Independent technology advisory

Build what matters.
Make it hold.

Reckoning Labs advises fintech and technology leaders on payments platforms, engineering execution, organizational scale, and practical AI adoption.

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ENGAGEMENT APPROACH
01DiagnoseCLARITY
02DecideDIRECTION
03DeliverMOTION
Startup → acquisitionLed the technical workstream through M&A and integration into a global network
Multiple products deliveredPayments, banking, retail, and loyalty applications
National RTP platformBuilt from scratch, then expanded globally
Applied AI expertiseHands-on work across agentic systems, evaluation, and AI-enabled delivery
01 / SERVICES

Clarity at the point where product, technology, and execution meet.

A

Fintech & payments strategy

Shape product and platform decisions for real-time payments and regulated financial infrastructure.

  • Product and platform strategy
  • Real-time payments infrastructure
  • Architecture reviews and target state
B

Engineering leadership & scale

Build the leadership, organizational, and technical foundations needed to deliver reliably at scale.

  • Engineering operating models
  • Organization design and scaling
  • Cloud and multi-region platforms
C

Practical AI adoption

Apply agentic AI to real product and engineering work with a focus on useful, responsible implementation.

  • Applied and agentic AI strategy
  • Product and engineering workflows
  • OpenAI, LangGraph, CrewAI and MCP
02 / WHERE IT COUNTS

For work that is too consequential for shallow answers.

01
Payments & fintech

Real-time payments infrastructure and fintech platform strategy.

02
Engineering leadership

Technical direction, operating models, and organizations built to deliver at scale.

03
Applied & agentic AI

Practical adoption using OpenAI Agents SDK, LangGraph, CrewAI, and MCP.

04
Trust infrastructure

Platforms and processes shaped by PCI DSS, SOC 2, and GDPR requirements.

PHASE 01

Diagnose

Get close to the system, the team, and the customer. Surface the constraint beneath the symptoms.

PHASE 02

Decide

Make tradeoffs explicit. Align leadership around a direction that can survive contact with reality.

PHASE 03

Deliver

Translate the decision into architecture, ownership, milestones, and working software.

03 / ABOUTFOUNDER
TONY HOWARD

Operator’s judgment. Engineer’s depth.

Tony Howard is the Founder & Independent Technology Advisor of Reckoning Labs LLC. He brings 14+ years of engineering and technology leadership, most recently as a technology executive and engineering leader at a large global network company, where he led a global money-movement platform and a large, distributed engineering organization delivering cloud-native services across multiple regions.

Previously a technology executive and engineering leader at a fintech startup, Tony helped build a national real-time payments system from scratch. His experience also includes PCI DSS and SOC 2 trust infrastructure, GDPR-driven multi-region expansion, product strategy, architecture, and organizational transformation.

14+ years in technology leadership
Technology executive & engineering leader
PCI DSS, SOC 2 & GDPR environments
Product, architecture & organizational scale
04 / START HERE

What are you trying to make true?

Share what you’re building, where it’s stuck, and what needs to happen next.

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