Contract
A vetted engineer embedded in your team for a defined term.
Hourly, billed against an approved SOW. Most common for migrations, upgrades and capacity surges where the work has an end date.
Staff augmentation
IT staff augmentation for enterprise platform and data teams
IT staff augmentation adds vetted engineers into your existing team, under your management, for a defined term. Conntal augments in the places generalist firms cannot screen: messaging and streaming, data platforms, DevOps and SRE, and ServiceNow ITOM — every engineer vetted by an Ace8 or AceMQ practitioner.
Screened by practitioners
Ace8 and AceMQ engineers, not recruiters
130+
enterprises served across 26+ countries
Contract, C2H or direct
onshore, nearshore or offshore
Model fit
When staff augmentation is right — and when it is not.
Being honest about this costs us engagements and saves you money. The model is not universally correct and we would rather tell you that before the SOW than after it.
Right when
Staff augmentation
Your team owns the platform and needs depth it does not have — a migration, an upgrade, a capacity surge, a specialism you hire once every three years. You direct the work.
Better when
Delivery engagement
The scope is discrete, bounded and has no in-house owner afterwards. Ace8 does this work directly and we will point you there instead of placing people into a gap that needs a team.
Better when
Direct hire
The role is permanent platform ownership rather than project capacity. We place direct too, screened to the same standard, so the choice is about your org design rather than our commercial preference.
What you get
An engineer, not a résumé.
A practitioner-scoped role
An engineer reads your brief before sourcing starts and tells you what is missing from it.
A published screening bar
The scenario we put to candidates is on the role page. You can judge it before you engage us.
Onboarding in days, not months
Vetted candidates are already screened when you brief us, so the timeline is scheduling rather than searching.
A named vetter who stays attached
If the fit is wrong, the vetting practitioner raises it before you do and we replace.
Compliance artifacts
Background screening, right-to-work, vendor onboarding, and clearance where the engagement requires it.
Procurement
What your vendor management team will ask.
Most staffing sites stop at the sales pitch. These are the questions that actually decide whether an engagement can start this quarter.
- Contracting
- MSA plus an SOW per engagement.
- Insurance
- Standard commercial general liability, professional liability and workers' compensation; certificates on request.
- Screening
- Background and right-to-work checks as standard; enhanced screening and clearance where the engagement requires it.
- Invoicing
- Monthly in arrears against approved timesheets, to your PO and AP process.
- Data and security
- Work inside your environment and your controls; residency constraints are treated as a staffing constraint, not an afterthought.
- Replacement
- A defined replacement window rather than a dispute.
Roles available
What we augment with.
DevOps engineers
DevOps engineer · DevSecOps engineer · Platform engineer
View the screen
Data engineers
Data engineer · Big data engineer · Platform data engineer
View the screen
Site reliability engineers
Site reliability engineer · Senior SRE · Production engineer
View the screen
ServiceNow ITOM developers
ServiceNow ITOM developer · Discovery engineer · Service Mapping consultant
View the screen
Enterprise architects
Enterprise architect · Solution architect · Integration architect
View the screen
Commercial and location
Three engagement models, three location models.
Contract-to-hire
Work together first, convert when it is obviously working.
A defined conversion window and a pre-agreed fee, so the decision to hire is a business decision rather than a negotiation.
Direct placement
A permanent hire, screened to the same standard.
One-time fee against first-year base. Used where the role is a long-term platform owner rather than project capacity.
Onshore
Highest rateUS-based, on client time zones, cleared where the engagement requires it. The model for regulated work with residency or clearance constraints.
Nearshore
Our default recommendationLatin America and Canada, four hours or less of overlap loss, same working day. This is where cost and collaboration balance best for most enterprise teams, and it is the model we recommend first.
Offshore
Lowest rateEurope, India and South East Asia. Works well for follow-the-sun support and for workstreams with clean handoff boundaries.
Full rate-band detail on the delivery models page.
FAQ
Staff augmentation: what buyers ask
What is IT staff augmentation?
IT staff augmentation is adding vetted engineers directly into your existing team, under your management and your delivery process, for a defined term. You keep ownership of the work and the architecture; the provider supplies capability and carries the employment relationship.
What is the difference between staff augmentation and managed services?
Staff augmentation puts engineers inside your team and you direct the work. Managed services hands an outcome to a vendor who directs their own people. Augmentation suits work where your team owns the platform and needs depth it does not have; managed services suits work you want to stop thinking about.
When is staff augmentation the wrong model?
When the scope is a discrete project with a clear boundary and no in-house owner afterwards, a delivery engagement is usually better value. We will say so — Ace8 does that work directly and we will point you there rather than placing people into a gap that needs a team.
How does nearshore staff augmentation work?
Engineers based in Latin America or Canada work your business hours with four hours or less of overlap loss. They join your standups, your repos and your on-call rotation exactly as an onshore engineer does. It is our default recommendation because it aligns cost with budget without losing the working day.
How are augmented engineers vetted?
By a practitioner at Ace8, AceMQ or Duczer East who runs that technology in production, using a real production scenario. The scenario for each role is published on its page so you can judge the bar before engaging us.
Can we convert an augmented engineer to a permanent hire?
Yes. Contract-to-hire has a defined conversion window and a pre-agreed fee, so converting is a business decision rather than a negotiation you have to have while the person is already embedded.
What do you need from procurement?
An MSA and an SOW per engagement. We carry standard commercial insurance, complete vendor onboarding and background screening, and can work to your security and right-to-work requirements including clearance where the engagement needs it.
What does IT staff augmentation cost?
Rate depends on seniority, technology scarcity and location model rather than a single published number. Onshore, nearshore and offshore bands are set out on the delivery models page and we quote against your actual scope.
Tell us the role. A practitioner scopes it, not a recruiter.
Send the requirement — or the job description you are not happy with — and an engineer who runs this technology will tell you what is missing before we source anyone.