Callaars & De Gruyter · dev shop, North Brabant

Careers

A dev shop that's growing on purpose

Callaars & De Gruyter is today still just two people, with twenty years of software engineering experience, specialised in AI integration and custom-built software. The goal isn't to stay a small practice, but to grow into a company with multiple engineers that can handle both small and large projects. There's no active opening right now. But there is a clear picture of who the first hire will be, and what they'll find here.

Who we're looking for

An engineer, not a consultant. Someone who'd rather build an integration and get a system running than write a strategy memo. Comfortable in someone else's existing codebase, not just on a blank slate.
Someone who can sit with a client on their own. There's no account manager between the brief and the delivery here. Whoever works here talks to the client directly, even when it's difficult news and even when the scope is up for debate.
Production experience, not demo experience. Monitoring, error handling, handover to the client's team: the unglamorous work AI pilots usually break on, and exactly what this company stakes its name on. Whoever knows how something breaks in production also knows how to build it so it doesn't.
An interest in AI integration, not a prerequisite. Software engineering is the foundation. AI integration is a layer on top: connections to LLMs, RAG, agents. Not a separate trade. A good engineer picks it up.

What we offer

Fully remote and async. No office, no fixed location.
Direct impact. As the first hire, you help build how this company works, not a process that's already set. You're at the table with clients from day one, not after an onboarding track.
The whole job, not a slice of it. From the first conversation with a client to the integration that ends up running: you see and do the whole thing, instead of picking up tickets from someone else's backlog.
Work that keeps running. Fixed price, fixed scope is the starting point here, not endless engagements that drag on because nobody draws the line.
Contract type, open to discuss. Employee or freelance: we figure that out together, based on what fits you and what makes sense for the practice at the time.

Interested?

There's no concrete opening right now, but reaching out is still welcome. Send a short introduction to [email protected]: who you are, what you've built, and why this appeals to you. No cover letter needed. A few good lines and a link to your work are enough.

Email [email protected]