Engagements & pricing

Priced around the shape of the problem, not a menu of buzzwords.

Most teams come to me in one of four situations: they need clarity, they need a focused build, they need help getting a system production-ready, or they need senior technical judgment over time.

🔗Architecture and production readiness review

Best for teams that need an experienced outside read before committing more engineering time.

Typical scope:

  • Review architecture, code paths, data flow, and deployment setup
  • Identify production risks, observability gaps, security issues, and cost/latency concerns
  • Recommend the smallest useful path forward
  • Deliver a written review with prioritized fixes

Typical range: $5K–$10K

Good fit when:

  • You have a prototype and need to know what will break in production
  • A CTO/founder wants a second set of senior eyes
  • The team is choosing between architecture options
  • You need a practical plan, not a long consulting deck

🔗Pilot build

Best for validating a focused workflow or AI/search/backend capability before investing in a larger build.

Typical scope:

  • Narrow product slice or technical proof point
  • Working implementation, not just mockups
  • Basic tests, telemetry, and deployment path
  • Documentation and handoff

Typical range: $15K–$50K

Example pilots:

  • RAG/search workflow with evaluation harness
  • LLM routing layer with budget controls
  • PR/code intelligence workflow
  • Internal automation that removes a repeatable operational bottleneck

🔗Production build

Best when the goal is not just to prove the idea, but to put it into real use.

Typical scope:

  • Architecture and implementation
  • Observability, dashboards, and runbooks
  • Performance and cost tuning
  • Security and deployment hardening
  • Team handoff and documentation

Typical range: $50K–$300K+ depending on scope, integrations, and timeline.

Good fit when:

  • The prototype already has product pull
  • The system will touch customers, revenue, or sensitive workflows
  • Reliability matters more than demo speed
  • Your team needs a senior builder who can own a hard path end to end

🔗Advisory or fractional principal engineer

Best when you need senior judgment over time without hiring full-time.

Typical scope:

  • Architecture reviews
  • Code reviews and technical decision records
  • Performance/cost deep dives
  • Vendor and platform decisions
  • Mentorship for senior engineers

Typical range: $5K–$15K/month depending on cadence and availability.

Good fit when:

  • You have a strong team but need principal-level guidance
  • The system is moving quickly and decisions are compounding
  • You want async support, written recommendations, and periodic working sessions

🔗Hourly work

For small, well-defined advisory or implementation work, hourly can make sense.

Typical range: $150–$250/hour, depending on complexity and urgency.

I usually prefer fixed-scope reviews or scoped delivery blocks because they keep expectations cleaner. Hourly is best for narrow support, code review, pairing, or follow-on work after a defined engagement.

🔗How I scope work

I look for the smallest useful engagement that reduces risk.

That might be a two-week review instead of a three-month build. It might be a pilot before a platform rewrite. It might be one production path instrumented properly before expanding the system.

A good scope includes:

  • The user or business problem
  • Current system constraints
  • Known risks
  • What success looks like
  • Timeline and decision deadline
  • Who owns product and technical decisions