Hire Backend Developers
Hire backend engineers for the services your team already owns.
RaftLabs embeds backend engineers into an existing product team with a named ownership boundary, repository access, review rules, release path, and handover plan. The engagement can cover APIs, data models, integrations, background jobs, or performance work without creating a separate delivery process.
Bring the problem, the current workflow, or the existing code. We reply with a practical next step within one business day.
The brief
Start with what is not working.
Good software decisions begin with the constraint, not a list of features or a preferred technology.
Is frontend work waiting on APIs, data changes, or integrations that nobody has capacity to own?
Are backend incidents and slow queries being patched without time to repair the underlying service?
Plain answer
Hiring backend developers adds server-side capacity to an existing product team while the client keeps day-to-day control. RaftLabs engineers own defined APIs, data, integrations, or reliability work inside the client's repository. Planning rates are $6,000 to $6,500 per person monthly, with an initial four-week term.
The backlog says API work. The real gap is ownership.
One engineer fixes a query, another adds a route, and a third responds when the integration fails. Nobody owns the service contract or the runbook. More hands move tickets, but the backend becomes harder to change.
An embedded backend engineer should take responsibility for a defined slice of the system inside the client's existing process. That boundary makes contribution, review, and handover visible.
Relevant delivery record
- simultaneous participants on a real-time voice platform
- 300+
- RaftLabs PSi project record
- transactions in a mobile POS product's first three months
- 10,000
- RaftLabs project record
- customer records in a 12-week platform migration
- 300,000+
- RaftLabs Energia project record
These figures show server-side delivery across real-time, transaction, and migration work. They do not prove that an embedded engineer will reproduce the same result or measure the performance of a staffing engagement. The PSi, mobile POS, and Energia case studies state their own evidence boundaries.
An embedded backend engineer fits when your team can direct the work and needs someone to own a server-side boundary.
Choose a fixed project when the outcome is stable, or a full delivery pod when product, QA, and coordination are also missing.
An engineering lead can name the service, data, integration, or reliability boundary.
The client has a repository, review process, environments, and product decisions the engineer can join.
The backlog will evolve and benefits from knowledge retained inside the team.
The brief is a fixed deliverable with little expected change.
Nobody on the client side can set priorities or approve architecture and releases.
Access to code, environments, data, or domain owners will remain blocked.
Ownership
What an embedded backend engineer can take on
- 01
API and service contracts
Design and change REST, GraphQL, or event contracts with versioning, authentication, authorisation, error behaviour, rate limits, and tests that consumers can rely on. - 02
Data and migrations
Model data around real query and ownership needs, inspect slow paths, add evidence-based indexes, plan reversible schema changes, and reconcile migrations rather than trusting row counts alone. - 03
Integrations and background work
Build signed webhook receivers, idempotent handlers, queues, retries, dead-letter paths, scheduled jobs, and operator tools for providers and failures outside the team's control. - 04
Performance and reliability
Trace slow requests, define useful service measures, test representative load, reduce avoidable work, and write runbooks for the failures the team is expected to handle.
Should you hire one engineer, a pod, or a fixed project?
Embedded backend engineer vs delivery pod
| One embedded engineer | Lean delivery pod | |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | An existing team with one clear capacity gap | A workstream needing engineering, QA, and coordination |
| Direction | Client lead owns priorities and product decisions | Shared delivery lead manages the scoped workstream |
| Continuity | Deep context inside the client's team | Coverage across several delivery roles |
| Planning price | $6K-$6.5K per person monthly | $12K-$15K monthly starting range |
| Alternative | Use fixed scope for a stable deliverable | Use a larger team only when the work can support it |
The smallest useful model wins. One strong engineer with clear access and ownership is better than a larger team waiting for decisions.
Onboarding
From ownership gap to useful backend capacity
The first four weeks test role fit, access, contribution, and knowledge transfer.
- Before start01
Define the service boundary
Name the APIs, data domain, integration, incident load, delivery goal, and decisions the engineer will own. Record current risks and the result the first term should make visible.
- Week 102
Match the engineer and access
Review stack depth and working style, then prepare repository, environments, data, observability, and team access. The first task should reveal the system without gambling on a critical release.
- Weeks 1-403
Ship through your process
Work in the client's backlog, reviews, release path, and communication rhythm. Decisions, tests, and operating notes stay in the client's systems rather than a parallel agency workspace.
- End of term04
Review and hand over
Assess delivery, reliability, knowledge spread, and next-term need. Continue, change the ownership boundary, adjust the role, or complete handover with code and runbooks current.
Where embedded backend engagements fail
- A senior title replaces a boundary
- Experience does not create priority. Name the service and decisions the engineer owns, then review that boundary with the team.
- Access arrives in pieces
- An engineer cannot own production work without the repository, test data, environments, logs, and people needed to understand it. Prepare access before the start.
- Review becomes outsourced QA
- Code review should test design and shared standards, not discover basic missing tests. Agree the quality gate and expected evidence during onboarding.
- One person holds the system
- Pair on critical paths, keep decisions in the repository, and update runbooks. Embedded capacity should reduce knowledge risk, not move it to a contractor.
Monthly model
Plan on $6,000 to $6,500 per person each month.
Start with one backend engineer and a named service boundary, or use a lean team when QA and delivery coordination are part of the gap.
Fixed-scope backend projects are priced separately when the deliverable and acceptance boundary are stable enough to estimate.
Starting investment
$6K-$6.5K per person monthly
A lean team starts around $12,000 to $15,000 per month. The initial term is four weeks; role mix, allocation, and duration set the final rate.
Written ownership boundary
The first term states the system boundary, expected access, client decision owners, working rhythm, and review point before the engineer begins.
Handover stays in your systems
Code, tests, decisions, and runbooks remain in the client's repository and tools so another engineer can continue the work.
Related team options
Choose the role or delivery model
- 01
Dedicated teams
Compare general staff augmentation, lean delivery teams, role mix, monthly pricing, and the first four-week term.
- 02
Dedicated DevOps team
Add cloud, release, infrastructure, observability, and incident capacity around the product team.
- 03
API development
Choose a fixed-scope engagement when a defined API or integration outcome matters more than embedded capacity.
Work with us
Show us the backend work that has no owner.
Bring the service boundary, stack, backlog, and release process. We will tell you whether one engineer, a pod, or a fixed-scope project fits.
- Scope and cost agreed before work starts. No surprises. No obligation.
- Working prototype within 3 weeks of kickoff.
- Pay by milestone. You see progress before each invoice.
- 60-day post-launch warranty. Bug fixes, UI tweaks, and deployment support. No retainer.
- All conversations are NDA-protected.
Common questions
Choose a boundary that can be named and reviewed: an API surface, data domain, integration set, background-job system, or performance problem. The engineer can work across nearby code, but clear ownership prevents staff augmentation from becoming a queue of unrelated tickets with no accountable result.
The first term is planned around role fit and access readiness rather than a guaranteed instant start. Once the engineer is matched, useful onboarding still depends on repository, environment, data, review, and product access. We agree the start date and first ownership boundary in writing.
Relevant project work includes Node.js, Python, Go, PostgreSQL, Hasura, GraphQL, serverless AWS services, queues, payments, and third-party APIs. The match is based on the client's actual architecture and problem. We do not claim that one engineer is equally deep in every language or platform.
Use a fixed-scope project when the outcome and acceptance boundary are stable, such as one integration or migration. An embedded engineer fits an evolving backlog where the client already has product and technical leadership. A delivery pod fits when the work also needs regular QA and project coordination.
Use $6,000 to $6,500 per person per month for planning. A lean team with engineering plus part-time project and QA support starts around $12,000 to $15,000 monthly. Role mix, allocation, duration, and specialist depth set the final rate before the initial four-week term.