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Staff augmentation

Staff augmentation: senior engineers in your team, not in a queue

We add senior engineers to the team you already have: backend, frontend, mobile, QA, DevOps and analysts.

What staff augmentation is and when it beats hiring

Staff augmentation means our engineers work inside your team: your backlog, your tracker, your ceremonies, under your direct management.

When it beats a local hire

Everything an employer carries — payroll, taxes, holidays, sick leave, equipment — stays with us.

Signs augmentation is the right call

the search for the right engineer has taken months and the sprints are already slipping;
the roadmap grew and your team is short-handed for the next two or three months;
you need one skill — DevOps, analysis, a specific framework — part-time, not on payroll forever;
a full position with taxes and benefits costs more than paying for the hours you actually need;
a key person left or went on leave and the team has to keep moving.

Signs a team needs staff augmentation: hiring takes months, a peak load on one project, a rare skill needed part-time

Price

From $28/hour · time and materials

Timeline

First engineer starts in 2 weeks

Payment

By milestone · 30% / 30% / 40%

Roles

Who we put in your team

Mid and senior engineers from our own team, matched to your stack and process. You interview the candidates yourself, exactly as you would for a hire.

Backend engineers

PHP (Laravel), Python, Node.js, Java, C#/.NET and Go. Product engineers: APIs and integrations, high-load services, legacy migrations.

Most often taken for two or three months to reinforce an existing team when hiring can't keep up with the release plan.

Frontend and mobile

React, Vue.js, Angular and TypeScript; iOS (Swift), Android (Kotlin), Flutter and React Native.

They take on web interfaces, client portals and mobile apps — following your guidelines and design system, alongside your own backend engineers.

QA engineers

Manual and automated testing (Python, Java, JS), regression suites and load checks.

They build a QA process from scratch or reinforce yours — for when releases started breaking more often than shipping.

DevOps engineers

CI/CD, Docker, Kubernetes, monitoring and resilience — working inside your infrastructure, by your rules.

If you need the infrastructure built rather than an engineer embedded, see our DevOps work.

Analysts

Business and systems analysts: gathering requirements, writing them down for developers, specifying integrations.

They help where code gets written faster than requirements get decided. As a project instead, see discovery and analysis.

Legacy and ERP engineers

Engineers who work on systems nobody wants to touch: ERP customisation, integrations with CRM and accounting, and support of business-critical legacy.

Usually embedded into integrator teams and in-house IT departments, on a project or ongoing basis.

Engagement model

Augmentation or a dedicated team: which fits

The two models solve different problems: in augmentation you manage the engineer, in a dedicated team we own the outcome end to end.

What differs

Outcome-baseddedicated team

engineer inside your teamStaff augmentation

Who manages

We do: PM, team and release plan are on our side

You do: your backlog, your sprints, your priorities

What you pay for

The outcome, against a fixed quote

Hours actually worked (time and materials)

Time to start

After scoping and estimation

Two weeks

When to choose it

You want to hand over the whole thing and get a release

You have a team and a process — you're short on hands

Accountable for the release

You — we supply vetted engineers

Cost

What staff augmentation costs

Rates start at $25 an hour, time and materials. You pay for hours actually worked, reported monthly. The rate depends on role, seniority and load.

QA and testing

$28/hour

Manual and automated testing, regression suites and load checks

Starts in 2 weeks

What moves the rate

The exact rate comes down to four things — we name it after a short call about the role and the stack:

Seniority and role — senior engineers and architects cost more than mid-level; QA is cheaper than development;
Stack — rare skills (Go, ML, industrial ERP) price above mainstream ones;
Load and duration — full-time for three months or more gets better terms than part-time;
Access model — working inside a restricted environment adds coordination hours.

The rate already covers everything an employer pays on top of a salary: taxes, holidays, sick leave, equipment and workspace. Send us the role and the stack — we come back with candidates and a number.

Process and guarantees

How we place an engineer and what we carry ourselves

Two weeks from the first call to the first merged pull request. Below: the stages, who is responsible for what, and how replacement works.

How placement runs

Brief and requirements — 1–2 days.
Role, stack, seniority, load and working model; the NDA is signed at this stage, before any details change hands.
Candidates — days 3–7.
Two or three profiles with real project histories, matched to your task.
Interviews — 45 minutes each.
You interview and technically vet each candidate yourself, as you would a future employee.
Onboarding — by the end of week two.
The engineer joins your tracker, your standups and your sprint — with the first pull request merged in that week.

What we carry

The engineer works in your team while the employer's duties stay with us:

Payroll and HR — contracts, holidays and sick leave are on us;
Taxes and contributions — every employer payment is already inside the rate;
NDA and access — the non-disclosure agreement is signed before any project data is shared;
Reporting — a monthly report of hours and tasks, with the work visible daily in your tracker.

The rights to the code and everything produced are yours, stated in the contract.

Replacement at no charge

If the engineer isn't right for the team, or leaves, we replace them and hand over the context — and you don't pay for the replacement's ramp-up.

Replacement candidates arrive within five working days; cover for planned leave is arranged in advance.

Minimum term and exit

Augmentation makes sense from one month of full load; for anything shorter we'll honestly suggest a fixed-price project paid for the outcome instead.

Ending it takes 30 days' notice — no severance, no legal tail. Scale the team to the load you actually have.

Why us

Why teams choose Cast & Ship

Engineers who come from our own product work — at market rates, with the tech lead review included and a written report every month.

230+ projects in 17 years

Our engineers don't come off a bench — they come off our own projects: business systems, fintech, e-commerce, logistics, mobile.

Rates that make sense

Mid-level from $28 an hour, senior $38, tech lead $45 — with no recruitment fee, no holidays to fund and no workspace to pay for.

Mid and senior only — no juniors

We don't send trainees to learn at your expense. Every engineer takes sprint tasks from week one, and every one of them is interviewed by you first.

Direct control and a clean exit

The engineer works in your process and your tracker like an employee, without the employer's obligations.

Industries

Industries we know

We build with the domain in mind — from fintech and retail to manufacturing and healthcare.

18 sectors

IT companies and digital agencies
Insurers and brokers
Lenders and microfinance
E-commerce
Wholesale and distribution
Manufacturing
Freight and forwarding
Clinics and medical centres
Dental
Car dealers and service centres
EdTech
Legal and consulting firms
Equipment rental
Real estate agencies
Property developers
Travel and events
Beauty and wellness
Construction and renovation

FAQ

Frequent questions about staff augmentation

What is staff augmentation and how is it different from a dedicated team?

In augmentation our engineer joins your team: you manage the work and pay for hours actually worked. Dedicated development team services are the other shape: a nearshore development team — or an offshore development team where the rate matters more than the overlap — that we manage end to end.

How much does an engineer cost?

QA from $25 an hour, mid-level engineers from $28, senior $38, tech lead $45.

How fast can someone start?

Two weeks from the first call in the normal case: days for the brief, candidates by the end of the first week, interviews and paperwork, onboarding in week two.

Who manages the engineer?

You do. They work to your sprints, in your tracker, at your standups.

What if the engineer doesn't work out?

We replace them and don't bill the replacement's ramp-up: new candidates within five working days, with the task context handed over so the team keeps moving.

How is the engagement documented?

A services agreement plus an SLA; the NDA is signed during the first conversations, before any project data is shared.

What's the minimum term?

One month of full load. For anything shorter, augmentation is usually the wrong instrument and we'll say so — a fixed-price project is cheaper for you.

How do I know what I'm paying for?

A written report of hours and tasks every month, and the work itself sits in your tracker where you see it daily. You pay only for hours actually worked.