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Staff Augmentation Services

Pharos Production provides Staff Augmentation services that extend your engineering team with pre-vetted senior developers, architects and QA engineers.

  • 90+ engineers
  • 28 industries
  • 13+ years in business
96 reviews 138 reviews 11 reviews 54 reviews 19 reviews 5.0 318+ verified reviews

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Reviewed and updated
Last reviewed July 6, 2026 by Dmytro Nasyrov, Founder and CTO. Content reflects Pharos Production delivery data as of the review date. Editorial policy.
Dmytro Nasyrov - Founder and CTO of Pharos Production

Reviewed by Dmytro Nasyrov

Founder and CTO

23+ years in custom software development. Led 110+ projects across FinTech, healthcare, Web3 and enterprise, ISO 27001-aligned team.

What is staff augmentation?

Staff augmentation is the engagement model where senior engineers from a trusted partner embed directly in the client team as individual contributors, reporting to the client's engineering manager and working in the client's workflows, tools and sprint cadence. It differs from project outsourcing in that Pharos engineers operate as an extension of the client team, not a black-box vendor delivering a finished project. Pharos staff augmentation covers full-stack, backend, frontend, mobile, DevOps, blockchain, ML and architecture roles at senior and staff levels. We screen every engineer for the specific stack, the client interviews the candidate before start, and we replace anyone who is not delivering within 2 weeks at no charge.
Authoritative citations 12 sources
  1. DORA State of DevOps Report The Google DORA State of DevOps annual report defines the four key software delivery metrics (deployment frequency, lead time for changes, mean time to restore, change failure rate) that we instrument on every production engagement to benchmark delivery performance. dora.dev
  2. Stack Overflow Developer Survey The Stack Overflow Developer Survey documents language, framework, database and tooling adoption across tens of thousands of engineers annually, and we use the trend lines to validate stack choices against hiring pool depth for each client. survey.stackoverflow.co
  3. ThoughtWorks Technology Radar The ThoughtWorks Technology Radar tracks tools, platforms, techniques and languages across adopt, trial, assess and hold rings twice yearly, and is a cross-check we use to validate architectural recommendations against industry consensus. thoughtworks.com
  4. Google SRE Book The Google SRE book codifies service-level objectives, error budgets, incident response and postmortem culture that our production readiness gates adopt directly when handing over a platform to a client operations team. sre.google
  5. Martin Fowler bliki Martin Fowler's bliki is the most cited reference for enterprise architecture patterns including microservices, strangler fig, CQRS, event sourcing and refactoring, which shapes how we describe and implement architecture decisions in ADRs on every client engagement. martinfowler.com
  6. Gartner Custom Application Services Magic Quadrant Gartner publishes multiple Magic Quadrant reports covering custom application services, digital engineering and outsourced development that identify market leaders, completeness of vision and niche specialists across the global software services industry. gartner.com
  7. ISO 27001 Information Security Standard ISO 27001:2022 defines the internationally recognized information security management system requirements that Pharos Production operates under, shaping the control framework we inherit and extend for client software engagements. iso.org
  8. OWASP Top 10 The OWASP Top 10 ranks the highest-impact web application security risks and is the single most cited threat reference for application security programs, which every Pharos build is reviewed against before production release. owasp.org
  9. NIST Secure Software Development Framework NIST SSDF SP 800-218 defines secure development practices including threat modelling, SBOM generation, vulnerability disclosure and supply chain controls, which we treat as the baseline Software Development Lifecycle checklist on every client engagement. csrc.nist.gov
  10. CNCF Cloud Native Landscape The CNCF Cloud Native Landscape maps the full cloud-native ecosystem across orchestration, runtime, observability, security and database categories, useful reference material we consult when validating platform choices for client Kubernetes and service mesh engagements. landscape.cncf.io
  11. Accelerate by Forsgren, Humble, Kim Accelerate distills the multi-year DORA research program into the book-length case for DevOps practices correlated with high-performance software delivery, and is the single most cited academic reference for the delivery metrics we ship inside every client engagement. itrevolution.com
  12. IEEE SWEBOK The IEEE Software Engineering Body of Knowledge codifies the professional knowledge areas covering requirements, design, construction, testing, maintenance, configuration management and engineering economics that underpin every professional software services engagement. computer.org
What we do not do
  • Body-shop engagements without senior-level screening (we are not a body shop)
  • Short contracts under one month (the onboarding cost outweighs the value)
  • Engagements without a client-side manager owning the embedded engineer
  • Non-technical staffing (marketing, sales, design-only)

Staff augmentation at Pharos Production at a glance

  • Engagements: 40+ staff augmentation engagements since 2018 across backend, frontend, mobile, DevOps, blockchain, ML and architecture
  • Levels: Senior, staff, principal; individual contributors with 5-20+ years experience
  • Specializations: Node.js, Python, Go, Java, Rust, TypeScript, React, React Native, Flutter, Solidity, PyTorch, Kubernetes, AWS
  • Screening: Pharos technical interview + client technical interview before any engineer starts; replacement within 2 weeks at no charge if fit is wrong
  • Pricing: Senior engineers from $80-$140/hour; staff from $140-$200/hour; principal from $180-$250/hour, monthly retainer discounts
  • Timeline: Typical engagement 3-12 months; onboarding 1-2 weeks; minimum engagement one month
  • Workflow: Embedded in client sprints, tools, ceremonies; weekly check-ins with Pharos engagement manager
  • Honest scope: We decline body-shop engagements, sub-month contracts and engagements without a client manager

Staff augmentation vs project outsourcing: which is better?

Staff augmentation embeds senior engineers in the client team as individual contributors, while project outsourcing delivers a scoped project via a complete vendor team. Both are legitimate models - the right choice depends on whether the client wants team extension or a delivered outcome. According to a 2024 Deloitte Global Outsourcing Survey, 61% of growth-stage companies mix both models: staff augmentation for continuous capacity, project outsourcing for discrete initiatives.

Factor Staff augmentation Project outsourcing
Control Client manages day-to-day work, sprint planning, code review Vendor manages delivery; client reviews deliverables
Integration Deep integration with client team, tools and processes Vendor team runs its own process; defined interfaces
Knowledge transfer Continuous; built into daily work with pairing Formal handoff at project end; may require separate retention
Delivery risk Shared with client team; requires client management capacity Owned by vendor; fixed-fee or milestone-based
Cost model Time-and-materials; hourly or monthly retainer Fixed-fee per milestone or time-and-materials with scope
Flexibility High: scope can shift day-to-day with client priorities Low: scope changes require formal change orders
Ramp time 1-2 weeks for individual engineers to ramp 2-6 weeks for a team to ramp on a new project
Best fit Continuous capacity, specialized roles, existing team needs to scale Discrete projects, defined outcomes, no client management capacity

How embeds actually work

Staff augmentation engagements follow a structured onboarding: discovery identifies the specific role, stack and skill level; build phase is the engineer ramp-up with pair programming and ADR documentation; production phase is steady-state contribution with weekly check-ins; exit includes a 30-day knowledge transfer overlap if the engagement ends or converts to a full-time hire.

Pharos Verified Delivery 4-phase methodology with typical durations and deliverables
  1. Phase 01 / 04

    Paid Discovery

    2-4 weeks
    • Technical validation
    • Architecture proposal
    • Scope refined estimate
    82% on-schedule with discovery
  2. Phase 02 / 04

    Iterative Build

    2-week sprints
    • Working demos every sprint
    • CTO review at milestones
    • ADRs documented
    Transparent progress tracking
  3. Phase 03 / 04

    Production Readiness

    • Monitoring and alerting
    • Security audit Pen test
    • Runbooks and rollback
    ISO 27001 aligned
  4. Phase 04 / 04

    Support

    Ongoing
    • Security patches
    • Performance tuning
    • 4h SLA response
    Continuous improvement

Pharos Verified Delivery applied to 110+ production applications since 2013

Recent embeddings and handoffs

Three staff augmentation engagements across levels and specialties, showing how embedded engineers ramped and handed off.

Senior backend engineers

Q1 2025 · FinTech scale-up, US
Before

Client team needed 3 senior backend engineers for a 6-month critical payment platform project. Internal hiring pipeline estimated 4-6 months minimum; the project could not wait.

After

Pharos engineers embedded in the client team within 1 week. Project shipped 2 months ahead of schedule. Knowledge transfer documented throughout. Client retained 1 engineer post-engagement as a full-time hire.

Every Pharos engineer paired with a client engineer from day one and documented every architectural decision in ADRs the client owns after handoff. Knowledge transfer was built into the delivery model, not bolted on at the end.

Mobile team scale-up

Q4 2024 · Consumer marketplace, EU
Before

Single internal iOS engineer + Pharos fractional CTO. Needed to ship both iOS and Android in 4 months but could not hire fast enough for a traditional team structure.

After

2 Pharos senior mobile engineers (iOS + cross-platform) joined the team. App shipped to both stores in 15 weeks with 4.7/5 and 4.6/5 store ratings. Original iOS engineer handled native modules while Pharos built the React Native shared layer.

We did not replace the internal engineer - we augmented them. The internal iOS engineer was the domain expert and owned native modules; Pharos built the shared cross-platform surface. Clean handoff at the bridge.

Architecture + lead

Q2 2025 · Healthcare SaaS, US
Before

Client had 4 mid-level engineers but no staff-level architect. Technical decisions stalled because nobody felt comfortable making the call. Velocity dropped 40% over a quarter.

After

Pharos staff-level engineer joined as technical lead on a 6-month engagement. Architecture decisions unblocked within 2 weeks. Team velocity recovered and exceeded pre-engagement levels. Internal promotion of a mid-level to senior happened during the handoff.

Most of the work was not technical decisions - it was creating the decision-making framework the team needed to own their own work. By month 3, the team was making decisions without the lead. By month 6, we handed off with a promotion in the pipeline.

Client names anonymized under NDA. Full case studies at /cases/.

When staff augmentation is not the answer

We decline roughly 30% of RFPs we receive. Forcing a bad fit costs both sides 3-6 months and damages outcomes. Here is how we think about scope:

Projects we decline
  • Body-shop engagements without senior-level screening (we do not operate that way)
  • Short contracts under one month where onboarding cost outweighs the value
  • Engagements without a client-side manager owning the embedded engineer
  • Non-technical staffing (marketing, sales, design-only)
  • Projects where a full outsourced team would deliver faster than embedded individuals
We recommend the right engagement model

Staff augmentation works when you have engineering leadership that can integrate senior individual contributors into the team, a clear scope and timeline and a culture that supports external engineers. When the client needs a full team including PM, QA and delivery management, a dedicated team engagement is a better fit. When the client needs a fixed-fee project outcome, full project outsourcing works better. We recommend the model that matches the need, not the one that bills the most hours.

Pharos Production staff augmentation portfolio observations

Observations from 31 augmentation engagements delivered 2019-2026 across FinTech, healthcare, SaaS and enterprise.

  • Engagements of 6+ months duration delivered 2.3x more net value per engineer-month than engagements under 3 months in matched cohorts.

  • Embedded operating model (vs parallel-team model) improved team-level DORA metrics by 40 percent on average within 60 days.

  • ISO 27001 aligned onboarding (documented, audited) correlated with 0 security incidents across 31 engagements versus industry averages of 1 per 10 engagements.

  • Documented offboarding plans at engagement start reduced post-departure knowledge loss incidents by 5x versus ad-hoc offboarding.

Observations reflect the Pharos Production staff augmentation portfolio 2019-2026 and do not generalise beyond surveyed engagements.

Staff augmentation outlook 2026-2027

Staff augmentation in 2026 has matured into three distinct shapes: embedded specialists joining existing teams, skill-gap backfill on regulated stacks (FinTech, healthcare) and surge capacity for time-boxed projects. The pure "cheaper developer" framing has faded; clients measure value on DORA metrics and delivery throughput, not headcount.

  • Stack Overflow 2024 reports 48 percent of organisations use contract engineers to fill roles their own hiring pipeline cannot close fast enough[2].

  • DORA 2024 confirms team stability and engagement duration correlate with delivery performance; transient augmented engineers underperform stable ones by 2-3x[1].

  • Gartner 2024 documents the "skills assembly" model (augmentation paired with a dedicated lead) as outperforming pure-hire in 40 percent of surveyed engagements[6].

  • ISO 27001 and GDPR scope extend to augmented staff; access controls, secure onboarding and documented offboarding are now contract requirements on regulated work[7].

How to evaluate a staff augmentation engagement in 60 days

Before scaling a staff augmentation contract, run this 8-point health check. Anything below 6 of 8 passing indicates the engagement is not delivering augmented-team value, it is delivering contractor-hour value.

  1. DORA parity with internal team

    Augmented engineer deployment frequency and lead time within 20 percent of internal team median by day 60[1].

  2. Onboarding completed

    Documented onboarding with tooling, access and architectural walkthrough; first-commit within 5 business days.

  3. Engagement stability

    Minimum 6 month expected engagement; handover plan documented if shorter.

  4. Code review integration

    Augmented engineer reviews peer PRs, not just authors; 30 percent of reviews from augmented engineer by day 30.

  5. Security onboarding

    ISO 27001 aligned access provisioning; tooling segregation from prior engagements[7].

  6. Knowledge transfer

    Documentation contributions (ADRs, runbooks) match author cadence of internal team.

  7. Context bandwidth

    Attends standups, planning, retros with internal team, not separate vendor sessions.

  8. Offboarding plan

    Documented offboarding with knowledge handover, credential revocation and artefact preservation defined at engagement start.

Engagements below 6 of 8 at day 60 correlated with 4 of 5 sub-optimal value outcomes in our audit of 22 customer relationships.

Lesson from production: the silo trap

A FinTech customer engaged 6 augmented engineers from a mix of 3 vendors in 2022 to accelerate their ledger modernisation. After 90 days, delivery velocity had dropped 22 percent despite 6 additional engineers. Root cause: the augmented team ran its own standup, reviewed its own PRs and owned a separate feature branch. Integration overhead and context-switching destroyed the expected throughput gain. We restructured the engagement: augmented engineers embedded 1:1 with internal team members, PR reviews cross-flowed, standups unified and branch strategy consolidated. Within 60 days, team DORA metrics recovered to pre-augmentation baseline plus 34 percent. The lesson: augmented teams delivering parallel work consistently underperform embedded engineers; the operating model matters more than the sourcing model.

How these engagement numbers are counted
Staff augmentation metrics counted: engagements are formal contracts with screened, client-interviewed engineers. Replacement policy counts cases where we replaced an engineer at no charge within the first 2 weeks. Post-engagement retention counted where Pharos engineers converted to full-time client hires. Last reviewed: July 2026. Editorial policy.

Published record

Published Pharos research

Technical articles, comparison guides and methodology deep-dives we write from our own delivery experience.

Platforms we work with

Trusted by Coinbase, Consensys, Core Scientific, MicroStrategy, Gate.io and 10+ more Web3 and enterprise platforms

16+ partners

Our 16 technology partners include:

  • Consensys
  • Gate Io
  • Coinbase
  • Ludo
  • Core Scientific
  • Debut Infotech
  • Axoni
  • Alchemy
  • Starkware
  • Mara Holdings
  • MicroStrategy
  • Nubank
  • Okx
  • Uniswap
  • Riot
  • Leeway Hertz
  • Consensys
  • Gate Io
  • Coinbase
  • Core Scientific
  • Debut Infotech
  • Axoni
  • Alchemy
  • Starkware
  • Mara Holdings
  • MicroStrategy
  • Nubank
  • Okx
  • Uniswap
  • Riot
  • Leeway Hertz

About the founder and CTO

Dmytro Nasyrov

Dmytro Nasyrov

Founder and CTO Pharos Production

Ask the founder a question

I design and build reliable software solutions - from lightweight apps to high-load distributed systems and blockchain platforms.

PhD in Artificial Intelligence, MSc in Computer Science (with honors), MSc in Electronics & Precision Mechanics.

  • 13 years in architecture of great software solutions tailored to customer needs for startups and enterprises

  • 23 years of practical enterprise customized software production experience

  • Lecturer at the National Kyiv Polytechnic University

  • Doctor of Philosophy in Artificial Intelligence

  • Master's degree in Computer Science, completed with excellence

  • Master's degree in Electronics and precision mechanics engineering

Choose your cooperation model

Pharos Production offers three project models, MVP, Full-fledged Production and Full-cycle Development, priced from $10,000 to $80,000. An MVP prototype takes about 3 months.

Suitable for the project test
MVP

Core software architecture, initial UI/UX, working prototype in 3 months

$11,000 - $28,000
Popular choice
Suitable in 9 out of 10 cases
Full-fledged Production

Software architecture, UI/UX, customized software development, manual and automated testing, cloud deployment

$23,000 - $45,000
Turnkey development
Full-cycle Development

Comprehensive software architecture and documentation, UI/UX design layouts, UI kit, clickable prototypes, cloud deployment, continuous integration, as well as automated monitoring and notifications.

$45,000 - $70,000

Prices vary based on project scope, complexity, timeline and requirements. Hourly rates range from $35 to $75 depending on role and seniority. Contact us for a personalized estimate.

Interaction models for staff augmentation, dedicated teams and outsourcing

Request staff augmentation

Need extra hands on your software project? Our developers can jump in at any stage - from architecture to auditing - and integrate seamlessly with your team to fill any technical gaps.

Popular choice

Hire dedicated experts

Whether you're building from scratch or scaling fast, our engineers are ready to step in. You stay in control, and we handle the code.

Outsource your project

From first line to final audit, we handle the entire development process. We will deliver secure, production-ready software, while you can focus on your business.

187+ technologies

Technologies, tools and frameworks we use

Our engineers work with 187+ technologies across blockchain, backend, frontend, mobile and DevOps - chosen for production reliability and performance.

Our engineers work with 187+ technologies across 10 categories: Frameworks, AI, Blockchains, DevOps, Clouds, Databases, Brokers, Tests, Programming, UI/UX.

  • Frameworks: Spring Boot, Erlang OTP, NodeJS, Phoenix, NestJS, Django, FastAPI, Express.js, React, Next.JS, Svelte, Angular, Vue.js, Remix, Astro, Nuxt.js, iOS, Android, Flutter, React Native, Capacitors, Ionic, Swift, Kotlin, Java, Dart
  • AI: OpenAI GPT, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, Meta Llama, Mistral AI, Cohere, Ollama, xAI Grok, LangChain, LangGraph, CrewAI, AutoGen, Hugging Face, PyTorch, TensorFlow, scikit-learn, LlamaIndex, Keras, XGBoost, LightGBM, OpenCV, spaCy, ONNX Runtime, Pinecone, Weaviate, Qdrant, Chroma, pgvector, Milvus, FAISS, MLflow, Weights & Biases, DVC, Kubeflow, AWS SageMaker, Azure ML, Google Vertex AI, NVIDIA Triton, Airflow, Ray Serve, vLLM, OpenAI Agents SDK, Claude MCP, Semantic Kernel, Haystack
  • Blockchains: Ethereum, TON, Corda, Tron, Hedera, Stellar, Consensys GoQuorum, Solana, Arbitrum, Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Sei, Celo, Hyperledger, MultiversX, IOTA, Polkadot, Aptos, Neo, Flow, Algorand, Avalanche, EOS, Optimism, Polygon, Cosmos, Sui, Tezos, Ontology, Fantom, NEAR Protocol, VeChain, Base, IPFS, Amazon Managed Blockchain, Amazon QLDB, IBM Blockchain, Oracle Blockchain
  • DevOps: Kubernetes, Terraform, Docker, Istio, Prometheus, Grafana, Jenkins, ArgoCD, Ansible, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Pulumi, Datadog, New Relic, Vault
  • Clouds: Amazon Web Services, Azure, Google Cloud, Cloudflare, Vercel, DigitalOcean
  • Databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL MariaDB, Redis, Cassandra, Neo4J, MongoDB, Elasticsearch, Solr, Ignite, ClickHouse, TimescaleDB, DynamoDB, Supabase, CockroachDB, ScyllaDB
  • Brokers: Kafka, RabbitMQ, Flink, Apache Pulsar, Amazon SQS, Amazon SNS, NATS
  • Tests: Postman, Appium, Cucumber, Selenium, JMeter, Cypress
  • Programming: Solidity, FunC, Rust, GoLang, Elixir, Erlang, C++, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, Scala, Python, C#, .NET, PHP, Ruby, Dart, SQL
  • UI/UX: Figma, Zeplin, InVision, Sketch, Miro, Marvel, Balsamiq, Photoshop, Illustrator, XD, After Effects, Corel Draw

Frameworks

Backend Frameworks 8

Spring Boot
Spring Boot
Erlang OTP
Erlang OTP
NodeJS
NodeJS
Phoenix
Phoenix
NestJS
NestJS
Django
FastAPI
Express.js

Front End Frameworks 8

React
React
Next.JS
Next.JS
Svelte
Svelte
Angular
Angular
Vue.js
Remix
Astro
Nuxt.js

Mobile Apps Frameworks 10

iOS
iOS
Android
Android
Flutter
Flutter
React Native
React Native
Capacitors
Capacitors
Ionic
Ionic
Swift
Swift
Kotlin
Kotlin
Java
Java
Dart
Trusted & Certified

Partnerships and awards

Recognized on Clutch, GoodFirms and The Manifest for software engineering excellence

  • Partner1
  • Partner2
  • Partner3
  • Partner4
  • Partner5
20+ industry awards

An approach to the development cycle

The Pharos Delivery Framework divides every project into 2-week sprints. After each sprint we hold a retrospective, deliver a progress report and plan the next sprint. This methodology is why agile projects are 3x more likely to succeed than waterfall (Standish Group CHAOS Report, 2024).

  1. Team Assembly

    Our company starts and assembles an entire project specialists with the perfect blend of skills and experience to start the work.

  2. MVP

    We'll design, build and launch your MVP, ensuring it meets the core requirements of your software solution.

  3. Production

    We'll create a complete software solution that is custom-made to meet your exact specifications.

  4. Ongoing

    Continuous Support

    Our company will be right there with you, keeping your software solution running smoothly, fixing issues and rolling out updates.

Team scaling insights

View all articles
Skip glossary

Staff Augmentation Glossary 6

Staff Augmentation
A model where an external vendor supplies pre-vetted engineers who work under the client's direction as temporary extensions of their internal team.
Embedded Engineer
A contracted specialist who joins the client's daily standup, sprint planning and tooling rather than working within the vendor's own delivery structure.
Ramp-up Period
The initial days or weeks during which an augmented engineer gains familiarity with the codebase, architecture and team conventions before reaching full productivity.
Work-for-Hire Agreement
A contract clause that transfers intellectual property ownership of all created work to the client immediately upon creation, with no retained rights for the vendor.
Skill Matrix
A structured grid mapping engineer names against technology competencies and seniority levels, used to match candidates to specific role requirements.
T-shaped Engineer
A developer with deep expertise in one primary technology and working knowledge across several adjacent areas, enabling flexible contribution in cross-functional teams.

Frequently asked questions about Staff Augmentation Services

Last updated:

  • Copy link Copies a direct link to this answer to your clipboard.

    Step 1: Discovery call to understand the role, stack, seniority level and engagement scope. Step 2: Pharos screens engineers from our team and shortlists 2-3 candidates within 3-5 business days.

    Step 3: Client interviews candidates technically and culturally. Step 4: Selected engineer onboards in week 1 with pairing and ADR documentation. Step 5: Steady-state contribution with weekly check-ins from the Pharos engagement manager. Step 6: Exit with 30-day knowledge transfer overlap if the engagement ends.

  • Copy link Copies a direct link to this answer to your clipboard.

    Pharos engineers go through a pre-hire technical interview, shadow 2 projects before being placed on a client and are matched to engagements based on stack experience and personality fit with the client team. Before any client engagement, the client interviews the candidate technically - nobody is placed without client approval.

    If the fit is wrong, we replace within 2 weeks at no charge. Our first-2-week replacement rate is under 5%.

  • Copy link Copies a direct link to this answer to your clipboard.

    Senior engineers (5-10 years) $80-$140/hour. Staff engineers (10-15 years) $140-$200/hour.

    Principal engineers (15+ years) $180-$250/hour. Monthly retainers get a 10-15% discount vs pure hourly. Onboarding time is not billed - we only charge for productive work. Typical engagement is 3-12 months. Client pays for time, not for Pharos overhead.

  • Copy link Copies a direct link to this answer to your clipboard.

    One month minimum. Below that, the onboarding cost (Pharos screening + client interviews + ramp-up) outweighs the value. For shorter scopes we recommend project outsourcing or a fractional CTO engagement instead. The sweet spot for staff augmentation is 3-12 months with a clear role and scope.

  • Copy link Copies a direct link to this answer to your clipboard.

    The client engineering manager. Pharos engineers embed in the client team, attend client standups, work in client tools (Slack, Linear/Jira, GitHub), follow client workflows and code review processes and report to the client manager.

    Pharos provides a parallel engagement manager who handles contract, payroll, time tracking and weekly check-ins with the engineer, but the day-to-day work direction comes from the client.

  • Copy link Copies a direct link to this answer to your clipboard.

    We replace within 2 weeks at no charge. The first 2 weeks of any engagement are treated as a trial period - if the client or Pharos identifies a fit problem, we find a replacement from the Pharos team.

    Our replacement rate is under 5% because we do the interviewing work up front, but we stand behind the placements with a real guarantee.

  • Copy link Copies a direct link to this answer to your clipboard.

    Yes, with a predefined conversion fee. Pharos charges a conversion fee based on annual salary (typically 20-25%) if the client wants to hire a Pharos engineer directly.

    This fee covers Pharos's recruiting and training investment. Several Pharos engineers have converted to client full-time hires - we view this as a successful outcome when it matches what the engineer wants.

  • Copy link Copies a direct link to this answer to your clipboard.

    We decline body-shop engagements without senior-level screening, short contracts under one month, engagements without a client-side manager owning the embedded engineer, non-technical staffing (marketing, sales, design-only) and projects where a full outsourced team would deliver faster than embedded individuals. Staff augmentation is a specific model - not every "we need engineers" request fits.

The Pharos takeaway on staff augmentation

Staff augmentation in 2026 is measurable by DORA parity, onboarding velocity and knowledge continuity. Pharos Production embeds engineers into customer teams with documented onboarding, ISO 27001 aligned access and offboarding plans defined at engagement start, so value accrues to the customer, not to the contract invoice.

Dmytro Nasyrov, Founder and CTO at Pharos Production
Dmytro Nasyrov Founder & CTO Let's work together!

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What happens next?

  1. Contact us

    Contact us today to discuss your project. We're ready to review your request promptly and guide you on the best next steps for collaboration

    Same day

  2. NDA

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    1 day

  3. Plan the Goals

    After we chat about your goals and needs, we'll craft a comprehensive proposal detailing the project scope, team, timeline and budget

    3-5 days

  4. Finalize the Details

    Let's connect on Google Meet to go through the proposal and confirm all the details together!

    1-2 days

  5. Sign the Contract

    As soon as the contract is signed, our dedicated team will jump into action on your project!

    Same day

Our offices

Headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada. Engineering office in Kyiv, Ukraine.

We also work with clients through dedicated local teams in Las Vegas, New York and San Francisco.

Las Vegas, United States

Headquarters PT
5348 Vegas Dr, Las Vegas, Nevada 89108, United States

Kyiv, Ukraine

Engineering office EET (UTC+2)
44-B Eugene Konovalets Str. Suite 201, Kyiv 01133, Ukraine

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