Live Platform, Continuous Change
Most CommonBAU change, defects and small enhancements arriving every sprint on a platform already in production.
- Ongoing
- Mixed work
Dedicated Technology Teams
A Standing Team for Work That Never Actually Finishes
Core platforms and financial crime estates generate change continuously — releases, rate cycles, tuning rounds, upgrades, regulatory tweaks. A dedicated pod holds that work, and holds the knowledge, instead of rebuilding both every time a contract ends.
You own the roadmap and the priorities. We own the team’s composition, continuity and cover.
How a Dedicated Team Works
Live demand- Best for
- A live platform with continuous change, where the same seats keep getting refilled on contract
- Who directs
- You set priorities and accept the work. The pod has its own lead handling day-to-day delivery
- Composition
- Agreed with you and adjustable as the roadmap shifts — not a fixed bundle
- Commitment
- A term long enough for the team to be worth forming, agreed up front
- Continuity
- Leavers are replaced by us, with handover inside the pod rather than back to you
Send us a JD or a rough outline —start a requirement.
Typical pod roles
- Tech lead
- Configuration
- Integration
- BA
- QA
- Release & support
What Changes
The Difference Is Continuity, Not Headcount
Four contractors and a four-person pod can cost similar money and look similar on an org chart. What differs is what happens when someone leaves, when the roadmap shifts, and when a defect needs the context of a decision made eight months ago. In a pod those are our problem. In contract staffing they are yours.
That is worth paying for only if the work is genuinely ongoing. If you have a defined piece of work with an end date, contract staffing is simpler and cheaper. If you have a scoped outcome you want delivered rather than resourced, project team staffing fits better. We will point you at those if that is what your brief actually describes.
All Staffing Models- Not Enough Steady WorkA pod needs a real backlog. Formed against optimism rather than demand, it idles and gets cut within two quarters.
- No Product Owner on Your SideSomeone has to prioritise and accept work. Without that, the pod invents its own priorities, which is nobody’s intention.
- Treated as Individual ContractorsPulling pod members onto unrelated tasks dissolves exactly the continuity you are paying for.
- Knowledge Kept Only in the PodContinuity should not become dependency. Documentation and pairing with your permanent staff belong in the working agreement.
- Fixed Composition AssumedThe right mix in month one is rarely right in month twelve. If the shape cannot flex, the model loses most of its value.
When It Fits
The Situations This Model Was Built For
If your requirement looks like one of these, a dedicated pod usually pays for itself.
The Same Seats Keep Getting Refilled
If you have re-hired the same contract roles three cycles running, a pod is cheaper and keeps the context.
- Recurring
- Cost
Cyclical Work All Year
Rate revisions, tuning cycles and release waves that are individually finite but never all quiet.
- Cycles
- Predictable
Staying Current on Cloud
Cloud release cadences make upgrades a standing commitment rather than a project every few years.
- Cadence
- Version currency
Detection That Needs Regular Review
Financial crime estates where scenarios, segmentation and thresholds need continuous attention.
- Tuning
- Governance
Thin Permanent Team
One or two internal specialists who cannot cover leave, peaks and roadmap at the same time.
- Capacity
- Cover
Institutional Memory Keeps Leaving
Undocumented configuration and departing contractors. A pod is where that knowledge can actually sit.
- Continuity
- Documentation
Post-Implementation Handover
A partner-delivered build going live and needing an owner while you decide on permanent hiring.
- Transition
- Run
The Mechanics
How the Pod Actually Operates
More of this is a working agreement than a contract. Getting it explicit in the first fortnight is what separates a pod from four contractors sitting near each other.
Composition & RampAgreed, and expected to change
- Starting roles & seniority mix
- Ramp schedule
- Adjustment cadence
- Adding or removing seats
- Specialist top-up when needed
Direction & DeliveryThe split that makes it work
- You prioritise and accept
- Pod lead runs day-to-day delivery
- Your ceremonies or ours, agreed
- Definition of done
- Escalation route
ContinuityThe reason this model exists
- We replace leavers
- Handover happens inside the pod
- Documentation as standard
- No single point of knowledge
- Holiday & absence cover
Reporting & TransparencySo you can see what you are paying for
- Sprint or cycle reporting
- Throughput & delivery view
- Named people, not anonymous capacity
- Regular service review
- Risk & blocker log
Knowledge TransferContinuity without dependency
- Pairing with your permanent staff
- Runbooks & configuration notes
- Standards written down
- Exit plan maintained from the start
Commercials & ExitSettled before the pod forms
- Pricing basis
- Minimum commitment
- Notice on both sides
- Conversion of individuals to permanent
- Wind-down & handover
Compare
See all modelsHow This Sits Against the Other Three
Dedicated Technology Teams
A standing pod we hold together across your roadmap.
You are hereHow It Runs
From Brief to a Team That Holds
Four steps, and the pod is expected to change shape after step four.
- 1
Backlog and Shape
We look at the actual work in front of you and propose a composition — including telling you if a pod is oversized for it.
- 2
Core First, Then Ramp
The lead and first specialists start, establish standards and working rhythm, then the rest join.
- 3
Steady Delivery
You prioritise, the pod delivers, and reporting shows throughput against what you asked for.
- 4
Review and Reshape
Regular service reviews adjust the mix as the roadmap moves. Standing still is the failure mode here.
Pod Shapes
How Dedicated Teams Are Usually Composed
Starting points rather than fixed packages — each one gets sized against your backlog.
Core Platform Run Pod
Live insurance platform · BAU change
- Tech lead holding configuration standards
- Two or three configuration developers across modules in use
- Integration cover for interface incidents
- QA maintaining the regression suite
- BA triaging incoming change
Financial Crime Detection Pod
Live AML or fraud estate · tuning-led
- Lead with model governance experience
- Detection or configuration specialists
- Tuning analyst on a standing cycle
- Data engineer on feeds and completeness
- Validation and QA support
Version Currency Pod
Cloud cadence · upgrade-led
- Upgrade engineer carrying each wave
- Configuration engineer for retrofit and remediation
- DevOps and environment cover
- Automated regression maintained between waves
- Sized to the release calendar, not to a project
Pod compositions are illustrative starting points, not fixed packages. Actual shape, rates and availability are agreed against a specific requirement.
Before You Send a Brief
Questions We Get Asked
How is this different from just hiring four contractors?
Continuity and ownership. If a contractor leaves, replacing them and rebuilding their context is your problem; in a pod it is ours, and handover happens internally. The pod also has its own lead running delivery. If you do not need either of those, contract staffing is simpler and usually cheaper.
Do we still control what gets worked on?
Yes. You prioritise and accept the work; the pod lead handles how it gets delivered. What a pod does not do is set its own priorities, which is why we ask who your product owner is during intake.
Can the team change size?
It should. The right mix in month one is rarely right in month twelve, so the composition gets reviewed regularly and adjusted with agreed notice. A pod that cannot flex loses most of its advantage.
How do we avoid becoming dependent on your team?
By making that a working agreement rather than a hope. Documentation, runbooks, written standards, pairing with your permanent staff and a maintained exit plan are how we run these engagements. If knowledge only lives in the pod, we have built the wrong thing.
Can individuals convert to permanent?
Yes, and it is a normal outcome. The basis is agreed at the start so the conversation later is about the person rather than the terms.
What do you need from us to start?
Less a JD than a picture of the work: the platform and modules, the shape of the backlog, who prioritises, what your permanent team already covers, and the horizon you are planning against.
Request Talent
Tell Us What the Backlog Looks Like
Send an outline of the work rather than a job spec. We come back with a pod shape, what the market looks like for those roles, and where we think it should start smaller.
Send Your Requirement
Two minutes now, a pod shape conversation next.