SHLD Systems

SHLD Systems is a network of independent consultants specializing in infrastructure, cloud engineering, networking, DevSecOps, and Kubernetes.

The challenge behind their new website was not only about design and visual identity. We needed to find a way to represent a distributed collective, show each member’s expertise, and make the website a useful tool to support their professional services.

The website needed to clearly explain who they are, what they do, and how their different skills come together to offer complete solutions to their clients.

This idea became the foundation of the project, shaping the design, the content, and the structure of the website.

Design System

SHLD Systems’ design system reflects the precision and resilience that define the collective. At its core are three complementary typefaces:

• Syne — for bold and confident headlines.
• Open Sans — for clear and readable body text.
• JetBrains Mono — for technical content and code examples.

The entire system is built with Tailwind CSS, chosen to make development simpler and faster while keeping styles and components consistent across the website.

Every design decision follows the same idea: creating a clear, flexible, and consistent visual system for SHLD Systems.

Payload CMS

To make content management easier across the collective, we integrated Payload CMS as a headless CMS.

The setup uses a granular access control system, allowing each member to manage only the content related to their area of expertise. This approach reflects the way SHLD Systems operates: independent specialists working across different, but closely connected, domains.

With Payload CMS:

• Each consultant can manage their own expertise section — from infrastructure and cloud to networking, DevSecOps, Kubernetes, and product development
• Role-based permissions keep responsibilities clear and give each member control over their own content
• The editorial workflow stays simple, allowing the team to update content without technical intervention
• The CMS mirrors the structure of the collective, giving each member a dedicated and controlled workspace

MCP Server

To unlock more value from the collective’s distributed knowledge, we configured Payload’s MCP Server to connect the CMS directly to SHLD Systems’ internal LLM.

This allows the AI to securely access and reason over the structured data stored in Payload — from members and areas of expertise to projects and other collective data. Instead of treating each consultant’s information as an isolated dataset, the LLM can understand how different skills and areas of expertise connect across the collective.

With the Payload MCP integration:

• The internal LLM can query and compare data across all members of the collective
• Skills, expertise, projects, and other structured content can be analyzed together
• The AI can identify overlaps and complementary capabilities, helping surface relevant connections between consultants
• Access to CMS data remains governed by Payload’s existing permissions, keeping the same access structure in place
• The collective’s knowledge becomes queryable, creating a foundation for internal workflows and decision-making

The result goes beyond a simple CMS integration. Payload becomes the structured knowledge layer behind SHLD Systems’ internal AI, turning the expertise of its distributed members into a connected and actionable resource.