Fractional Engineering
A senior engineer on your team,
without the hire.
A senior hardware or software engineer embedded in your team for a fixed number of days a week. Start in days, adjust monthly.
Hiring a senior engineer takes months. Contractors bring hands, not ownership. Fractional is the third option: senior people who own outcomes, at a fraction of the fixed cost, on a commitment you can change every month.
Is this you?
It usually starts like this.
- 01
You lost an engineer and the roadmap didn't get any shorter.
- 02
You need a CTO-level view two days a week, not a full-time salary.
- 03
You need a specialist for one product cycle: RF, thermal, power, test.
- 04
You're a founder who can't hire yet, but needs someone senior to own engineering.
What you get
Concretely.
A named engineer
Not a rotating bench. The same person throughout, with a briefed backup for continuity.
A fixed number of days
Agreed monthly. Scale up, down, pause or convert to a hire at any monthly reset.
Ownership
They run a workstream, report on it in writing every week, and are accountable for it.
Your tools, your accounts
Repos, drives and tickets live with you from day one, so offboarding is a formality.
Shapes
Four shapes we run most often.
- 1 day / week
Advisor
Architecture, design reviews, vendor management, help hiring your own team.
- 2–3 days / week
Owner
Owns a workstream end to end. The most common shape.
- Full-time, 4–12 weeks
Sprint
A launch, a redesign, a crunch. Then back to a lighter shape or a clean stop.
- 2–3 engineers
Pod
Electronics, firmware and mechanical together, one point of contact.
How it works
From call to embedded in about a week.
- 01
Chat
Five minutes on what's blocked. If it's a fit, we set up a proper scoping call.
- 02
Match
We propose the engineer and the shape. You meet them before signing.
- 03
Start
Access, context, first deliverable agreed. Usually within a week.
- 04
Adjust monthly
Every month is a reset point, on purpose.
FAQ
Questions we get asked
How fast can someone start?
Usually within a week of signing, sometimes within days. You'll get an exact date on the first call.
Is it the same person every time?
Yes. A named engineer for the whole engagement. If they're away you'll know in advance, and a briefed colleague covers.
How do you handle timezones?
We're on GMT+8, with live overlap for Asia-Pacific mornings, European afternoons and North American evenings. We agree a daily window and work async outside it, in writing.
What's the minimum commitment?
One month, with one month's notice. Most engagements run for several quarters, but the monthly reset is the point.
Can we hire the engineer full-time later?
Yes. Conversion terms are in the agreement from the start.
Do you sign NDAs?
Yes, before you share anything sensitive.
Need a senior engineer next week?
Tell us what's blocked. You'll get a named engineer, a shape and a start date.