Backend & systems architecture that holds up.
VAO is a backend-and-architecture engineering studio. We design and build production systems on the JVM — Java, Kotlin and Scala — correct, secure, and built to scale, and wire them to clean React and Angular front-ends. A decade across regulated UK government and investment-banking systems.
Services
What we do
Senior-only delivery across the backend and the systems around it.
Backend & APIs
Production-grade services and APIs on the JVM. Java, Kotlin and Scala — Spring Boot, Spring Cloud and Play — event-driven and microservice architectures built for correctness and uptime, not demos.
Systems architecture
From greenfield design to untangling legacy. We make the trade-offs explicit, choose boring technology on purpose, and leave you with systems your team can actually maintain.
Web front-ends
Clean, fast React and Angular interfaces wired properly to the backend. Typed end-to-end, accessible, and free of the usual front-end entropy.
Quality & test engineering
Testing treated as design, not an afterthought. TDD and BDD, executable specifications, and the automation that lets you ship with confidence — built by an engineer who started in test.
Architecture & code review
An independent, senior pair of eyes on your system — by the hour or fixed scope. Technical due diligence and a second opinion that pulls no punches. Written findings and a call to walk through them.
Embedded delivery
Drop us into your team. Hands-on delivery, mentoring, and CI/CD — with a decade across regulated UK government and investment-banking systems behind every decision.
Approach
How we work
Discover
We start with your constraints, not our stack. Goals, load, team, deadlines — and the trade-offs you're actually willing to make.
Architect
A design you can read on one page. Data model, boundaries, failure modes, and a delivery plan with no surprises.
Build
Tight feedback loops, tested code, and continuous delivery from day one. You see working software early and often.
Harden & hand over
Observability, runbooks, and documentation. We optimise for the day after we leave, not the day we ship.
Technology
Stack
The tools we reach for — chosen for boring reliability, not novelty.
Java · Kotlin · Scala · Groovy · TypeScript · SQL
Spring Boot · Spring Cloud · Play · JVM · REST & gRPC · Hibernate
PostgreSQL · Oracle · MS SQL · Redis · Kafka · JMS / ActiveMQ
TDD · BDD · Cucumber · ScalaTest · JUnit · Mockito · Selenium
React · Angular · TypeScript · Vite · Tailwind
Docker · Kubernetes · AWS · GCP · Terraform · Jenkins · CI/CD · OpenTelemetry
About
Why VAO
Senior-only
No bench to keep busy and no juniors learning on your budget. The people who scope the work are the people who build it.
Backend-first
We're strongest where it's hardest: data, concurrency, integrations, and the systems that have to stay up.
Built to hand over
Tested, documented, and observable. We measure success by how well things run after we've gone.
Contact
Tell us what you're building.
Send a few lines about your project, your stack, and your timeline. You'll hear back from an engineer — not a sales funnel.
Prefer email? [email protected]
Based in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK — open to remote & in-person.