The final rate depends on seniority, contract length, and whether you need part-time or full-time engagement. Most clients pay between $65–$110 per hour for a pre-vetted mid-to-senior Cilium engineer. This figure is all-inclusive—covering payroll taxes, hardware, benefits, and our ongoing support. Because you outstaff instead of hiring in-house, you avoid recruiter fees, relocation packages, and onboarding overhead. The predictable hourly model lets finance treat talent as OPEX, simplifying budget approvals. Ask for our transparent rate card during your discovery call.

Every engineer signs a strict Non-Disclosure and Invention Assignment Agreement before accessing your repos. We also countersign a Master Services Agreement that vests all work-for-hire IP in your company. Code is written directly in your GitHub or GitLab tenants; we do not host copies. If desired, we establish VPN whitelisting, zero-trust access, and SSO enforcement. Compliance auditors have validated our SOC-2 controls, giving you the same IP security posture as an in-house team—minus the HR headaches.

Yes. We curate talent across North America, LATAM, and EMEA to guarantee at least 4 hours of daily overlap with your core working day. You choose which time-zone alignment you need during onboarding, and we shortlist only candidates who match. This eliminates lag in stand-ups, design reviews, and incident response.

smartbrain.io offers month-to-month, 3-month, and 12-month contracts. You can scale headcount up or down with two-week notice. In-house hiring locks you into salaries, benefits, and severance. Outstaffing keeps commitments flexible, letting you allocate budget to higher-ROI initiatives instead of fixed payroll.

Each candidate passes a four-step process: automated code challenge tailored to eBPF and Kubernetes; live pair-programming with our Principal Cilium architect; English fluency check; reference calls. Only 2% of applicants make the bench. You receive detailed scorecards so you can make a quick, data-driven decision.

We offer a two-week risk-free replacement guarantee. If performance or chemistry is off, we present another vetted Cilium engineer within 5 business days and cover onboarding overlap. This safety net is rarely triggered—our retention rate is 96%—but it keeps your project on schedule.

Once the MSA is executed, we schedule candidate interviews within 24 hours. Most clients sign a Statement of Work and have their Cilium developer commit code in 2–3 business days. That’s weeks faster than recruiting an in-house employee, giving you critical time-to-market advantage.