Overview

The Challenge: Scaling a Platform Without Slowing Down

The client, a growing AI startup, was developing a powerful microservices-based platform designed to deliver real-time language model capabilities to highly regulated industries.
From early on, they faced intense infrastructure constraints: every customer environment had to be HIPAA and SOC 2 compliant. The product needed to be deployable in cloud environments like AWS and GCP, but also in private, airgapped Kubernetes clusters where security rules were strict and connectivity was non-existent.
The internal team was capable but stretched. They were focused on building the product and lacked the specialized infrastructure experience needed to scale the system securely and reliably across environments.
The risk was clear: without the right expertise, deployment complexity would slow their roadmap, introduce security risks, and limit how quickly they could expand.

The Goal: Scale Securely, Without Losing Momentum

Rather than pausing to staff a new infrastructure team from scratch, the company turned to Ardan Labs. They needed embedded engineers who could contribute immediately by writing Go, designing Kubernetes-native tools, and working alongside their developers to level up the entire platform.
Our engineers were brought in to:

• Help build deployment tooling from the ground up
• Create compliance-aware observability systems
• Harden security controls across environments
• Support airgapped installations with confidence
• And deliver clear, maintainable code the team could own

This wasn’t just about consulting. It was about becoming part of the team and accelerating progress from the inside.

Our Solution: Embedded Engineering That Delivered

Phase 1: Hands-on Infrastructure Development

We started by helping define and implement the infrastructure architecture using Go and Kubernetes as the foundation. This included:

• Writing custom deployment tools that worked seamlessly in cloud and disconnected environments
• Implementing CLI utilities that controlled installation, validation, and configuration
• Creating reusable components for secret management, TLS bootstrapping, and service orchestration

These tools were written in Go, chosen for its safety, performance, and simplicity in complex systems programming, and delivered as static binaries, ready for use in restrictive environments.

Phase 2: Privacy-Preserving Observability and Compliance Tooling

With security and compliance in mind, we helped introduce observability that worked without compromising privacy. This included:

• Building OpenTelemetry-based instrumentation with privacy filtering
• Writing custom metrics exporters and secure logging pipelines
• Integrating validation checks that flagged non-compliant settings before production deployments

Because many observability tools are also written in Go, our team could work natively across the full stack—writing code that was easy to reason about and aligned with the client’s internal practices.

Phase 3: Uplifting the Team and System

Throughout the engagement, Ardan Labs engineers worked closely with the client’s developers to ensure long-term success. This included:

• Pair programming on core services and utilities
• Introducing clean architecture patterns for modular, testable infrastructure code
• Helping define internal documentation and best practices for secure deployments
• Reviewing code and building shared understanding of the entire system

The goal was never to “take over”; it was to amplify the team’s ability to ship, scale, and operate with confidence.

Outcomes That Made a Difference

Faster, Safer Deployments

The team now deploys to airgapped and cloud environments using consistent tooling, saving time, reducing error rates, and meeting compliance standards from the start.

Team Ownership, Not Dependency

By embedding deeply and building alongside the internal team, we ensured that our work didn’t just “work” it was understood. The platform is now in their hands, built with tools and patterns they can maintain and evolve.

Confidence Under Compliance

With observability, access control, and security checks built in, the infrastructure can now support healthcare and financial clients with no added engineering burden.

Building for the Future

This wasn’t just a point-in-time engagement. Our engineers helped shape a system and a team that’s ready to scale securely and confidently.
We worked to ensure:

• Every integration point was documented
• Every tool was modular, testable, and self-contained
• Every handoff left the internal team stronger than before

Now, the client is deploying faster, onboarding new enterprise customers, and expanding into new markets all without having to rebuild their infrastructure foundation.

Rethinking What Staff Augmentation Can Be

This project shows what’s possible when embedded engineers go beyond writing code. Staff augmentation at Ardan Labs means working shoulder-to-shoulder with your team bringing experience, mentorship, and reliability to your most critical systems.
The result isn’t just more hands it’s more capability, and infrastructure that grows with your business.