Senior full-stack engineering delivery for UK product teams
Marketplace Labs provides senior hands-on engineering support for product teams that need important technical work delivered without adding permanent headcount.
We help with frontend applications, backend systems, cloud infrastructure, CI/CD, platform stability, integrations and complex product features. The work is scoped around practical outcomes: working code, clearer systems, better documentation and a clean handover.
This is not management consultancy. It is not generic outsourcing. It is focused engineering delivery for teams that already know what needs to move and want experienced support to get it shipped properly.
For teams that need senior capacity on high-friction technical work
This service is designed for CTOs, founders, heads of engineering and product teams that already have a capable internal team, but need additional senior engineering capacity around a specific workstream.
You may be hiring, but the roadmap cannot wait. You may have an unstable deployment process, a complex integration, or an AWS setup that needs attention. Or you may simply have senior engineers tied up elsewhere while important product work continues to move more slowly than it should.
Marketplace Labs helps move that work through to completion with focused, senior-led engineering delivery.
You are likely a fit if:
- your frontend or backend roadmap includes complex delivery work that needs senior attention
- your CI/CD pipeline or deployment process is slowing releases down
- your AWS setup has grown messy, fragile or expensive
- your internal team is too busy to tackle platform improvements
- a complex integration or feature needs experienced execution
- you need code, tests and documentation, not another strategy deck
- you want a small, controlled engagement before committing to anything larger
Technical work that slows delivery when it stays unfinished
Frontend and UI delivery
React, Next.js and React Native work that needs senior attention — complex components, performance issues, state management or design system implementation.
React · Next.js · React Native · TypeScript
Backend delivery
Complex API work, service logic, data flows, authentication, integrations and backend features that need experienced execution.
Backend APIs · Node.js · GraphQL · Integrations
Cloud infrastructure
Cloud infrastructure across AWS, GCP or Digital Ocean that needs refactoring, stabilising or documenting so your team can ship with confidence.
AWS · GCP · Digital Ocean · Pulumi · Terraform
CI/CD stability
Deployment pipelines, build processes and release workflows that fail too often or require too much manual attention.
CI/CD · GitHub Actions · Deployment workflows
Database and performance
Slow queries, fragile data models, missing indexes, unreliable jobs or performance issues that affect product experience.
PostgreSQL · Query optimisation · Performance
Platform handover
Systems that need documentation, technical clean-up, test coverage and handover so your team can own them properly.
Documentation · Tests · Handover · Maintainability
A focused sprint for one important technical workstream
The usual starting point is a focused engineering sprint. We agree one technical outcome, define the access and constraints, then work through diagnosis, implementation, testing and handover. The sprint is designed to prove delivery quality quickly without turning the first conversation into a long procurement exercise.
A sprint can be used for:
- •building complex React or Next.js features
- •stabilising a CI/CD pipeline
- •refactoring cloud infrastructure with Pulumi, CDK or Terraform
- •reducing API or database latency
- •improving an unreliable backend workflow
- •building a difficult integration
- •cleaning up deployment environments
- •moving a delayed feature through to completion
- •producing technical handover for a system that lacks documentation
What you get
- implemented code or infrastructure changes
- test evidence or validation notes
- clear deployment or release instructions
- handover documentation
- risks, assumptions and trade-offs
- recommended next steps if further work is needed
Start small, then expand only if the work proves useful
Technical Triage
A short diagnostic engagement for teams that need an experienced second pair of eyes before committing to a build or delivery sprint.
Best for:
- • unclear technical problems
- • architecture or platform uncertainty
- • validating whether a focused sprint is the right next step
Output:
- • problem summary
- • recommended technical approach
- • risk notes
- • proposed sprint scope
Focused Engineering Sprint
A defined sprint around one important technical outcome.
Best for:
- • CI/CD fixes
- • AWS clean-up
- • backend delivery
- • performance issues
- • stalled integrations
- • complex feature delivery
Output:
- • production-ready implementation
- • testing or validation evidence
- • documentation
- • handover
Targeted Feature or System Build
A defined project for a specific subsystem, integration, platform workflow or product-critical feature.
Best for:
- • complex integrations
- • internal tools
- • backend subsystems
- • operational workflows
- • cloud-to-local or multi-system products
Output:
- • scoped delivery plan
- • implemented feature or system
- • acceptance criteria
- • technical handover
Managed Senior Engineering Capacity
Ongoing senior engineering capacity for agreed backlog items after the initial sprint proves fit.
Best for:
- • teams that need reliable senior delivery capacity
- • product companies hiring but unable to wait
- • founders or CTOs who need hands-on help without adding permanent headcount
Output:
- • weekly delivery focus
- • agreed backlog items
- • senior engineering execution
- • handover and documentation as work progresses
Clear scope, secure access, working product
Understand the workstream
We start with the specific technical issue, the business impact, the current system, and what successful delivery looks like.
Define the sprint or scope
You get a clear scope, deliverables, assumptions, access requirements and acceptance criteria before work begins.
Work through your approved environment
We use client-approved access controls, such as VDI where required, and avoid unnecessary local code or data handling.
Build, test and document
The focus is production-ready implementation, not abstract recommendations. Work is documented so your team can understand and maintain it.
Handover or continue
At the end of the sprint, you can stop, extend the workstream, or move into retained senior engineering capacity.
Designed for controlled remote engineering work
Senior engineering delivery often means access to sensitive systems, repositories, infrastructure and product data. That requires more than trust.
Marketplace Labs works through controlled, client-approved access arrangements. Where appropriate, this can include VDI, MFA, named authorised users, restricted local storage, secure offboarding, confidentiality terms, IP assignment and data-processing terms.
The aim is to give your team practical delivery capacity without creating unnecessary security or governance risk.
Typical controls can include:
- client-approved VDI or secure remote access
- no local source-code checkout where VDI is required
- no local storage of client data where restricted by the engagement
- MFA and named authorised personnel
- NDA, IP assignment and confidentiality terms
- data-processing terms where personal data is involved
- documented onboarding and offboarding
- handover notes and access removal at the end of the engagement
Senior delivery without the usual noise
Not a strategy deck
We are not here to produce a roadmap and leave your team with the hard part. The focus is implementation.
Not generic outsourcing
The work is scoped around a specific technical outcome, not a vague promise of cheap development capacity.
Not recruitment
This is for teams that need progress before hiring catches up, or where hiring a permanent specialist would not make sense.
Not junior delivery hidden behind a senior salesperson
MPLabs is founder-led. Senior engineering judgement is involved from scoping through delivery and handover.
Best suited to modern product and platform stacks
Marketplace Labs is strongest where product engineering, backend systems and cloud infrastructure meet.
Good-fit technologies include:
- TypeScript
- Node.js
- React
- Next.js
- React Native
- Expo
- GraphQL
- PostgreSQL
- AWS
- AWS CDK
- Google Cloud Platform
- Digital Ocean
- Pulumi
- Serverless infrastructure
- CI/CD pipelines
- API integrations
- Product dashboards and internal tools
The exact stack matters less than the shape of the problem. If the issue is a complex product, backend or platform workstream, we can usually assess fit quickly.
Where this works best
Good fit
- ✓there is a specific technical workstream to deliver
- ✓the work needs senior hands-on engineering
- ✓the internal team can provide context and review
- ✓the scope can be defined clearly enough to start
- ✓secure access can be arranged
- ✓you want working code, documentation and handover
Probably not the right fit
- ✗you only want the cheapest possible developers
- ✗you want unmanaged staff augmentation with no defined outcomes
- ✗you need permanent hiring rather than delivery support
- ✗the scope is completely open-ended and there is no technical owner
- ✗you need a large agency-style team from day one
Led by the same engineering discipline behind MPLabs platform work
Marketplace Labs is run by Daniel, a product engineer with experience delivering dependable digital products for growing businesses and established organisations.
The same approach used for custom platforms — practical scope, sensible technical decisions, working product and clear handover — is applied to senior engineering delivery.
You are not handed from a sales conversation to a disconnected junior team. The work is led with senior engineering judgement from the start.
Questions UK teams usually ask
Can you provide a full-time engineer?
Yes, but the recommended starting point is a defined sprint or agreed backlog package. That keeps the engagement focused on outcomes rather than simply adding another person to the team. After the first sprint, retained senior engineering capacity can be agreed if there is a clear ongoing workstream.
Can you work inside our VDI?
Yes. For sensitive repositories, infrastructure or product data, VDI is often the preferred route. We can work through client-approved access controls and adapt to your security requirements.
Is this outside IR35?
We do not sell this as a blanket IR35 shortcut. Engagements are structured as B2B services with defined deliverables, documented working practices and supplier-side delivery responsibility where appropriate. If your organisation needs to assess off-payroll status, we provide the information required to support that process.
Do you replace our internal team?
No. This works best alongside an internal technical owner. We help deliver a defined workstream, improve a system, or provide senior hands-on support where your team does not currently have the bandwidth or specialist experience available.
Do you only work with fitness and wellness companies?
MPLabs is focused on custom platforms for fitness, wellness and member-led businesses. Senior Engineering Delivery is available for selected UK product teams where the technical problem matches our experience: backend systems, AWS, CI/CD, platform stability, integrations and product delivery.
What happens after the first sprint?
You can stop after the sprint, extend the work into a larger feature or system build, or move into managed senior engineering capacity for agreed backlog items. The first sprint is designed to be useful on its own.
Have backend, AWS or platform work that needs senior attention?
Start with a short technical discussion. We will look at the workstream, assess whether it is a good fit, and suggest the smallest useful engagement.
Tell us what needs moving, which systems are involved, and what would count as a successful outcome.