Boutique software engineering · Since 2004
Production AI for companies that already have a product.
Agentic automation, legacy upgrades, and fractional CTO leadership from a senior engineer with 25 years in production — forward-deployed with your team, fixed-scope, no handoffs.
Who we work with
Our clients already run real software — a Rails, Python, or Node application with customers, data, and a roadmap. They need senior engineering to add AI that holds up in production, modernize what's aging, and make technology decisions with someone who has been on the hook for production before. That is what Layer 3 does.
Services
What we do
Senior engineering, scoped and priced up front.
Agentic Automation
Multi-step business processes handled by agents that hold state, verify their own work, and escalate when they should.
- Agent & workflow design
- Memory, retrieval & learning loops
- Evals, guardrails & observability
Fractional CTO
Technology leadership without the full-time hire: roadmaps, architecture, AI and vendor strategy, and hiring, from someone who has run production systems rather than only reviewed them.
- Technology strategy & roadmapping
- System & AI architecture
- Technical hiring & team leadership
Product Engineering
Full-stack development from concept to deployment — Rails, Python, Node, and React — with the DevOps to keep it running.
- Full-stack development
- UX & prototyping
- DevOps, CI/CD & cloud
Founder-led, production-first
Layer 3 Development is led by Shawn Cunningham, a senior engineer who has built and operated production systems across fintech, legal tech, healthcare, and hospitality since 2004. Clients have included Prosper, Shangri-La Hotels, and The Melt.
Expertise
Where we go deep
AI & Agent Systems
LLM agents, retrieval (RAG), evals, and model routing built into production applications.
SaaS Applications
Custom SaaS solutions built with modern tech stacks, advanced authentication, subscription management, and multi-tenant architectures.
Data Engineering
Scalable data pipeline design, ETL processes, analytics platforms, and business intelligence solutions with modern data stacks.
Security Engineering
Application security architecture, vulnerability assessment, compliance implementation, and secure coding practices in modern applications.
DevOps & Cloud
Infrastructure as code, CI/CD pipeline automation, cloud-native architecture, and containerization strategies for modern deployments.
IoT Systems
Connected device ecosystems with real-time data processing, edge computing capabilities, and secure cloud integration.
Get in touch
Fifteen minutes is enough to know whether we can help. Book a call, or send a note.
Contact Information
Phone
Location
San Francisco, CA
Remote-first, on-site when it matters