A developer sitting on a clifftop, working on a laptop, facing a mountain landscape.

Hi, I'm Laurent. Freelance Django web developer based in Toulon, France.


Based in Toulon, I bring fifteen years of software engineering to your technical decisions: outsourced technical leadership, application security, custom web development.

Illustration of Laurent Paoletti.
01 - About

A web craftsman, for what matters.

Over seventeen years of software engineering, in demanding environments: public sector, healthcare, research, industry and defence. Before 2009, a military background that left me with a discipline and a pragmatism I still rely on every day. Rigour & security — to ship what works, not what shines.

Today, I work with SMEs, mid-caps and public-sector bodies on their technical decisions: outsourced technical leadership, application security, custom web development. From strategic framing through to production, no silos.

Three constants: collaboration before delivery, lightweight solutions before over-engineering, sound practice before showmanship. Python, Django, PostgreSQL: battle-tested, robust, mastered, no surprises.

  • i. Understand before coding. Break down the jargon barriers, speak the same language as your team, frame the real need - not the one imagined from a brief.
  • ii. Iterate pragmatically. Usable releases early, a direction we adjust together rather than a brief carved in stone.
  • iii. Longevity. I love projects built to last, ones that will still be useful years from now - like those old tools handed down through generations and still doing their job.
  • iv. Handover. Commented code, readable documentation, knowledge transfer to your team. The project has to stand without me.
  • v. Generative AI, in its rightful place. Used well, it accelerates and consolidates — it does not decide. Architecture, structural trade-offs, security, the critical eye on the lines of code: that remains human work. It's precisely what I sell.
Illustration of a flag planted on a summit.
02 - Services

Three ways to back you up.

From strategy to execution. The common thread: human expertise, not code generated blind.

01 — Strategy

CTO as a Service

Outsourced technical leadership for SMEs, mid-caps and organisations that need a tech head without hiring one. Framing, architecture choices, build/buy trade-offs, vendor management, recruitment. A co-pilot at the helm, alongside you.

02 — Defence

Application security

Code audits, hardening, best-practice rollout, running audits and bug bounties. For products that handle sensitive data or expose a public surface. A defensive posture that lets you sail more calmly.

03 — Delivery

Custom development

When you need to ship: web applications, prototypes & MVPs, APIs & integrations, taking over existing projects. Python/Django + PostgreSQL, delivered fit for use, documented, handed over without me.

Third-party application maintenance? That, I don't do. Ever.

03 - Selected work

A few meaningful projects.

  1. 2019 – 2025

    Trackdéchets

    Client: French Ministry of Ecology and Ecological Transition

    Long-running front-end and back-end development. Scaling, building out specific parts of the application, setting up satellite tools.

  2. 2016 – 2018

    Patient monitoring application for cancer care

    Client: confidential

    Built a demonstrator for an oncology conference. Then a production application and variants tailored to clinical trials.

  3. 2016 – 2017

    Document management control

    Client: confidential

    Document management platform for the Oil & Gas industry.

04 - Beyond the code

More than code.

A web project isn't just lines of code. Here's what I bring around it.

- Collaboration

Working with humans

Comfortable in mixed, sometimes international teams. I adapt to technical profiles and non-technical stakeholders alike; a project moves forward when everyone understands each other.

- Method

Shaping teams & workflows

Agile, in the right dose. I'm not a coach, but I help calibrate the organisation and the tools to the size of the project and the actual need, from design through to acceptance.

- Project architecture

Bootstrapping a project

Technical choices, support, documentation, continuous integration, code reviews, help recruiting tech profiles. Towards a team that runs on its own.

- Performance

Holding under load

Identifying saturation points, running load tests, optimising with proven recipes : indexing, caching, denormalisation. Solid, no wizardry.

Illustration of a steaming coffee cup.
05 - Toolkit

What I use day to day.

A tight, mature stack, picked for longevity. Rarely the latest shiny thing. With industrial-grade™ quality.

- Back
Python Django PostgreSQL
- Frontend
React HTMX HTML / CSS
- Infrastructure & ops
Linux
Longevity

Stable, documented building blocks with a strong community. We invest in longevity.

Software tests

When something breaks, we know about it before it reaches production.

Your specs

I work with engaged teams who can formalise their needs. Agile demands rigour, not improvisation.

Illustration of a marmot.