Staff augmentation

Staff augmentation services: engineers who join your team

By Yash Soni, Founder & CEO, Apex36Updated Oct 22, 2026

In short

Staff augmentation means adding our engineers to your existing team: they join your stand-ups, work in your repositories and tickets, and follow your process. Apex36 offers IT staff augmentation by the hour: junior engineers from $20/hr, mid-level at $25 to $30/hr and senior from $30/hr, with a minimum of 80 hours a month. An engineer can start within 1 week.

Key facts

Rates	Junior $20/hr · Mid $25 to $30/hr · Senior $30+/hr
Typical start	An engineer can start within 1 week
Minimum and notice	Minimum 80 hours a month; 2 weeks' notice to change hours
Time zones	We adjust our working hours to your time zone
Markets	US, UK, Australia, Singapore, UAE
Stack	React, Next.js, Node.js, NestJS, TypeScript, Python, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, AWS, Azure, GCP

Who you work with

Founded: 2022, in India
Team: 6 people: the founder and 5 engineers
Founder: Yash Soni, building software since 2017
Delivered: 50+ projects
Clients in: US, UK, Germany, Belgium, Australia

What is staff augmentation?

Staff augmentation is a way to add engineering capacity without hiring. You keep the product decisions, the backlog and the process; we supply engineers who work as part of your team for as long as you need them. It suits a company that already has a technical lead and a working process, but more work than people.

The alternative is a dedicated development team, where Apex36 owns delivery for you. If you are unsure which one you need, ask who will run the work day to day. If the answer is you, staff augmentation fits.

Our staff augmentation services

We add engineers in the roles software teams most often run short of:

Front-end engineers for React and Next.js apps
Back-end engineers for Node.js, NestJS and Python (FastAPI) services
Full-stack engineers who take a feature from the database to the screen
DevOps engineers for CI/CD, infrastructure as code and Kubernetes, at $45/hr
AI engineers for LLM features, RAG and agents, through dedicated AI engineers

To hire for one technology, start from hire developers.

IT staff augmentation: how an engineer joins your team

A 30-minute call about the role, your stack, your process and the hours you need.
We propose an engineer at a named level and rate, in writing, for your approval.
The engineer starts within 1 week, with access to your repositories, ticket board and chat.
They attend your stand-ups and reviews, and take tickets from your backlog like anyone else on the team.
Our founder, Yash Soni, stays responsible for the engineer's work and is one message away if something is not working.

Hours can go up or down with 2 weeks' notice, from a minimum of 80 hours a month.

Software development staff augmentation vs hiring

Hiring a permanent engineer takes weeks of sourcing and interviews, then a notice period, and the cost stays fixed whether the work does or not. Software development staff augmentation trades some of that commitment for speed: an engineer can start within 1 week, and you can change hours with 2 weeks' notice. You do not run payroll, equipment or benefits for them.

What you give up is a permanent hire's long-term ownership. Plan for it the way you would for any new team member: written tickets, code review and documentation as you go.

What staff augmentation costs

Junior engineer, $20/hr: tickets with a clear spec, UI work, tests and bug fixes
Mid-level engineer, $25 to $30/hr: features end to end, APIs, integrations and reviews
Senior engineer, $30+/hr: design decisions, hard bugs, mentoring your juniors and lead work
DevOps specialist, $45/hr: pipelines, infrastructure as code and cloud cost

At 160 hours a month, a junior engineer costs $3,200 and a senior engineer from $4,800. Invoices are in USD. See pricing.

Clients who kept our engineers on

Our longest engagements are monthly ones. United Medical, a German healthcare company, has worked with us every month since August 2023, and a pharma enterprise customer since July 2024. KoroCRM ran as a monthly engagement from November 2025 to February 2026. Each started with a defined piece of work and grew from there.

Proof from our work

TEAMS WE HAVE BUILT FOR

What clients say about working with us

Founded by Yash Soni, Top Rated on Upwork with a 100% Job Success Score

“Yash and his team did an amazing job on the project.”

Team engagement client

“Amazing work, really dedicated to do good work and loves to think along about product improvements.”

React + Python product client

Frequently asked questions

Staff augmentation is adding outside engineers to your own team for a period of time. They work in your tools and your process, and you direct the work. At Apex36 it is billed hourly, from $20/hr for a junior engineer.

With staff augmentation, our engineers join your team and you run the work. With a dedicated development team, an Apex36 team led by our founder owns delivery and reports to you. The rates are the same.

Junior engineers are $20/hr, mid-level engineers $25 to $30/hr and senior engineers from $30/hr; DevOps specialists are $45/hr. The minimum is 80 hours a month, invoiced in USD.

Within 1 week of agreeing the role, the level and the monthly hours.

Yes, with 2 weeks' notice, as long as the total stays at or above 80 hours a month. You can also add a second engineer the same way.

Yours. Our team is in India, and we adjust our working hours to your time zone so stand-ups and reviews happen in your day.

You do. They commit to your repositories from the first day, and everything they write belongs to you. There is no licence fee and no lock-in.

Not quite. Outsourcing hands a whole project to a vendor; IT staff augmentation adds people to your team while you keep control of the project. If you want to hand off delivery, see our dedicated development team.

Find out what to build first

Start with the free AI readiness assessment and get a written report by email, or book a 30-minute strategy call with the founder.

Get the free AI readiness assessment Book a strategy call