Software architect
& fractional CTO
Gothenburg, Sweden

Building things
that last.

Max Ekman

I'm Max Ekman. Looplab is my studio: for 12+ years I've helped companies design and build the systems their business runs on, as fractional CTO, architect, or the senior engineer next to their team. Most of it in Go, on Google Cloud and AWS.

hello@looplab.se
01

Services

Fractional CTO

I join your company as a part-time CTO. I own the tech vision, line engineering up with the business, mentor the team and make sure the architecture holds for what's coming, without a full-time hire.

Format · Monthly retainer · 3 months minimum

Software architecture

System design, service boundaries, data modelling and cloud-native patterns. I work hands-on with your engineers, not from a whiteboard in another room.

Format · Project-based or ongoing

Cloud strategy & migration

GCP and AWS strategy, migration planning and oversight. I've done it enough to know where the landmines are. CI/CD, observability and cost control are part of the architecture from day one.

Format · 4–12 weeks, depending on scope

Engineering advisory

An experienced outside view when you need one: an architecture review, a stack decision, a roadmap sanity check. Bring the problem and we work through it. No retainer.

Format · 1–2 hour sessions

02

Work

I keep it to two consulting engagements at a time, next to building Action Card.

  • Now

    Action CardCo-founder

    Intelligent interfaces: one conversational card that speaks in a brand's own voice.

  • 2025–

    InnspireCloud architecture

    A new cloud-native platform for hospitality, serving hotels around the world. AWS and infrastructure as code, built for SOC 2 and PCI from day one.

  • 2025–

    InterEastCloud architecture

    Their transport platform on GCP: Terraform throughout, deploys automated down to the infrastructure, BigQuery and streaming for BI, and an LLM layer with RAG.

Ten years of building platforms from the ground up, often event-sourced, mostly in Go.

  • 2022–25

    EinrideChief Software Architect

    Autonomous electric transport. Engineering strategy and vendors, testing moved left off the vehicles, faster releases. Joined as an engineer, left as chief architect.

  • 2018–21

    InterEastSoftware architect

    A cloud-native logistics platform from scratch: Go and React/TypeScript on Kubernetes and Istio in GCP, backed by Postgres.

  • 2021

    WorldstreamSoftware architect

    A network management platform for a Dutch infrastructure company, event-sourced in Go on Event Horizon.

  • 2020–21

    ToolbuildersSoftware architect

    Scaled an event-sourced campaign platform and extended it to new uses, in Go on Event Horizon.

  • 2018

    PageroSoftware architect

    Bootstrapped a fintech's cloud migration: on-prem Kubernetes with Terraform beside GKE, all configuration as code.

  • 2015–16

    AppDataSoftware architect

    Back-end for mobile payments, from packet analysis to payment APIs. Go, Cassandra, AWS.

  • 2014–18

    Great BeyondSoftware architect

    A campaign system for contacts, interactions and targets, with event sourcing and CQRS in Go.

Before software I made pictures. Render pipelines and distributed systems turned out to have a lot in common.

  • 2012

    FramestoreLighting TD, Gravity

    Lit CG to match live action on Alfonso Cuarón's Oscar-winning Gravity, and built pipeline tools for Framestore London.

  • 2005–14

    MFXLighting TD & CGI artist

    Started the photoreal branch: product renders and animation, with my own Python tools, C++ shaders for V-Ray and relighting plugins.

03

Open source

  • FSM 3.4k★

    Finite state machines for Go. Small, composable, and one of the most used in the ecosystem.

  • Event Horizon 1.7k★

    Event sourcing for Go, for systems that need audit trails, temporal queries and eventual consistency.

I also organise Go West, the Go meetup in Gothenburg. More of my code is on github.com/looplab.

04

Contact

Tell me what you're working on.

I get back to you within a day or two, with a straight answer on fit and availability. Coffee in Gothenburg or a video call both work.

hello@looplab.se