Hold the course
We agree on outcomes and keep to them. Surprises are raised the day we see them, not at the demo.
About · Since 2017
Raise the sail. Keep the keel.
A halyard is the line that hoists the sail. The keel is what keeps a boat upright and on course. We named the company after both, because good software needs ambition and stability in equal measure.
Why we exist
Built by people who were the client
We founded Halyard & Keel in 2017. Before that, we sat on the other side of the table: in-house engineers and product leads hiring outside teams. We saw projects run late because nobody said “this will not fit” early enough, and good code thrown away because nobody documented it.
So we built the studio we wanted to hire. Small senior teams. Numbers instead of adjectives. Code and knowledge that stay with you. We grow with clients who value that, and most of our work comes from people we have worked with before.
40+products shipped
10 yrsaverage engineer experience
92%clients who come back
2 wksfrom first call to first release
Principles
What we stand by
Senior by default
No juniors learning on your budget. Small teams of people who have shipped before.
Plain numbers
Estimates with ranges, weekly burn reports and metrics that matter to the business.
Leave it better
Clean code, documentation and tests, so you can keep us or continue without us.
The team
Who you work with
Offices in Europe and the US. At least four hours of overlap with your working day.
Engineering
Full-stack, mobile and platform engineers with six to fifteen years in production systems.
Design
Product designers who run research and own the design system through delivery.
Delivery
Delivery leads who plan, report and keep scope honest. Former engineers, every one.
Quality
QA engineers who automate tests alongside the code, not after it.
Offices
Where we are
One office in Europe and one in the US, so a team is awake while you are.
Poland
Warsaw
CET time zoneTexas, USA
Austin
CST time zoneCareers
Senior and curious?
We hire rarely and carefully. If you have shipped products people rely on, send a few lines and a link to something you are proud of.
hello@halyardandkeel.com →Start a project
Have a product to launch?
Tell us what you are building. A senior engineer replies within one business day with questions, a rough budget range and next steps.