform, Cognitiv-owned IP, in pilot with a design partner.

Background - ANZ small-business specialist, three years · secondary computing, Department of Education WA, six years · Vistage AI speaker, two CEO-group sessions · capital-raise documentation for Pentanet ahead of its IPO.

More about how I work
20
Years across technology & business
03
Products shipped, last year
StrategyProduction
Questions

What this is, and what it costs.

What is a forward-deployed engineer and fractional AI partner?+

A senior engineer who embeds inside your team and ships production code, rather than handing over a strategy document. Fractional means part-time and ongoing - usually one to two days a week - so a business gets senior engineering and AI direction without a full-time hire. Cognitiv works as that embedded partner, taking your roadmap from AI strategy to deployed code.

What is a Ship Sprint?+

A two-week, fixed-scope, fixed-price engagement that ends with something deployed and working in production - not a slide deck or a report. It is the on-ramp: a low-risk way to see how Cognitiv works before moving to a monthly retainer. The Ship Sprint is USD $4,000.

How much does it cost?+

The Ship Sprint is USD $4,000 for two weeks. Monthly retainers run from USD $8,000 to USD $15,000 a month: Build at $8,000, Build + Lead at $12,000, and Fractional CTO / AI Lead at $15,000. Retainers are 30-day rolling with a 90-day checkpoint. Equity co-builds are arranged per engagement.

Who is it for?+

Established businesses adopting AI, founders and teams shipping a product, and operators who need senior technical leadership without a full-time hire. If you want working software and not just advice, Cognitiv is a fit. It works remote-global, and suits any business with the budget for senior engineering but not the headcount.

Have AI or software you need built?

Start with a two-week Ship Sprint. The fastest way to see how I work - deployed, not a document.