Engagement models
Three ways
to buy engineering.
Pick the model that matches your constraint. All three carry the same operating standard, the same review process and the same named accountability. Only the commercial terms change.
Where you are starting from
Two ways
to start.
A founder and a procurement team need different things first. Both get the same 12 services, the same audited management systems and the same governance model. Only the starting point differs.
Founders and scaling teams
Can you build it, and what will it cost?
You need a number and a start date. Send us a brief, and within three to five working days you get a written recommendation covering scope, non-scope, engagement model and cost, written by the engineer who read it.
- An engineer replies to your brief within one working day
- A 30-minute technical call in the same week
- Fixed scope with milestone billing, so cash flow is predictable
- Architecture documented well enough that your first in-house hire can take it over
Enterprise and regulated organisations
Can you pass our security and vendor review?
You need evidence before you need a proposal. Everything a vendor review asks for is already published: ISO 27001, ISO 9001 and ISO 20000-1 with verifiable certificate numbers, a DPA naming every sub-processor, defined service levels, and IP assigned to you on payment.
- Three third-party audited ISO management systems, certificate numbers published
- Security questionnaires completed in full, typically within three working days
- MSA and SOW, or your own paper, plus a mutual NDA before any detail is exchanged
- A named engagement lead, weekly written reporting and formal change control
Project delivery
Defined scope, defined outcome
A bounded build with an agreed specification, milestone sequence, and handover. Best when the destination is clear and the path needs engineering.
Suits
- New platform builds
- Rebuilds and migrations
- Defined feature programmes
Fixed scope · milestone billing · documented handover
Embedded engineering
Our engineers, inside your team
Dedicated engineers and designers working in your stack, your standups, and your repository. Capacity without a hiring cycle, under our review discipline.
Suits
- Teams behind on roadmap
- Specialist gaps
- Sustained delivery pressure
Monthly · dedicated allocation · your process
Technology leadership
Fractional CTO and architecture authority
Senior technical judgement on retainer: architecture decisions, delivery review, and stack and hiring direction, without a full-time executive appointment.
Suits
- Funded teams pre-CTO
- Boards needing technical assurance
- Pre-build diligence
Retainer · fixed hours · decision records
Side by side
The differences
that matter.
Everything below is negotiable except the operating standard. If a proposal you receive from us contradicts this table, the table is wrong and we will fix it.
| Attribute | Project delivery | Embedded engineering | Technology leadership |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best when | The destination is clear and the path needs engineering | You have a roadmap and not enough hands | You need senior judgement before committing a budget |
| Commercial shape | Fixed scope, milestone billing | Monthly allocation per engineer | Monthly retainer, fixed hours |
| Who leads | Cognimit | Your team lead | Shared: we advise, you decide |
| Process | Our five-phase method | Your process and rituals | Your cadence |
| Typical duration | 6–20 weeks | 3 months minimum | 3 months minimum |
| Ends with | Documented handover and runbooks | Knowledge transfer and standing capacity | Decision records and a sequenced roadmap |
What we need from you
Four things
we need from you.
Be clear about these four things and we will turn them into an architecture. A specification document or technical vocabulary is optional.
The constraint, stated
Deadline, budget ceiling, regulatory requirement, or the integration you cannot change. The real constraint shapes the architecture more than the feature list does.
Access to a decision maker
One person who can settle a scope question in a day. Engagements slow down over unanswered questions far more often than over hard engineering.
What already exists
Repository access, an architecture sketch, or an honest description of the spreadsheet holding it together. We would rather read the mess than a cleaned-up summary.
The definition of success
A number, a date, or a behaviour that changes. If nobody can state it, that is the first thing we work on together.
Who you work with
Every engagement has a named owner.
Every engagement has a named engagement lead accountable for scope, schedule, and quality, working to a documented governance model: weekly written reporting, a defined escalation path, formal change control, and senior technical review on every change before it reaches production.
A named engagement lead accountable end to end
Weekly written reporting and a defined escalation path
Formal change control and senior review on every change
The operating standard
Reviewed
No change reaches production without review by a second engineer. The rule is the same for our own products.
Reproducible
Environments defined as code. Any engineer can rebuild the stack from an empty account.
Observable
Logging, error reporting, and alerting configured before launch rather than after an incident.
Documented
Architecture notes, decision records and runbooks are delivered as part of the contract.
Accessible
Semantic markup, keyboard paths, contrast ratios, and reduced-motion support treated as requirements.
Recoverable
Backups are verified by restoring them on a schedule.
Not sure which model fits?
Describe the problem and we will tell you which model we would recommend. Sometimes the answer is that you do not need us yet.