Hi, I'm Nils!
I’m a Principal Technical Design Engineer focused on software architecture, design systems, and building user-first web experiences. As a freelance consultant, I help teams design frontend architectures that scale well, remain maintainable over time, and feel good to work in.
My journey started around 2000, when I built a garish website about my favourite cartoons and video games—complete with neon green text and blinking GIFs, all delivered over a blazing-fast 128 kbps connection. It was terrible - but I was hooked, and I’ve been exploring the web ever since.
I’ve worked across the full stack for two decades, but I specialise in the connective tissue: aligning backend constraints, frontend interfaces, and product vision. I build systems that are not just technically sound, but deeply aligned with the people who use them and the developers who maintain them.
My process is collaborative and grounded in rapid prototyping - not just whiteboards and theory. I work alongside teams to validate decisions early, uncover real-world constraints, and reduce rework later.
Whether it’s inclusive UI components, real-time dashboards, CLI tools, or bespoke DSLs, I focus on the foundation: interfaces and abstractions that increase velocity over time without locking teams into premature complexity. There are no universal best practices — only tradeoffs; I aim to find the right abstraction, at the right time, for the people doing the work and the people using the product.
While I’m not a UX researcher, I bring a user-first lens to architectural decisions: accessibility defaults, perceived performance, UI feedback loops. Code should serve the experience, not just the system.
I thrive at the intersection of teams and tech — helping engineers move faster, make better choices, and deliver products people want to use.
Who I’ve worked with
Edeka AG, Closelink, Neovimconf, Gala, Hermes, Gruner+Jahr, Brigitte, Weber, 27km, Eppendorf AG, Mercedes AG, Makery, CrowsCrowsCrows, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht and many more.
Availability and Contact
I’m completely booked for 2025.
Socials
These days, my online activities are mostly within Discord. However, if you read this far, you might be interested in what I’m doing now.
Outside of work, I enjoy drawing, playing piano, photography, cooking and taking our poodle Ada for a walk.