For companies hiring an AI engineer right now

Here's what that hire costs before they ship anything.

We're not telling you not to hire. We're telling you what the wait costs, and what you can have running while you interview.

[ 01 ] · The real cost

Five costs that don't show up in the salary line.

01

Finding them

60 to 90 days if you're lucky. The good ones have offers. The bad ones look the same on paper.

02

Paying them

Typically $95K+, plus benefits, plus a recruiter fee if you use one.

03

Ramping them

30 days learning your systems, your rules, your people, before the first real build.

04

Betting on one person

Great at automations, weak at integrations? That's your ceiling. If they leave, everything they built leaves with them.

05

Managing them

Someone has to decide what they build first, and whether it's worth building. Usually that's you.

Add it up and the first useful system from a new hire lands about four months from the day you post the job. If it lands.

[ 02 ] · What the Pod replaces

A lead plus engineers. Starts in days. Nothing walks out the door.

The hire
The Pod
Starts in a quarter, if you find them
Starts in days. First system live in ten business days.
One person, one skill set
An AI lead who decides what's worth building, plus engineers who ship it
You manage the roadmap
The lead manages the roadmap with you
Leaves with the knowledge
You own the code, the docs, the accounts. Nothing leaves.
Severance if it doesn't work
Three months, then stop any month
Salary, benefits, recruiting
One flat monthly number, public, on the pricing page
[ 03 ] · The honest part

Sometimes the hire is right. Here's when.

You need someone in the building 40 hours a week, in meetings, on call.
AI is your product, not something that runs your business.
You already have a technical leader with time to manage them and a backlog they can own.

If that's you, hire. We'll even help you scope the role and screen for the skills that actually ship. The Pod is for companies that need production systems running now, not a department built.

[ 04 ] · Do both

Still hiring? Fine. Let us ship the first workflow from that job description while you interview.

Paste the job description into the Planner. We'll show you the three things on it we'd ship first. When your hire lands, they inherit working systems and docs instead of a blank backlog.

Prices are public. See pricing →