Case study · Ongoing

A senior engineer,
on when you need one.

A materials company keeps a working relationship with us, and no minimum hours. When they need a bespoke feature built at pace, a senior engineer turns on. When they need a hand — a review, a stuck integration, help through a change — the same person turns on for that. When the queue is empty, they turn off.

Industry
Materials
Engagement
Ongoing, no minimum
Who
One senior engineer
Shape
On for the work, off when it is done
0
Minimum hours
The relationship has no floor
On / off
The same engineer
Already knows the products
Pace
When a feature has to land
Bespoke work, built fast
A hand
When that is all it is
Assistance, then off again
The starting point

Software that does not need a standing team

The company builds materials. The software around that is real and specific: formulation tools, an internal app for their data and models, extraction from technical documents, a mapping product, a public site. None of it is idle. None of it produces a feature request every week.

The usual ways to cover that gap all cost more than the work:

  • A retainer with a minimum. Hours get paid whether or not there is a feature. Quiet months subsidize the contract, not the product.
  • A hire, for a burst. Recruiting is slower than the feature. The seat stays after the burst is over.
  • A new contractor each time. The first days are spent learning formulations, the internal models, and which service owns what. The pace never arrives.
  • Waiting until the list is long enough to justify a project. Small help — the thing that would take an afternoon from someone who knows the code — waits with the big work, or gets done badly in-house.
The relationship

One senior engineer, on a switch

They kept the relationship, and dropped the minimum. A senior engineer who already knows the products turns on for the work in front of them and turns off when it is finished. The next time on does not start from zero.

  • On, for a bespoke feature. When something needs to be built, it gets built at pace — a senior, on the codebase they already know, for as long as that feature takes.
  • On, for assistance. A review, a stuck integration, a change their own team wants a second pair of hands on. The same person. A smaller slice of time.
  • Off, with no remainder. No minimum hours. A quiet stretch is a quiet stretch. The relationship does not bill itself for existing.
  • The context stays. Formulations, the internal models, the document pipeline, the map. Turning the engineer on is a continuation, not an onboarding.
Before & after
 A retainer or a hireThis relationship
CommitmentHours paid whether usedNo minimum
Who shows upA team, or a strangerThe same senior engineer
When there is a featureStaff for the peak, or waitTurn them on, build it
When there is only a questionIt waits with the big workTurn them on for the hand
When the queue is emptyThe invoice continuesTurn them off
Next timeAnother introductionThe context is already there
How it runs

Rapid when it has to be. Light when it doesn’t.

The pace comes from who is turning on. A senior who knows the codebase, working the way we work, can land a bespoke feature in the time a cold start would spend reading. The same person can spend an afternoon on assistance and stop. Both are the relationship. Neither requires a block of hours bought in advance.

0
minimum hours. The relationship stays. The work comes and goes. They turn a senior engineer on for a feature or for help, and off when that is done.
  • A feature is a project, not a staff plan. Scope it, build it, stop. The engineer is senior, so the project does not need a team around it.
  • Help is allowed to be small. Assistance does not have to be dressed up as an engagement to clear a minimum.
  • Off is a normal state. The products keep running in their hands. We are there when the next thing needs a person who already understands it.

When the work is a whole product rather than a switch, it is a bounded build — a vibecoded prototype taken to production in four working weeks, on a small budget. Read that story.

The impact

Capacity that matches the work

They have a senior engineer for the moments that need one, and they do not carry one through the moments that do not. Features land at pace. Assistance stays assistance. The relationship is what makes the next “on” fast.

0
Minimum hours
Quiet stretches are quiet. The invoice follows the work.
On
For a feature, at pace
Bespoke work from a senior who already knows the products.
Off
When it is done
Assistance included. The relationship stays either way.

We are not publishing hours, rates, or a count of projects. No minimum is the term of the relationship: a senior engineer turns on for a bespoke feature or for help, and turns off when that work is finished.

Need a senior engineer some of the time?

On for a feature. On for a hand. Off when the queue is empty. No minimum hours. Fifteen minutes is enough to see if that shape fits.

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