Senior dev,
AI-fluent.
Seven years writing backends in PHP and Python. Symfony, Django, WordPress, Laravel. Two years building with AI. Freelance from Utrecht, available worldwide.
Recent work.
Buy a club, ship the site
A WordPress multisite that lets HGC launch a new golfpark's website in minutes, on-brand, with a chatbot trained on the whole group's content.
Tikamoon platform rebuild
Rebuilt the platform on Sylius and Symfony 6, migrating off a homemade PHP framework that had been holding the business hostage for years.
Rentman crew module
Modernised the request/response layer onto Symfony HttpFoundation across the whole codebase, shipped the company's first AI feature, and ran the team as Scrum Master.
Building Zoovo.
A hyperlocal social media for pet owners. Built in Flutter, in progress, and the one project where I have actual equity on the line.
Three things,
done properly.
Web Development
Full-stack work in WordPress, Django, Symfony, Laravel. MVPs to legacy rescues.
AI Integration
Chatbots, content generation, agentic workflows. Bolted onto your existing system without a rewrite.
Backend & APIs
Senior backend engineering. Specifically: making things that don't break in production.
Hi, I'm Hugo.
Hi, I'm Hugo. French, in Utrecht since 2024, and someone who actually enjoys what I do for a living. I write backends in PHP and Python for clients across Europe, mostly on the kind of projects where I get to learn something new every week.
Outside the screen there's a camper van I built myself, triathlons through most of the year, cinema as my default plan when nothing else is happening, and a card-game habit serious enough that I now travel for tournaments.
What I want from work is meaning, new technology, and a team I actually look forward to my week with. I freelance because it lets me pick the projects where those three line up. I'm the person who shows up positive, asks the questions nobody else does, and keeps the energy moving forward even when the build is broken at 5pm on a Friday.
I also genuinely believe the world would be a better place with a bit more empathy in it. I try to bring some to standups.
Let's talk.
Cold emails strongly welcome. Tell me what you're building, what's broken, or what's keeping you up at night. I read everything and reply within a day or two.