product engineer as a service
Your team needs a product engineer. You don't need a full-time hire.
I work with AI-first companies as an embedded product engineer — one person who does the thinking AND the building. Solo or with your team. No long-term contracts. Cancel anytime.
Worked with
the missing person
You're one person away from shipping the right thing
You need someone who owns the product, not just writes code.
The product decisions are stuck in your head. Nobody's talking to users or deciding what's worth building next.
Hiring takes too long, and you might not need a full-time role yet.
You need someone now, producing from week one. Not someone permanent in 6 months.
Freelancers build what you tell them. You need someone who figures out what to build.
You don't have a spec. You have a product problem and a pile of assumptions.
the process
From problem to measurable result
Understand the problem
Before writing any line of code, deep dive into the product, metrics, and user behavior. Analytics, session replays, user conversations. Frame the problem properly. No assumptions — evidence first.
→ Problem brief + hypothesisDecide what to build (and what not to)
Most teams waste months building the wrong thing. I design small experiments to test assumptions before committing to a big build. What's the cheapest way to know if this is worth doing?
→ Experiment brief + success criteriaBuild and ship
I work in your codebase, with your stack, alongside your team — with AI across the entire process. Real code, in production. No handoffs, no specs lost in translation — I'm the person who thought about the problem AND writes the code.
→ Shipped code in your stackMeasure and iterate
Did it work? By how much? I track outcomes against the original problem. If the numbers move, we move to the next thing. If not, we iterate. This cycle runs continuously — it's how I operate week after week.
→ Results report + next focusthe difference
Senior product engineer. Zero hiring overhead.
| Full-time hire | Freelancer | Peppe | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Understands the problem first | |||
| Writes production code | |||
| Talks to your users | sometimes | ||
| Designs experiments | rarely | ||
| Available in < 1 week | |||
| No 3-month onboarding | |||
| Thinks product, not just code | if lucky | ||
| Fluent in AI-native workflows | sometimes | ||
| Cancel anytime | depends |
scope
How I can help you
Greenfield
Build from zero. I own the full product lifecycle — discovery to production — as your product-minded technical lead.
Existing product
Improve what's there. I dig into the data, find the real problem, experiment, and ship the fix.
the model
Simple. Flexible. No lock-in.
Monthly pricing, billed weekly
Cancel at the end of any week.
First week risk-free
Money-back guarantee, no questions asked.
Weekly kickoff ritual
One focus area, one expected artifact. Every week.
Output-based
Every week has a tangible deliverable that moves the product forward.
Two meetings, rest is async
Kickoff + wrap-up. Deep work in between, in your tools.
case studies
Problems I've solved
Yoop Knows
Needed a product from scratch — but no product person, no design, no discovery process.
Acted as fractional CTO. Ran customer interviews, usability tests, designed the interface, and built both V1 and V2.
Product launched and used by real customers across two major iterations.
"He's one of those rare engineers who genuinely understands the full picture."
Quido
Needed product and engineering work on an existing platform, but lacked a product-minded engineer.
Went beyond the original brief — proactively analyzed follow-ups and improvements, bringing strategic thinking to every sprint.
Delivered more value than scoped, with a roadmap of next opportunities.
"Peppe went well beyond the project scope, bringing strategic thinking that made the whole engagement more valuable than expected."
pricing
One price. No surprises.
Ongoing embedded product engineer. Full lifecycle — from problem to production code.
- Full product lifecycle
- User research & experiments
- Frontend & backend implementation
- 2 meetings/week + async work
- Tangible deliverable every week
- Cancel at end of any month
Same work, pay by the week. For when you need flexibility or want to try before committing.
- Everything in monthly
- No minimum commitment
- Cancel anytime
- First week money-back guarantee
One-off 90-minute deep dive. Problem framing, prioritization, experiment design. No code.
- 90-minute video call
- Problem diagnosis
- Actionable next steps
- Written summary after
You can pause or cancel at any time.
who i am
I'm Giuseppe (Peppe) Silletti. Ten years building products at startups and scaleups, most of which were busy shipping things nobody asked for, while PMs cranked out specs for things nobody understood. (I helped, sometimes.) Then AI changed the math. One person can now hold the whole picture in their head: research, experiment, the code that goes to prod. No team of five. No Jira board the size of a small country. I work with companies that already get this, so we skip the convincing part and just build.
I also host The Product Engineers Podcast, where I talk to people watching product and engineering quietly merge into one job. (Spoiler: it already happened. Most orgs just haven't noticed.)
straight answers
Everything you're probably wondering
How is this different from hiring a freelancer?
A freelancer builds what you tell them. I start by figuring out what's worth building in the first place. You get product thinking and engineering execution in the same person — I question the brief before writing the first line of code.
What tech stack do you work with?
Yours. I work directly in your codebase — React, TypeScript, Node.js, NestJS, or whatever your stack is. No parallel systems. No throwaway prototypes.
Do I need a dedicated team to work with you?
Nope. Whether you have a full product team or just two engineers and a dream, I'll fit in. I can work solo or alongside your existing team.
What does a typical week look like?
Monday kickoff: we align on one focus area and one expected deliverable. I work async in your codebase the rest of the week. Friday wrap-up: I show you what shipped and what I learned. Every week has a tangible output.
What if the first week doesn't go well?
Full refund. No questions asked. The first week is a paid trial — if the work doesn't meet your expectations, you don't pay.
Can you work on multiple things at once?
I focus on one thing per week. That's by design. Spreading across multiple problems means none of them gets the depth they need. We pick the highest-impact focus each Monday.
How long do engagements typically last?
There's no minimum commitment. That said, the best results come from at least a month — enough time to understand the problem, experiment, and ship something meaningful. But you can cancel at the end of any week.
How does AI fit into how you work?
It's not a separate thing — it's how I work. I use AI across the entire process: research analysis, experiment design, prototyping, production code. I work with teams where AI is already the default, so there's no friction. We share the same tools, the same pace, the same way of building.
Let's talk about what your team needs.
Book a 30-minute virtual coffee. No pitch, no pressure. We'll talk about where you are, what's missing, and whether I'm the right fit.