Martin Ricken

Martin Ricken

Freelance Software Engineer at Lorique Aps.

  • I build the backend where AI meets product
  • LLM Integration · Agentic Systems · Applied ML
  • Python · TypeScript
Resume

About

I build the systems where AI actually meets product.

I’m a pragmatic, solution-oriented engineer who’s spent 15+ years solving problems across backend development, system integration, and machine learning. I have great respect for simplicity — when designing solutions, I solve simple problems with simple solutions, because the more complex a system becomes, the less likely it is to survive maintenance and scaling.

For the past 6+ years, I’ve worked at the intersection of backend engineering and ML — from classical models to modern LLM integration and agentic systems. I bring a solid mathematical foundation and a clear understanding of what these tools can and can’t do. Not every problem needs an LLM. Sometimes a well-designed classification model outperforms a prompt chain at a fraction of the cost. Sometimes it’s the opposite.

I don’t believe practicality and quality are opposites. In this age of AI and increasing complexity, understanding the pitfalls of anti-patterns and having a coherent technical strategy matters more than ever. A key part of that strategy is knowing when to use what — and often that comes down to determinism. LLMs are fundamentally non-deterministic. There will be variance, there will be hallucinations, and sometimes that’s simply unacceptable. When a problem demands precision and predictability, a well-designed ML model is the right tool. Knowing where that line is — and building systems that respect it — is what I do.

I’m a strong believer in open source and the idea that collaborative development produces better software than working in isolation. That philosophy shapes how I build: pragmatic, well-structured, and designed to last. I’ve built high-performance, large-scale software and cutting-edge AI solutions for some of the biggest Danish companies. I bring that experience with me everywhere I go.

What I work with: Python, TypeScript/Node, and the infrastructure that connects AI capabilities to real products — LLM integration, RAG pipelines, agentic workflows, traditional ML, and the APIs and backends that hold it all together.

Open to freelance projects and conversations about AI integration challenges.

Skills

Typescript

Typescript moved the js world towards being type strong. NestJS is moving us towards DI. These things belong together.

React & Vue

React and Vue are things i picked up along the way. When you know typescript and node, learning those two frameworks become almost mandatory.

JS frameworks

I've worked with NextJS and NesJS primarily. NestJS excels at REST, and introduces proper DI to Node.

PHP 5 and 8

Worked with PHP for 13 years, on both minor and major projects. Expert knowledge of PHP and OOP, introduced in PHP 7 and onwards.

Python 3

Worked with Python 3, building various machine learning applications, as well as server based maintenance tools.

Drupal 6-9

Worked with building Drupal sites for 10 years, and was involved in core development of Drupal 8. Projects range from low volume company websites to high volume enterprise level applications.

Laravel

Worked with Laravel for 5+ years, working on projects ranging from high volume REST APIs to large scale back office applications.

Python Frameworks

Worked with Python frameworks such as Django, Flask, Bottle and Falcon. I have also worked extensively with the machine learning libraries PyTorch and Scikit-learn.

Cloud Computing

Worked with most of the major clouds such as Amazon AWS, Google Cloud, Azure and Digital Ocean. When you need to scale, you can't wait around for hardware.

Linux

Using as the main operating systems for hosting, and development environments. I have hands-on experience with CentOS, Ubuntu and Redhat. I have experience with various configuration management tools, such as Ansible and Terraform, and can write complex shells scripts if needed.

Docker

Write most of the programs in dockerized container environments, usually using docker-compose. Experienced with multi-stage, multi-arch build process.

Git

Experienced with git based development, including the various git branching models such as gitflow and github-flow. I mostly use Github, but also have experience in working with GitLab and Azure Repos

Experience

Developer

Oct 2025 – Jan 2026

Oda Group · Copenhagen

Medical focused CRM platform called Jarvis.

  • Rebuilt AI driven insights feature from POC.
  • Built manager dashboard with AI driven insights.
  • Fixed key performance issues.
  • Helped reduce AI cost by 70% while maintaining all features full functionality.
  • Designed and documented architecture for improvements to AI Insights features.
  • Consulted on solutions for improving the scalability of the platform, including dealing with persistent PostgreSQL performance degradation due to data amounts.
  • Various smaller tasks and bug fixes.

Developer/CEO

Apr 2025 – Present

Lorique Aps · Copenhagen

Self-employed entrepreneur

  • Started building Agentic LLM App in NextJS, to form better understanding of various flows.
  • Pivoted it into LLM integration API using NestJS.
  • Added RAG, Tools, Context control.
  • Generalized workflow engine.
  • Abstracted LLM layer to utilize local Models with llama.cpp

Developer/CEO

Apr 2025 – Aug 2025

Lorique Aps · Copenhagen

Self-employed entrepreneur

  • Started rewriting the Saas project into a python project to fully leverage AWS serverless services.
  • Pivoted it into LLM integration API, to leverage Agentic LLM flows.
  • Process serves to sharpen my python and AWS knowledge, and I still believe in the idea, I “just” need to get it to work.

Recommendations

It is a pleasure to write a letter of recommendation for Martin Ricken, who was assisting FFW Denmark as a Senior Developer and System Architect for the KKDK profile solution for Copenhagen Municipality (the profile used primarily for kk.dk). With Martin, you will not just get the easiest versions of the solutions that the client has defined, but he will go the extra mile to make the best possible solution, in cooperation with you and the client. He is pro-active, intelligent and an amazing developer. For the KKDK profile solution, Martin was used for the more complex tasks: Assisting with the architecture and technical task descriptions, developing complex third party integrations and managing the coupling between the Multisite solution and the profile work from FFW. I am proud to have been working with him and wish him all the best in the future. Hopefully we will have the option of working together again. High praises and recommendations from my end and from FFW.
Peter Dyrvig Johannesen

FFW

I’ve had the pleasure to work with Martin on the TDC/youSee TV Platform. Martin has a lot of knowledge and knowhow for the domain he worked in, which he used to build solid and scalable micro services for us. Martin is very thorough with his work and does not accept half-baked solutions. I can recommend Martin and would work with him again, if given the opportunity.
Ruben Nørgaard

YouSee

I had the pleasure to work closely with Martin Ricken on our Drupal conversion from Sitecore to Drupal. He worked as an architect and as a senior developer on our baseline. Martin puts great pride in deliver good results, and he’s a great architect, that listens to the business needs. I can only give Martin Ricken my highest recommendation.
Jens Erik Hummelmose

Aller Media

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Martin at Aller Media. We were both were hired as consultants to help Aller Media build a base line for for all of their future Drupal sites. Martin is a very dedicate person who goes above and beyond, to ensure the success of the project he is working on. He is always true to himself and will not compromise the quality of a delivery to make a deadline, but will always find a way to not only deliver, but do it in a way he can approve of. Martin is one of the most skilled Drupal developers I’ve worked with for a long time. He has a rare insight into Drupal’s inner workings and is able to use this knowledge when designing the architecture for a site. I would be happy to work along site Martin on any future project, and would hire him on the spot if I could.
Jakob Larsen

Reveal IT

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