Forward Deployed Engineer pricing
Every fee we charge is on this page. The same fee applies to every client in a market, and the process below applies to every engagement without exception.
United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East, Singapore, Australia, Japan, and every market not listed under the regional rate.
India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand. Priced for the market the client operates in; the standard, the assessment and the guarantee are identical.
One fee per engineer placed, whatever their salary.
12 month minimum. Mobilisation fee of $10,000 on signature, not refundable.
Optional and agreed by both sides. Travel and stay at actuals outside Mumbai, capped in advance.
A lower fee for letting us publish what happened
The reduction buys the right to publish the engagement as it happened, including anything that went wrong. It is never conditional on a favourable account. You approve the facts; you do not approve the tone.
| What we may publish | Discount | Global rate | India | Other regional markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nothing. Your company stays confidential | None | $35,000 | ₹12,00,000 | $14,000 |
| Your logo | 10% | $31,500 | ₹10,80,000 | $12,600 |
| Your logo and the number of engineers placed | 20% | $28,000 | ₹9,60,000 | $11,200 |
| Your logo, the number of engineers, and the full story: what worked and what did not | 25% | $26,250 | ₹9,00,000 | $10,500 |
| Founding clients, first 3 only: logo, number of engineers and the full story | 40% | $21,000 | ₹7,20,000 | $8,400 |
Prices are per engineer placed and apply to the placement fee. The 25% advance is calculated on the tier price. If publication rights are withdrawn later, the difference between the tier price and the full fee becomes payable.
What you can hold us to
- Flat
A flat fee, never a percentage of salary. A percentage gives a search partner a financial interest in inflating the package. We are paid for judgment, so we are indifferent to what the engineer earns.
- 25 / 75
25% on signature, 75% on offer acceptance. The first payment covers the cost of running the search. The rest moves only when you are looking at someone you want to hire.
- Free
A second search at no further engagement fee if every shortlisted candidate fails the specification we signed together.
- 90 days
Fit guarantee. If the engineer does not hold up against the signed specification within 90 days, we replace them at no fee.
- 12 months
Introductions. If you hire a candidate we introduced within 12 months, the balance falls due.
- Scope
Regional rates cover the contracting company’s own operations in the listed markets.
7 steps, in this order, every time
Changing the order changes the outcome, so the process is not negotiable.
| Step | Who | Time | What it produces |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Qualification form | You | 3 minutes | Your workflow, stack, timeline and budget, before anyone spends a call. |
| 2. Qualification call | A founder and your decision maker | 30 minutes | A written accept or decline within 48 hours. |
| 3. Mutual non-disclosure agreement | Both sides | 1 day | The protection needed to discuss your roadmap in detail. |
| 4. Specification session | A founder, your decision maker, your technical lead | 60 to 90 minutes | A written specification of the engineer you need and what they must do. |
| 5. Visit, if useful | Agreed by both sides | Optional | Confidence, where a room achieves what a call cannot. |
| 6. Engagement agreement | Both sides | 1 to 3 days | The specification, fee, Open Record tier and guarantee, signed. |
| 7. Advance of 25% | You | Day 1 | The search begins when it clears. The 25 working day clock starts. |
When we decline
Whatever the budget, we decline when:
- 01
There is no named decision maker, or the decision maker will not attend.
- 02
No single workflow can be named. “We want to use artificial intelligence” is not a workflow.
- 03
No metric can be named that would prove success.
- 04
The process has to change to win the engagement.
How long does it take to hire a Forward Deployed Engineer?
Honestly, 12 to 18 weeks from contract to first day. Be careful with anyone who promises 3.
| Window | Controlled by | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Advance cleared to assessed shortlist | Us | 25 working days |
| Shortlist to offer accepted | Shared: your interview calendar | 10 to 15 working days |
| Offer to first day | Nobody: the candidate’s notice period | 30 to 90 days |
| Cohort route, where a pre-assessed engineer matches | Us | 4 to 6 weeks in total |
The assessment cannot be compressed. The best candidates are employed and can only sit a 4 hour deployment exercise on evenings and weekends. Anyone who can clear it in 3 days has nothing else to do.
Start with a 30 minute call.
A founder and your decision maker. If there is no fit, we will say so on the call.