Observe
Sit with the actual workflow — the spreadsheet, the paper log, the group chat holding the operation together — before anyone opens a design file.
NORTHLIGHT — Product Engineering · Copenhagen ⋅ Lisbon
Built inhonest light.
We design the interface and write the code behind it — same team, start to finish. Product engineering for companies that need something working, not something impressive in a deck.
Copenhagen--:--:--
Lisbon--:--:--
Booking Q1 2027 start dates
Scroll — 01
01 — Teams shipping with us
HavnekajGrunnvik FeedMoradia HealthVindkraft EnergyTarn Risk PartnersKolding TransitAlto NavalBjerg AnalyticsHavnekajGrunnvik FeedMoradia HealthVindkraft EnergyTarn Risk PartnersKolding TransitAlto NavalBjerg Analytics
02 — Origin
Three product people, tired of watching good design die in handoff.
NORTHLIGHT started in Copenhagen in 2015, founded by a designer and two engineers who'd spent the previous few years inside product teams — watching a clean design go into a sprint and come out compromised, then watching the platform underneath get built by whoever was free that quarter. Nobody was wrong, exactly. Nobody owned the whole thing.
So we built the practice around owning the whole thing. One team frames the problem, designs the interface, and writes the code that runs behind it — the same people, start to finish, so nothing gets lost in a handoff because there isn't one. North light is the light a studio is built to work under: even, unflattering, the same at nine and at four. We picked the name for the same reason we picked the method — it doesn't sell you anything it can't back up.
Frame it before you build it. Cut what doesn't serve the work.
2015NORTHLIGHT opens in Copenhagen — three people, one client, no separation between design and engineering.
2018First platform ships end-to-end under one contract: interface, backend, and the migration off the spreadsheet it replaced.
2021The team grows past its founders for the first time. Retainer work starts outlasting the projects that opened the relationship.
2024Lisbon opens as the second office. Copenhagen keeps the mornings, Lisbon keeps the afternoon handoff.
03 — Approach
Document first, decide after.
Specify
Write down exactly what has to be true, in the client's own words, and get it signed off before a line of code exists.
Build
Ship in slices someone can react to within days. A working sliver beats a finished mockup every time we've tried it.
Verify
Check the built thing against the brief — does it hold under a real user doing the real job, not a demo running on our laptop.
04 — Services
Four ways in.
Product & Platform Engineering
The systems your company actually runs on — designed, built, and boring in the best possible way. We write the architecture and the code, and we stay until it holds under real users.
Interface & Interactive
The layer people touch. Sites and interfaces built with the same discipline we'd give a production system — the page you are reading is one of them.
Technical Strategy & Delivery
Someone has to decide what gets built, in what order, by whom. We sit on your side of the table, scope honestly, and deliver what was scoped.
Design Systems
The grammar a product speaks. Type, colour, motion and components codified so fifty screens feel like one decision, made well once.
05 — Impact
Numbers we'd defend in a reference call.
38
product engineering engagements delivered since 2015
6.4 wks
average time from signed scope to first working build
0
production outages caused by our code in the last 3 years
27
production systems we still get a Slack ping about, and answer
06 — Selected Work
Five systems, still running.
Scroll for the next case.
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05 / 05More in the vault —
ask for the reel →07 — Engagements
Three ways to work with us.
3–12 months
Embedded team
A designer and one or two engineers sit inside your team, in your stack, reporting to your roadmap.
Best for a product team that needs more senior hands without more managers.
4–8 weeks
Fixed-scope sprint
One defined problem, one price, one delivery date. We scope it in writing before anyone opens a design file or an editor.
Best for a specific redesign, migration, or MVP with a hard deadline.
Ongoing, monthly
Retainer
A standing block of design and engineering hours for the maintenance and iteration that doesn't fit a project shape.
Best for a shipped product that still needs a team, just not a full-time one.
08 — Stack
What we actually build with.
Frontend
- TypeScript
- React
- Next.js
- React Native
Backend
- Node.js
- Go
- PostgreSQL
- Redis
Infra
- AWS
- Terraform
- Docker
- GitHub Actions
AI
- Claude
- OpenAI API
- pgvector
- LangChain
09 — Proof
Five teams who'd say yes again.
They rebuilt the booking board in six weeks and then just left it alone. That's the best review I know how to give a vendor.
Berit Holm, Operations Lead, Havnekaj
11
years running
9
shipped products still in daily use
5 / 5
case-study clients still with us past year one
Havnekaj
Port operations, Denmark — client since 2023
Grunnvik Feed
Agricultural logistics, Denmark — client since 2024
Moradia Health
Home-care healthcare, Portugal — client since 2025
Vindkraft Energy
Renewable energy, Denmark — client since 2025
Tarn Risk Partners
Commercial underwriting, Portugal — client since 2026
10 — FAQ
Before you ask.
01How do you price a project?
Fixed-scope work is quoted as a flat fee after a written scope both sides sign off on. Embedded and retainer work is a monthly rate, invoiced in advance. No hourly billing — it rewards slowness.
02How long does a typical engagement run?
A fixed-scope sprint runs four to eight weeks. Embedded placements run three to twelve months. Retainers run until the work stops, which is usually longer than either side expects.
03Who owns the code and designs when we're done?
You do. Full IP transfers on final payment — source, assets, credentials, all of it. We keep a portfolio reference and nothing else.
04We're not in Europe. Does the timezone gap matter?
Copenhagen and Lisbon already give us a working day that spans two zones. We've run projects against US and Asia-Pacific hours before; it costs a standing weekly sync and some async discipline, not a slower project.
05What happens after launch?
Nothing, if you don't want it to. If you do, most clients move to a retainer for the first few months post-launch, then step it down once the bug reports thin out.
06Do you only do design, or only engineering?
Both, on every project. The person who draws the interface and the person who builds it talk daily because they're often the same person. That's the whole pitch.
11 — Contact
Copenhagen drafts, Lisbon builds.Then they trade.
Copenhagen
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55.6761° N, 12.5683° E
Draft
Lisbon
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38.7223° N, 9.1393° W
Build
Mette Kragh
Founding Engineer — Copenhagen
Ships the unglamorous parts — auth, queues, invoicing math — and doesn't call it done until it's boring.
Jonas Reyes
Head of Design & Engineering — Copenhagen / Lisbon
Draws the frame first, then writes the code that has to live inside it.
Priya Kolstad
Design Lead — Lisbon
Removes interface until what's left explains itself without a tooltip.
Erik Baptista
Platform Engineer — Lisbon
Reads the vendor's API docs before anyone signs the contract.