Retainer
Senior engineering on your team — without making the hire.
A forward-deployed senior engineer, embedded in your Slack, your standups, and your repo — on a monthly hours bank that flexes as priorities shift. Something ships every week.
Reserved work schedules · Month to month · Senior end-to-end
Sound familiar?
Every retainer starts as one of these problems. Here's what each one looks like once it's fixed.
“The roadmap keeps slipping — everyone's busy, nothing ships.”
A monthly hours bank pointed at your backlog. Work lands in production every week, and you see it in your standup — not in a status report.
“A senior hire takes six months and a salary you can't justify yet.”
Skip the recruiting cycle. Senior capacity from day one, at a fraction of a full-time cost — and it flexes as your priorities shift.
“Agencies route everything through an account manager and a change order.”
No middle layer. You talk to the engineer doing the work — in your Slack, your standups, your repo.
“Freelancers vanish mid-sprint when a bigger client calls.”
Reserved work schedules. Your hours are booked on the calendar, not hoped for — the same senior engineer, every week.
From intro call to first ship: days.
- Step 1
Intro call
30 minutes, no pitch deck. Bring the roadmap and the thing that keeps slipping — you leave with a straight read on fit.
- Step 2
Scope the bank
A monthly hours bank sized to your roadmap, with a flat number attached. No estimates theater, no hourly roulette.
- Step 3
Embed day one
Your Slack, your repo, your standups, your tools. First items come straight off the backlog — not from an onboarding deck.
- Step 4
Ship weekly
Production work every week, a monthly review of the bank, and re-pointing as priorities shift. Renewal is earned, not contracted.
The honest comparison.
There are four ways to get senior engineering capacity. Here's how they actually behave once the work starts.
| Comparison point | Full-time hire | Agency retainer | Freelancer | Retainer with Tall Karol |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time to start | 3–6 months of recruiting | Weeks of kickoff and onboarding | Days — if they're free | Days |
| Cost shape | Salary + benefits + equity | Retainer + markup + change orders | Hourly, unpredictable | Flat monthly hours bank |
| Who shows up | The person you hired | Whoever's on the bench | One person, when available | The same senior engineer, every week |
| Communication | Direct | Through an account manager | Async, best effort | Your Slack, your standups |
| When priorities shift | Re-plan the quarter | Change order | Renegotiate the gig | Re-point the hours bank |
| Commitment | Permanent | Quarterly or annual contracts | Project to project | Month to month |
Need a defined build with a finish line instead? How projects work →
A retainer that survived a merger
“Highly technical, incredibly quick to learn new workflows, and remarkably dynamic when it comes to evolving project requirements.”
Enterprise WordPress VIP and integration engineering, embedded through a national brand's merger — a repeat engagement that kept shipping the whole way through.
Questions, answered straight.
What does a retainer cost?
The bank is sized to your roadmap on the intro call, and you get a flat monthly number before you commit. It stays flat until you resize the bank — no hourly surprises, no change-order ambush.
What if the hours don't get used?
Unused hours signal a mis-sized bank, and I'd rather resize it than bill for air. The bank is reviewed monthly and flexes with your roadmap.
How fast can this start?
Days, not quarters. Access to Slack and the repo happens on day one, and the first production work typically lands within the first week.
Is there a minimum commitment?
Month to month. A retainer should earn its renewal every four weeks — there's no annual lock-in holding it up.
Who actually does the work?
The engineer you talk to on the intro call is the engineer in your repo. No handoffs, no account manager, no bench.
What kind of work goes in the bank?
Builds, integrations, fixes, performance passes, and the backlog items nobody else has bandwidth for. If it ships software, it fits the bank.
Start with a conversation, not a contract.
Tell me what keeps slipping. Here's exactly what happens next:
- 1.I reply within a business day.
- 2.A 30-minute call about your roadmap — no pitch deck.
- 3.You get a proposal: bank size, flat monthly number, start date.
- 4.Day one: your Slack, your repo, first items off the backlog.