Consulting & product engineering
Technical leadership.
AI-enabled
engineering.
We solve complex client problems, modernize critical systems, and build data-intensive products. Senior technical judgment stays connected to hands-on delivery.
Product engineering · Embedded delivery · Fractional CTO · Technical advisory · Government modernization
From uncertainty to delivery
From the first question
to a system you can own.
- 01
Understand
Work with the people who use the system. Learn what they need to finish and where the workflow breaks down.
- 02
Decide
Agree on the useful outcome, the limits of automation, and how success will be checked.
- 03
Build
Use AI-assisted engineering, focused tests, and short feedback loops.
- 04
Operate
Check the complete task, including correction and recovery. Give the team a system it can own.
Led by David DeWitt
The advisor stays
close to the build.
David DeWitt leads Protabyte. He works with clients and builds products, combining technical judgment with AI-assisted engineering to turn complex problems into useful software.
Meet the practice lead01 / CLIENT ENGAGEMENTS
Solve the problem in front of your team.
Embedded engineering, technical direction, and modernization shaped around your users, systems, and delivery commitments.
02 / PRODUCTS & RESEARCH
Build through the hard questions.
Ongoing work in animal health, genetics, and financial research connects product decisions to data quality, evidence, and long-lived software.
The common starting point is the person doing the work: what they need to finish, what gets in their way, and how they recover when something is unclear. We connect those needs to the architecture and implementation.
Selected work
Client delivery. Products in development.
Federal public-health and acquisition modernization alongside ongoing animal-health and financial-research products. Each example explains our contribution, the scope, and the current status.
Illustrative photographProduct engineering
An evidence-connected platform for animal health and genetics
Connecting laboratory workflows, genetics, pedigree, and a durable animal record without losing the source or history behind a result.
Active development · Implemented capabilities with ongoing validation
Read the work
Illustrative photographProduct engineering & applied research
Financial research with a traceable evidence trail
Engineering a research workflow that connects filings, retained sources, repeatable analysis, and reviewable conclusions.
Research infrastructure & evaluation · Active development
Read the work
Illustrative photographFederal modernization experience
A phased modernization path for federal public health
Architecture assessment, AI-assisted system analysis, accessible React workflows, and a phased roadmap for a federal public-health platform.
Assessment, implementation & phased modernization
Read the work
Illustrative photographFederal modernization experience
Modernizing federal acquisition and financial reporting
A unified analytical workspace for federal acquisition and financial reporting, introduced alongside the legacy system.
Application modernization & reporting workflow delivery
Read the work
More industry case studies
Insurance · Client delivery
Giving insurance operations a reviewable document intake workflow
Healthcare & laboratory operations · Client delivery
Making a laboratory data pipeline easier to operate and recover
Life sciences & scientific software · Client delivery
Modernizing scientific software while preserving downstream workflows
Commerce & customer onboarding · Client delivery
Separating checkout from onboarding
Our applied research also tests whether apparent patterns survive source checks, missing data, and competing explanations.
Explore the researchHow we help
What do you need to move forward?
Build a product. Add senior engineering capacity. Establish technical direction. Get an independent assessment. Start with the outcome your team needs.
Product engineering
Turn a product idea or a difficult workflow into a defined first release, with the domain model, user experience, and integrations designed together.
A scoped product milestone, implemented software, and a foundation for the next release.
Forward-deployed engineering
Senior engineers embedded with your team, working directly with the people, data, and systems that define the problem.
Working software, integrations, evaluation, and a path to operation.
Fractional CTO
Ongoing technical leadership for product direction, architecture, delivery, team development, and technology investment.
Clear priorities, accountable decisions, and a team that can execute.
Technical advisory
Independent assessment when a platform, vendor, AI initiative, or investment needs an experienced second look.
Evidence, tradeoffs, a decision brief, and a practical roadmap.
Government modernization
Modernize the system.
Keep the mission moving.
Public systems carry years of institutional knowledge, integration contracts, and operational commitments. We map that reality, define a phased path, and work alongside your team to deliver it.
Architecture assessment · Application modernization · AI-assisted system analysis · Delivery and sustainment
Explore government workHow we work with AI
More capacity to build. Clear ownership of the result.
AI is part of the engineering workflow, from investigation through implementation and review. Technical direction and responsibility for delivery stay with the engineer leading the work.
01
Build the context
- AI assists
- Explore unfamiliar code, trace dependencies, and surface questions to investigate.
- Engineering judgment
- Check those findings against source code, data, and the people who use the system. Decide what matters.
- What your team receives
- A system map, constraints, and an agreed milestone.
02
Implement a complete workflow
- AI assists
- Develop implementation options, assist with changes, and draft tests and documentation.
- Engineering judgment
- Choose the architecture, inspect the changes, and connect the interface, data, permissions, and failure paths.
- What your team receives
- A working increment that completes a user’s task.
03
Check the result in context
- AI assists
- Help investigate failures, identify edge cases, and compare expected and observed behavior.
- Engineering judgment
- Run the checks, review the evidence, resolve gaps, and make the release decision.
- What your team receives
- Validated behavior, known limits, and operational handoff.
Two ways AI creates value
Use AI to engineer software. Engineer useful AI into the product.
An AI-assisted development process can support any software engagement. An AI feature is a separate product decision: it needs useful source data, an evaluation plan, appropriate permissions, and a clear path for human review.
Read how we approach AI engineeringA sample deliverable
See how a technical decision takes shape.
A recommendation, the alternatives behind it, and a first milestone with clear checks. Read an illustrative brief showing what your team can use to make the next decision.
Explore the sample briefA few practical questions
Before we start.
Can you help build a product as well as advise on it?
Yes. Product engineering connects the user’s workflow, milestone scope, architecture, and implementation. We can work from an early product idea or an existing platform, carrying the agreed release through interfaces, APIs, data, integrations, validation, and operational handoff. Our own ongoing product and research work informs the approach.
What does forward-deployed engineering mean?
An experienced engineer works directly with your team and users to understand the problem, design the approach, and implement it in your environment. The engagement connects technical judgment with hands-on delivery, including integrations, validation, and operational handoff.
How does AI change the way you work?
We use AI throughout codebase investigation, implementation, test development, and research, with an engineer directing and reviewing the work. Your team receives software and documented decisions checked against agreed behavior. Building an AI feature into a product is a separate choice, evaluated against the usefulness of the data, the workflow, and the required controls.
How do fractional CTO and technical advisory differ?
Fractional CTO work provides ongoing leadership over technical priorities, architecture, team development, and delivery. Technical advisory is usually focused on a particular decision: a platform assessment, vendor evaluation, technical due diligence, or an AI investment. Scope and involvement are agreed at the start.
Can you work with an existing government delivery team?
Yes. We can support agency teams, prime contractors, and delivery partners with architecture assessment, implementation, AI-assisted system analysis, and phased modernization. The work is scoped around the program’s access, security, procurement, and operational requirements.
What do the research and product examples demonstrate?
They show how we approach domain modeling, data integration, source provenance, analytical validation, and controlled AI workflows. Each example identifies its scope and development status. Research prototypes and internally developed systems are presented separately from client delivery outcomes.
What does a first engagement look like?
We start with a conversation about the problem, your current systems, and the decision or delivery milestone you need to reach. From there we define a focused assessment, an embedded delivery engagement, or an ongoing advisory relationship, with agreed outputs and success criteria.
Start a conversation
Bring the problem.
We’ll work through the next move.
A product to build, a delivery challenge, a difficult architecture decision, or a government platform that needs a path forward.