Engagement Models
One partner. Four ways to engage. Find your fit.
Every organization's needs are different. Here's how our engagement models compare — so you can choose the right one for your timeline, budget, and the complexity of what you're building.
IT staffing vs managed services vs managed projects — which engagement model do I need?
Use IT staffing when you need to fill specific technical roles and direct the work yourself. Use direct hire when the role is long-term and you want full-time commitment. Use managed services when you want a Zenaide-owned team to run an ongoing operational scope. Use managed projects when you have a bounded outcome (cloud migration, ML stand-up, platform build) with a deadline and want delivery accountability. Models can flex across engagements without renegotiation.
- Staffing: individual contributors, contract or contract-to-hire, you manage
- Direct hire: permanent placement with full recruiting lifecycle support
- Managed services: ongoing scope, Zenaide-managed team, monthly retainer
- Managed projects: bounded outcome, defined milestones, fixed or milestone-based pricing
- All four models flex — start narrow, scale, or convert across engagements
- Discovery conversation matches the model to your timeline and risk tolerance
Specialized IT Staffing
You need an ML engineer next week. Or a DevOps engineer and three React developers for a six-month initiative. Your team manages day-to-day — we supply the talent.
Direct Hire Placement
You're building a core engineering team and need a senior cloud architect who’ll stay for years. Internal recruiting is too slow or too thin for this search.
Managed Services
Your internal engineers should be building product, not managing infrastructure. You need a dedicated team to own DevOps operations, cloud management, or application support.
Managed Projects
You have a cloud migration due in Q3, a data platform that needs to be built by year-end, or a compliance project with a hard deadline. You need a team that owns it end-to-end.
Side-by-side comparison.
| IT Staffing | Direct Hire | Managed Services | Managed Projects | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engagement type | Contract / C2H | Permanent placement | Ongoing operational | Fixed scope / timeline |
| Who manages | Your team | Your team (post-hire) | Zenaide delivery team | Zenaide project team |
| Best for | Filling gaps fast | Building core team | Offloading operations | Specific deliverables |
| Start time | 5–10 days | 2–3 weeks | 3–4 weeks | 2–4 weeks |
| Flexibility | Scale up/down | One-time | Adjustable scope | Defined scope |
| Cost model | Time & materials | Success fee | Monthly retainer | Milestone-based |
IT Staffing
- Engagement type
- Contract / C2H
- Who manages
- Your team
- Best for
- Filling gaps fast
- Start time
- 5–10 days
- Flexibility
- Scale up/down
- Cost model
- Time & materials
Get in touch
Not sure which model fits? Let\u2019s talk.
Tell us about your situation. We'll recommend the right approach — no commitment required.