UK / Remote
Freelance
developer, UK-wide.
Remote, senior, owner-led.
Manchester-based, working remotely with teams across the UK. 10+ years of production code, a full UK timezone overlap, and one senior person who owns the outcome. No agency layer, no offshore lag.
UK / Remote / Capabilities
What's covered.
Remote-first delivery
Set up for remote work since long before it was normal. Daily async updates, your stack and tools, pull requests your team reviews. You see progress without chasing it.
Full UK timezone overlap
Based in Manchester, on GMT/BST. I share a full working day with every UK team, so there is no offshore handoff lag and no inbox of overnight questions to wade through each morning.
On-site when it earns it
Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield and Birmingham are an easy train away; London is a regular trip. Kick-offs, workshops and tricky integration days in person when they move the work forward.
10+ years senior delivery
Why me
Senior delivery you don't have to project-manage.
Most teams don't need a body on a desk in their office. They need senior delivery they can trust to happen. I've spent over a decade shipping production software remotely for clients from seed-stage startups to FTSE 100 companies, and the model is the same wherever you are in the UK. I write the code, talk to your team directly, and leave a codebase you can maintain after I hand it back.
- Full UK working-day overlap, so no offshore handoff or overnight backlog
- Async by default: daily written updates, code in reviewable pull requests
- On-site for kick-offs and workshops across the Northwest and London
- Outside IR35 / freelance contracts; your tooling and process, not mine
Engagement / Snapshot
A typical remote uk development engagement.
Lead time
<7
Days to start, contract permitting
Length
4-12
Weeks for fixed-scope work
Reply
<24
Hours, every working day
Day rate
POA
Quoted per engagement
FAQ / Remote UK Development
Frequently asked
Q · 01
Do you only work with Manchester clients?
No. Manchester is my base, but the work is remote-first and I take on clients all over the UK, from London to Leeds to Edinburgh. Being in Manchester just means a full UK timezone overlap and an easy train for the days that need me in the room.
Q · 02
How does a remote engagement actually work?
I work inside your stack and tools: your repo, your board, your Slack. You get a short written update most days, code in pull requests your team reviews, and a weekly call to keep direction tight. No status theatre.
Q · 03
Are you available for on-site or hybrid work?
Yes, when it earns the travel. Northwest cities are a short train ride and London is a regular trip. Kick-offs, architecture workshops and gnarly integration sessions often go faster in a room. Day-to-day delivery stays remote.
Q · 04
Can you work outside IR35 / on a contract basis?
Yes. I take engagements on a freelance or outside-IR35 contract basis, whether that is a fixed-scope project, a retainer, or embedded support. Happy to work with your standard contract or supply my own. We sort the commercials before any code is written.
Q · 05
What time zones can you cover beyond the UK?
UK hours are the core. I regularly overlap with European teams and can shift earlier or later for a few hours of US East Coast crossover when a project needs it. Fully nocturnal US/APAC hours are not something I take on.
How I work
Remote-first. Async by default.
Inspired by Remote and the way Basecamp ran a distributed team without burning anyone out. Meetings are expensive, writing is cheap, and momentum belongs to whoever can make a decision without a calendar invite.
01 / Specs
Specs before code
A short written spec covering problem, scope, and acceptance before anything gets built. Cuts rework, makes review easier, and means we never argue about what was agreed.
02 / Workstreams
Workstreams over standups
Active work lives in tickets and PRs with running notes. Async updates instead of daily standups, so deep work is the default and meetings only happen when they earn it.
03 / Loom > Zoom
Loom over meetings
Most reviews and walkthroughs go out as a 5-minute Loom you can watch at 2× when convenient. We jump on Meet / Zoom / Teams when the topic actually needs a conversation.
Channels / Tools
Slack
Async, threaded, no expectation of instant reply
Loom
PR walkthroughs, demos, design reviews
Google Meet / Zoom / Teams
Booked when conversation > writing
Linear / Jira / GitHub
Source of truth for the work
Notion / Docs
Specs, decision records, retros
The pitch
I write the code, talk to your team, and ship what we agreed. No agencies. No PMs. No surprises.
James Donnelly
Freelance developer · Manchester