Why dedicated teams
Ship more software. Without adding to your leads’ workload.
Assemble a team in weeks
We staff a team lead and vetted senior engineers around your stack and project, typically within two to four weeks, without a recruiting cycle on your side.
Offload day-to-day delivery management
An AIGard team lead runs the sprint cadence, daily coordination and blocker resolution. You set priorities and see progress in your own tools.
Collaborate in real time
A product or project manager in your time zone joins your meetings and keeps communication live, wherever the engineers are based.
Add capacity where you need it
Give a workstream its own team, from a new product build to modernizing a legacy system, without pulling your engineers off the work they already own.
Keep context in a stable team
The team stays together, so knowledge of your product and codebase builds over time. If someone leaves, we replace them and manage the handover.
Scale from one team to several
Grow or shrink a team, add a discipline, or stand up further teams as priorities shift across your organization.
How it works
You set the priorities. Our team drives daily execution.
Vetted senior engineers
A cross-disciplinary team with experience in your stack, sized to the workstream. Every engineer has cleared our five-stage vetting.
Self-managing
An AIGard team lead runs day-to-day execution, manages sprints and removes blockers, so your leads stay focused on direction.
Control without overhead
You set priorities and work directly with the team lead. You see progress in the open without managing every individual.
- Product direction and priorities
- Roadmap and milestone acceptance
- Access to systems, data and stakeholders
- Team leadership and daily task management
- Sprint planning, QA and release cadence
- Staffing, retention and replacements
- Progress reporting and risk escalation
Custom dedicated teams
Senior teams shaped to the work. Build one team or several, each sized and specialized to the project.
Full-stack product team
Engineers, QA, design and DevOps in one integrated team, for anything from a new product build to long-term platform improvement.
Custom software developmentMobile app team
iOS and Android, native or cross-platform, in Swift, Kotlin and Flutter, staffed to the platforms your product runs on.
Mobile app developmentQA and testing team
A standing QA team for manual testing and test automation, so releases are covered without pulling developers off feature work.
Software testing and QAAI and machine learning team
Model development, LLM applications, RAG systems and the engineering needed to run them in production.
Machine learningData engineering team
Pipelines, warehouses, analytics infrastructure and BI, built with Python, SQL and cloud-native tools.
Data engineering and ETLA different shape of team
Tell us what you are building and we will propose the roles, seniority and team size to match.
Tell us what you’re buildingTechnologies
Teams built around the stack you already run.
Our talent
Engineers across every discipline. Add one specialist or several, all vetted and senior.
Front-end engineersReact, Next.js, Angular, Vue
Back-end engineersNode.js, Python, Java, .NET, Go
Mobile engineersSwift, Kotlin, Flutter
Data engineersPipelines, warehouses, BI
ML & AI engineersLLM apps, RAG, model development
MLOps & DevOps engineersCloud, Kubernetes, CI/CD
QA engineersManual and automated testing
Architects & tech leadsSystem design and technical direction
Our vetting process
How we put proven engineers on every team.
Vetted talent
ObjectiveConfirm seniority and a record of delivery at the level the role demands.
- Tenure and scope of responsibility
- Production systems delivered at scale
- Alignment with client stack and domain
ObjectiveEstablish that the engineer can operate inside a client team and represent the work to stakeholders.
- Professional English, spoken and written
- Clear articulation of technical trade-offs
- Dependable collaboration across time zones
ObjectiveVerify technical fundamentals against a role-specific standard.
- Code quality and test discipline
- Architecture and system design
- Proficiency in AI-assisted development
ObjectiveAssess judgment and execution on a representative client problem.
- Representative, time-boxed assignment
- Soundness of approach and trade-offs
- Completeness and clarity of delivery
ObjectiveSenior engineers validate depth, decision-making and accountability before an offer is extended.
- Panel review of the practical challenge
- Design decisions examined in depth
- Ownership, references and final approval
Global talent. Shared ownership.
The right people. One integrated team.
A US company with a global team. Specialist engineers working together around your product.
Build your team →Southern California · US headquarters
↔
Vietnam · Engineering hub
How it compares
A dedicated team against the alternatives.
| Factor | AIGard dedicated team | Building in-house | Typical offshore vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Typically 30–50% less than a US-based team | Full salaries, benefits, insurance and recruiting | Lower rates, but often more engineers and more rework |
| Time to start | Typically 2–4 weeks | Often several months | Varies by vendor |
| Day-to-day management | AIGard team lead | Your own managers | Vendor-run, often at a distance |
| Collaboration | A manager in your time zone | Real time | Overnight handoffs are common |
| Vetting | Five-stage process; top 1% accepted | Your own process | Varies by vendor |
| Seniority | 8–10 years average | Depends on the hire | Varies by vendor |
| Communication skills | High English proficiency | Native or fluent | Language barriers are common |
| Code and IP | Yours | Yours | Check the contract |
Our operational approach
Accountability at every level. How a dedicated team is run once it starts.
Roadmap alignment
You set priorities and goals as you would for an internal team. The team lead turns them into sprint plans and re-plans when priorities change.
Embedded collaboration
The team works in your Slack, Jira, GitHub and cloud accounts and follows your sprint cadence. There is no parallel vendor system to check.
Proactive performance management
We check in with you and with the team regularly, track quality as well as output, and act early if something is not working.
Retention and team continuity
We handle retention and performance. If an engineer leaves or is not the right fit, we find a replacement and manage the handover.
Secure development in your environment
Engineers work inside your environment under least-privilege access. NDAs are signed before any access is given, and IP assignment is part of every contract.
Everything built belongs to you
Your code, models and data stay yours, in your repositories, from the first commit.
Getting started
From first call to a working team.
01 Scope Week 0Scope
We study your goals, current systems and sprint cadence, then recommend a roadmap, engagement model and team shape. No obligation.
02 Match Weeks 1–3Match
We put forward engineers for your stack. You interview them and approve who joins.
03 Embed Weeks 2–4Embed
The team joins your Slack, stand-ups and repos, and starts on agreed first deliverables.
04 Deliver & scale OngoingDeliver & scale
Regular demos and progress reports. Add or reduce capacity as your roadmap changes.
How we work
Easy to engage. Easy to scale.
Vetting, contracts and delivery, engineered to raise your team’s velocity and cut your overhead.
Vetted Senior Talent
We accept the top 1% of engineers, so you only work with proven talent.
Every engineer is assessed on technical depth, problem-solving and communication before joining a client team. Our engineers average eight to ten years of hands-on experience, so they contribute from the first sprint instead of learning on your budget.
Timezone-Aligned Management
Product and project managers in your time zone, wherever your engineers are.
Our client engagement team is distributed globally. You get a product or project manager who works your hours, joins your meetings live and keeps delivery moving across time zones, so nothing waits overnight for an answer.
AI-Native Engineering
Engineers who build with AI, and build AI into your product.
Our teams use AI tooling across design, coding, testing and documentation to ship faster, and they have production experience with LLM applications, machine learning and MLOps. You get AI capability inside the team rather than from a separate vendor.
Full-Stack Capabilities
One team, from roadmap to production support.
Strategy, product engineering, cloud, data, AI and QA under one roof, across eight practice areas. The people who plan your architecture are the same people who build, ship and run it.
Scalable Teams
Start with one engineer. Grow to several teams.
Add or reduce capacity as your roadmap changes, and move between staff augmentation, dedicated teams and outsourcing without changing partner. We handle hiring, onboarding and replacements.
Standard MSAs & SOWs
Clear paperwork, so work starts sooner.
We work under a master services agreement with a statement of work for each engagement, so scope, responsibilities and terms are written down before anything starts. Adding a team or a project means a new SOW, not a new negotiation.
NDAs & IP Protection
Everything we build belongs to you.
NDAs are signed before any access is given, and IP assignment is part of every contract in every engagement model. Your code, models and data stay yours.
Enterprise-Grade Security
Security handled. Compliance built in.
Engineers work inside your environment under least-privilege access. Our practices align with ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR and HIPAA, with PII masking, encryption and audit logging built into data work.
Managed Delivery
We manage delivery, quality and people.
Team leads run sprints, demos and reporting; we handle retention, performance and handovers. You set direction and see progress in the open, without managing every engineer.
Also available
Two other ways to engage. If you would rather direct engineers yourself, or hand over the whole project.
FAQ
Dedicated teams. Answered.
What is a dedicated development team?
A dedicated team is a stable, cross-functional group that works only on your roadmap, led by an AIGard team lead.
A typical team has three to ten people, combining front-end and back-end engineers with data, AI, DevOps and QA engineers and an architect as the work requires. The team stays together, so context compounds instead of resetting.
When is a dedicated team the right model?
A dedicated team fits when you have more projects than people and want each workstream owned end to end, without managing every engineer yourself.
It suits work that needs several disciplines at once, and organizations that expect to grow from one team to several.
What is the difference between staff augmentation, dedicated teams and software outsourcing?
The difference is how much of the delivery you manage. With staff augmentation, you direct individual engineers inside your own team. A dedicated team is a self-managing AIGard team working against priorities you set. With software outsourcing, AIGard owns delivery of the whole project against milestones you approve.
All three draw on the same vetted engineers and the same contracts, security practices and ownership terms.
How do communication and day-to-day control work?
You own priorities and product decisions; the AIGard team lead runs daily execution and is your single point of contact.
The team works in your tools and follows your processes, with sprint planning, regular demos and open progress reporting. Risks are escalated early rather than discovered at a deadline.
How much does a dedicated team cost?
Cost depends on team size, roles, seniority and scope. AIGard engineers typically cost 30–50% less than the fully loaded cost of a US-based hire, with no recruiting fees, benefits overhead or insurance costs on your side.
Dedicated teams are usually billed monthly per engineer. We provide a written proposal after the scoping call.
How quickly can AIGard assemble a dedicated team?
Typically within two to four weeks of the first call, depending on the roles and seniority required.
We propose the team shape and first milestones, staff the team lead and engineers, and you meet the team before work starts.
Can we change priorities during the engagement?
Yes. You own the priorities, and the team re-plans the next sprint around them.
Team size can change as well: you can add a discipline, grow or reduce the team, or stand up further teams as priorities shift.
How does AIGard vet its engineers?
Every engineer clears a five-stage process before joining a client team: profile review, communication, skills assessment, a practical challenge and a technical interview with senior engineers.
The process tests delivery record, professional English, code quality, system design and proficiency in AI-assisted development. For staff augmentation and dedicated teams, you then interview and approve each person we put forward.
Can we interview engineers before they join?
Yes. For staff augmentation and dedicated teams, you meet and approve every engineer before they join.
For outsourced projects, AIGard assembles the team and is accountable for its performance; you review progress at demos and approve each milestone.
What happens if an engineer leaves or is not the right fit?
AIGard finds the replacement and manages the handover, so delivery keeps moving and you do not restart a hiring process.
Retention, performance and handovers are our responsibility in every engagement model. If someone is not working out, tell us and we act early.
How does AIGard protect our data and systems?
NDAs are signed before any access is given, and engineers work inside your environment under least-privilege access, with permissions limited to their responsibilities.
Access is reviewed as roles change and removed when work ends. Our practices align with ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR and HIPAA, with PII masking, encryption and audit logging built into data work. We review your access policies, data-handling needs and vendor requirements during scoping.
Who owns the code, models and intellectual property?
You do. Intellectual property assignment is written into every contract, in every engagement model.
That covers source code, designs, documentation, data, models and prompts produced for you. Third-party components and their licenses are identified, so ownership is clear at handover.