Forward deployed engineers, placed monthly
Hire forward deployed engineers who work out what to build, then ship it.
epicX places engineers with startups and scale-ups at a monthly rate. They talk to your users, find what’s really in the way, and get the fix into production with little direction.
A founder takes every first call.
- Rate
- From $5K a month
- Profiles
- In about a week
- Trial
- 2 weeks. Leave and pay nothing.
Engineers placed with
When to hire one
You probably need one if either of these sounds familiar.
Customer go‑lives keep stalling.
You’ve signed the deal, but the product isn’t live at the customer. Their data is messier than your demo, their setup is different, and your team is pulled off the roadmap to help.
A signed enterprise deal stuck in onboarding, or an AI product that works in a demo but fails on a customer’s real data, are both this problem.
Nobody is close enough to your users.
Your engineers build what’s specified, but nobody has the time to sit with users and work out what should be specified in the first place.
That includes founders without a technical lead, who know the problem and need someone who can take it from a user conversation to production.
How they work
An example first week.
From the first standup to a fix in production, then on to the next problem.
- MonJoins your standup and channels. Reads a month of support tickets and sits in on a customer call.
- TueSpots the pattern: new customers keep stalling at the same import step.
- WedWalks you through two ways to fix it. You pick one.
- ThuShips the fix to production and watches it run with the customer’s team.
- FriJoins the next customer’s import, then starts on the next problem.
FDE or staff augmentation
An FDE isn’t just another contractor.
A placement looks a lot like staff augmentation on paper: you pay monthly and you direct the engineer. The difference is who you get and what you hire them to do.
| Forward deployed engineer | Staff augmentation | |
|---|---|---|
| What you hire them for | To find what’s blocking your users, then fix it | To add capacity to work you’ve already planned |
| Who works out what to build | The engineer, with you | You, or your product team |
| Who they talk to | Your users, customers and leadership | Mostly your engineers |
| How you judge them | By what reaches your users | By tickets and sprint output |
| How you pay | A monthly rate | Usually a monthly or hourly rate |
| Who directs them and owns the result | You do | You do |
When an FDE isn’t the right fit
- You have a clear backlog and only need more capacity to get through it.
- You want someone else to take on delivery and own the result. epicX doesn’t sell projects.
- Nobody on your side can set priorities or make product decisions.
Customers
“We were working with a fragile and expensive platform. The dedicated developers from epicX came in, understood the root issues quickly, and rebuilt the system in a way that just worked. Costs dropped, performance improved, and the product became something we could finally scale.”
- AWS cost cut
- 70%
- users on the platform
- 35,000
- engineers placed
- 3
Who we place
The bar every engineer has to clear.
Plenty of good engineers don’t meet it, and they’re not what we place. You’ll see the evidence in each profile we share.
The placement
How a placement works.
You hire the engineer from epicX, from $5K a month. Some people call this forward deployed engineer services, or FDE as a service. It isn’t a project: you direct the engineer and own the result.
- You talk to a founder.A founder takes every first call, to understand what’s stuck.
- You see profiles in about a week.Each one shows who they’ve worked with and what they shipped.
- You interview and choose.Run your own interview or a test task. You decide who joins.
- You start with a 2-week trial.If you leave during the trial, you pay nothing.
- The placement carries on at a monthly rate.If the engineer stops being the right fit, we replace them.
At least 4 hours of your day, every day.
For example, your 9am to 1pm. This is when that falls for an engineer in each country.
| Your team | Your day, midnight to midnight | Pakistan | South Africa |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | 2pm–6pmPakistan | 11am–3pmSouth Africa | |
| Berlin | 1pm–5pmPakistan | 10am–2pmSouth Africa | |
| New York | 7pm–11pmPakistan | 4pm–8pmSouth Africa | |
| San Francisco | 10pm–2amPakistan | 7pm–11pmSouth Africa |
Times are for January, outside daylight saving.
Your hours
At least 4 hours of overlap every day, wherever your team is, including the US West Coast.
Their location
Engineers are in Pakistan and South Africa, and work remotely by default. Short on-site visits are possible if you sponsor them.
The paperwork
epicX handles the engineer’s contract, salary payments, and local tax and employment rules in their country.
Your first call
You’ll talk to someone who has done the work.
I’m Hassan Azhar Khan, and I founded epicX in 2023 after eight years as a software engineer. I built health and life insurance systems at TPL Corp, which the insurer still runs, and I was a principal engineer on the platform team for Hobsons and PowerSchool.
I’ve also worked on Rosa, Vori Health and Counterweight’s patient portal, so I know what it takes to ship close to users. More about me and epicX
Questions
What buyers ask first.
What does a forward deployed engineer cost?
From $5K a month. The rate depends on the engineer, and we tell you each engineer’s rate when we share their profile. There are no separate recruitment or placement fees.
Who owns the IP?
You do. Your contract assigns the work the engineer produces to your company.
What is the notice period?
We agree it with you in the contract before the placement starts, so you know it before you commit.
What if the engineer isn’t a fit?
Tell us and we replace them. Replacing an engineer is part of what epicX is responsible for, along with the vetting and the match.
Where are the engineers?
In Pakistan and South Africa. They work remotely by default. Short on-site visits are possible if you want one and sponsor the trip.
How much of my working day will they overlap?
At least 4 hours a day, wherever your team is, including the US West Coast.
I’m a non-technical founder. Can this work for me?
Yes, if you can talk to your users and make product decisions. You set the priorities and judge what reaches your users, and the engineer makes the technical calls. epicX doesn’t review the engineer’s work, so if you want someone else to own delivery or check the code, a placement isn’t the right fit.
See all questions. New to the role? Start with what a forward deployed engineer is.