Softment

AI Development

AI Recommendation System Development

We build recommendation systems that improve engagement and conversion: embeddings, ranking, feedback loops, and evaluation—integrated into your product with production-minded reliability.

TimelineTypical: 4–10 weeks (scope-dependent)
Starting at£2.5k
Security-first AI integrations • Evals + logging + guardrails included

Overview

What this service is

This service designs and implements a recommendation system tailored to your product: data model, candidate generation, ranking logic, and serving strategy.

We create an evaluation approach (offline metrics plus rollout strategy) so improvements are measured instead of guessed.

Delivery includes integration into your app/API, monitoring, and guidance for iterating as data grows and user behaviour changes.

Benefits

What you get

Higher engagement and retention

Show users more relevant items so they return and complete more actions.

Improved conversion

Better ranking can increase purchases, signups, and content consumption.

Measurable outcomes

Evaluation and rollout plans so you can quantify lift and avoid wasted work.

Cold-start strategies

Fallback logic for new users or new items to avoid empty recommendations.

Production integration

APIs and data pipelines built to run reliably, not just in notebooks.

Long-term iteration path

Feedback loops and monitoring so quality improves as your dataset grows.

Features

What we deliver

Data modelling + event tracking plan

Define the events and entities needed to train and evaluate recommendations reliably.

Candidate generation

Embeddings and similarity search for generating relevant candidate items at scale.

Ranking strategy

Ranking models or heuristics aligned to your business goal (CTR, purchase, retention).

Offline evaluation harness

Metrics and test sets that let you validate improvements before shipping broadly.

Serving API integration

Real-time or near-real-time recommendation endpoints integrated into your product stack.

Monitoring + drift checks

Observability hooks so you can detect quality regressions and update strategy over time.

Process

How we work

1
4–7 days

Discovery

We confirm goals, data availability, and constraints—then define the first recommendation milestone.

2
1–2 weeks

Data setup

We map entities/events and prepare training and evaluation datasets for experimentation.

3
2–6 weeks

Build

We implement candidate generation, ranking, and serving endpoints with integration into your product.

4
1–2 weeks

Evaluation

We validate offline metrics and prepare rollout experiments to measure lift safely.

5
3–5 days

Launch + iteration

We ship monitoring and a roadmap for improving quality as data and usage grow.

Tech Stack

Technologies we use

Core

EmbeddingsVector search (pgvector/Pinecone)Ranking strategiesPostgreSQL / data warehouse

Tools

Python / Node integrationFeature pipelinesBatch + streaming jobsEvaluation metrics

Services

API servingMonitoring

Use Cases

Who this is for

E-commerce product recommendations

Related products, frequently bought together, and personalised ranking across categories.

Content and feed ranking

Recommend articles, videos, or posts based on user history and content similarity.

Marketplace discovery

Rank listings and suggestions based on behaviour, inventory signals, and relevance.

B2B resource recommendations

Suggest documents, templates, or workflows inside enterprise products based on usage patterns.

Personalised onboarding

Guide users to relevant actions and content in their first session to reduce drop-off.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Not necessarily. We can start with embeddings and heuristics, then evolve to stronger ranking as data grows and tracking improves.

We define a primary metric (CTR, conversion, retention) and implement offline evaluation plus rollout experiments where possible.

Yes. Serving strategy depends on your needs—some systems are batch-based, others are near-real-time with caching for speed.

Yes. We design fallback logic (popular items, onboarding signals) so recommendations are useful from session one.

Yes. We can integrate recommendation endpoints and pipelines with your existing data stack and APIs.

Regional

Delivery considerations for your region

Compliance & Data (UK/EU)

For UK teams, we default to GDPR-first thinking: data minimisation, purpose-limited storage, and clear access boundaries.

We can work under a DPA (template available on request) and implement practical retention/deletion flows when needed.

  • GDPR-first patterns (minimise, restrict, document)
  • DPA template available on request
  • Retention/deletion and export flows where required
  • Least-privilege access and secure session handling
  • PII-safe logging + secure-by-default configuration
  • NDA available for early-stage discussions

Timezone & Collaboration (UK/EU)

We align to UK time and EU overlap (GMT/BST with CET-friendly windows) for fast feedback cycles.

We keep the process lightweight: async updates, clear priorities, and written decisions to avoid ambiguity.

  • UK/EU overlap with GMT/BST windows
  • Async-first delivery with documented scope
  • Weekly milestones and structured demos
  • Clear escalation path for blockers
  • Tight change control with clear sign-offs

Engagement & Procurement (UK)

We support typical UK procurement flows with clear scopes, change control, and invoice cadence.

If you prefer a discovery-first engagement, we can run a short paid discovery to lock requirements before build.

  • GBP-based engagements and invoicing options
  • Discovery-first option to reduce delivery risk
  • Milestone-based billing when appropriate
  • Transparent change control and sign-offs
  • Vendor onboarding pack on request

Security & Quality (UK/EU)

We build for reliability and maintainability: clean PRs, tight review loops, and test coverage that matches risk.

Performance budgets and release checklists keep launches predictable—especially when multiple stakeholders review changes.

  • CI-friendly testing: unit + integration + smoke tests
  • Performance budgets + bundle checks (Core Web Vitals-minded)
  • Structured release notes and rollback-safe deployments
  • Security checklist for auth, roles, and data flows
  • Observability hooks (logs + error tracking) ready for production
Ready to start?

Want measurable personalisation outcomes?

Share your data sources and the actions you want to optimise. We’ll propose a recommendation approach and rollout plan.

Evaluation + monitoring included.