Custom software for Durham — built the AI-native way.
We pair senior engineers with an AI-accelerated delivery model to design, build, and ship custom software far faster than a traditional shop — without the fragile, unreviewed code that gives AI a bad name.
AI changed the economics of custom software. We rebuilt our process around it.
Durham anchors the heart of the Research Triangle — home to Duke University and Duke Health, the broader RTP biotech and pharma ecosystem, and a fast-growing AI and B2B SaaS scene. Senior hires are six figures, months out, and picked over by Duke, pharma employers, and well-funded research-tech startups. AI changes the math, but only when senior people own the parts AI gets wrong.
AI is genuinely good at the repetitive 70% of software work: scaffolding, boilerplate, CRUD, first-draft UI, test stubs, glue code. It is dangerously unreliable at the other 30%: architecture, security, edge cases, and knowing when its own output is wrong. Teams that ship raw AI code learn this in production.
We build for Durham and Triangle operators — biotech and pharma companies digitizing trial and lab workflows, Duke Health-adjacent provider-side platforms, AI-first research-tech startups shipping production code on top of research prototypes, EdTech and university-facing platforms, and modernization of decades-old enterprise stacks. Our model: AI handles scaffolding and the repetitive 70%; a senior engineer owns architecture, security review, and signs off on every change.
AI writes the first draft. A senior engineer signs off.
Every change runs through review for security, tests, and architecture before it ships — that review is the product.
const draft = await ai.generate(spec) // minutes, not daysreview(draft, { security: true, tests: true, architecture: true })// ✗ rejected: validated change shipped without e-signature (21 CFR Part 11 miss) → e-sig + reason + audit-logged// ✓ merged: chain-of-custody fields on lab record, IRB-mapped data-access policy on research datasetOn a Durham biotech or research-tech build, the failure modes are missing e-signatures, chain-of-custody gaps, and IRB-policy misses. Senior review catches them before a validator, an IRB, or a sponsor does.
What we build for Durham companies.
Biotech & lab software
LIMS extensions, trial-management tools, and AI for research pipelines, validated for regulated environments.
Healthcare & HIPAA-ready apps
Patient-facing portals, clinician tools, and care-coordination platforms built to HIPAA from day one.
AI applications
Copilots, RAG, search, and agents grounded in your data, with guardrails and evals.
EdTech & learning platforms
Student-facing apps, LMS extensions, and institutional tools that work for districts and universities.
SaaS platforms
Multi-tenant products with auth, billing, and dashboards — MVP to scale.
Internal tools & copilots
Operations tooling that replaces the spreadsheet-and-tribal-knowledge workflow.
A senior team that moves at AI speed.
You work with senior engineers who own architecture and quality — not a junior pool with raw AI output bolted on. We communicate in Eastern Time and integrate with your tools and cadence.
Durham's senior engineering pool is part of the Triangle-wide pool — three-to-six months to hire and constantly recruited by coastal remote roles. An AI-native team gets you shipping this week, flexes monthly, and doesn't need an RTP office.
Talk to an engineerTraditional Durham dev shop vs. AI-native.
| Traditional Agency | DEV.co (AI-native) | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to working software | Months | Days to weeks |
| Cost | Full senior rates, all hours | Lower — AI removes the rote work |
| Code quality | Good (if senior) | Same bar — every change reviewed |
| AI risk | — | Contained by senior review + tests |
| You own the code | Usually | Always — full repo on day one |
| Scales with you | Slow to staff up | Flex up or down monthly |
Common questions from Durham teams.
Do you work with Durham companies?
Do you build for GxP, HIPAA, and IRB-scoped environments?
Is AI-built software production-ready?
Will we own the code?
How fast can we start?
Can you work with our existing team?
Let's build it — Durham.
Tell us what you're trying to ship. We'll give you an honest recommendation, a timeline, and a fixed quote — and tell you if AI-native is the right fit or not.