CI/CD that survives the next release
Build, test, and deploy treated as product work, not a YAML file that only runs on the engineer’s laptop.
DevOps · CI/CD · Cloud · Release
DevOps engineers who ship pipelines, not YAML theatre
A DevOps hire is not “someone who ran docker compose.” iQud engineers own CI/CD, containers, cloud infrastructure, and release automation that survive production, not a pipeline that only works on one laptop.
- CI/CD that actually ships
- Containers and cloud as owned work
- Release automation in your tools
- First PR in about a week
DevOps delivery signals
- 5 dTypical time to first pull request
- CIPipelines that ship, not a laptop script
- CloudAWS and delivery as product work
- 2 wkSprint cadence with release review
The DevOps seats we actually staff
“DevOps” is not one job. We match on the delivery surface you need, the same stacks behind iQud’s live Cloud Services and MLOps pages.
01 02 Containers the next job can live with
Images, orchestration, and runtime owned in the repo, not a docker-compose demo nobody can restart after launch.
03 Cloud infrastructure as a product surface
AWS and the delivery path around it (networks, secrets, and environments), not a console click path that lives in one person’s head.
04 Release automation in your cadence
Rollouts, rollbacks, and the boring glue around a ship, so the next sprint does not invent a new release ritual.
05 MLOps when the model has to ship too
Pipelines, serving, and monitoring for model work treated as owned delivery, not a “we’ll productionize it later” slide.
06 When a backend or Python seat is better
A service fleet with no delivery gap, or a pipeline that is really application code, still wants a different hire. We will say so on the intro call instead of forcing a DevOps-only seat.
Tools they open on day one
Every tile is a live iQud technology or service page. The strip below is the cloud and delivery catalog these engineers already ship (AWS, Kubernetes, Docker, and the rest of the release stack), not a frontend or backend dump.
DevOps & Cloud
From intro call to a merged PR
A DevOps hire should be shipping a pipeline, an environment, or a release path in your repo, not sitting in a two-month onboarding theatre while the YAML stays a rumour.
1 Map the DevOps gap
CI vs cloud vs release vs MLOps, existing pipelines, seniority, overlap hours, and what “done in 30 days” looks like in the delivery path.
2 Shortlist real engineers
We match available DevOps specialists to your brief and share relevant CI/CD, cloud, or release-automation work.
3 You interview
Meet the human who will join standup. Validate how they talk through a failed deploy, a secret leak, and the last pipeline they actually owned past the laptop.
4 First sprint in your tools
Repo access, cloud accounts, and a first pull request, typically inside a week once you say go.
Start with one seat. Grow if the backlog says so.
Most clients embed a single DevOps engineer first. A pair or a cloud/CI split only when the work actually needs it.
One embedded engineer
A DevOps specialist joins your squad, takes direction from your lead, and works in your rituals.
Best forClosing a delivery gap without a new vendor process
Dedicated DevOps seat
A stable owner for the pipeline, the cloud path, or the release track, with senior review on the sprint.
Best forA product that needs a named delivery owner
Scoped DevOps initiative
A defined slice: a first production pipeline, a cloud cutover, or a release path with contracts already in motion.
Best forA milestone you can point at, not an open-ended YAML sandbox
DevOps hiring rates, in writing
Two ways to staff a DevOps engineer. Hourly for spikes and defined tickets. A dedicated monthly seat when you want someone in your standup every day, at a lower effective rate than running the clock.
Hire by the hour
$20/ hour
Flexible DevOps capacity for feature spikes, incidents, and scoped tickets. You only pay for hours worked.
- Same DevOps engineers as a monthly seat
- Best for overflow, a pipeline fix, or a single release
- Start fast, pause when the spike is done
- Billed against actual hours, not a retainer
Best value
Hire for a month
$2,000/ month
A named DevOps engineer on your sprint, about 160 hours of dedicated delivery capacity, with senior review in the cadence.
A full-time month at $20 is $3,200. This seat is $2,000.
- Named engineer in your repo, cloud, and standup
- CI, cloud, and release work in the same engagement
- Month-to-month. No annual lock-in.
- Lower cost than the same hours billed at $20
Rates are for dedicated DevOps engineers (CI/CD, containers, cloud infrastructure, release automation). Seniority mix and overlap hours are confirmed on the intro call. We will not quote a stack we do not already ship.
Why product teams staff DevOps here
A mediocre DevOps developer produces a pipeline that works on their laptop. These engineers produce a delivery path that survives real deploys, real incidents, and your next release.
Production work, not “who can run docker compose”
They live in failed deploys, secrets, and why last week’s rollback came from a pipeline that should have owned its own check.
Your repo, your cloud, your hours
GIFT City overlap with Europe and the US. Release reviews happen live when your leads are online.
Senior eyes on the sprint
Mid-level speed without unsupervised pipeline debt. Review is part of the engagement, not an extra SKU.
Ten clients a quarter, on purpose
We do not run a revolving bench. Capacity is limited so the engineer you interview is the one in standup.
DevOps hiring questions
Start with one. Most clients embed a single senior or mid-level DevOps engineer, then add a pair if the pipeline, cloud, or release backlog justifies it.
All four when they are product work. A CI seat owns build and deploy. A cloud seat owns environments and delivery. A containers seat owns images and runtime. An MLOps seat owns model pipelines that actually ship. We will only shortlist engineers on stacks we already ship.
That is a backend hire, or a Python hire, not this delivery seat. Say so on the intro call and we will not force a pipeline profile onto an API-only brief.
After we map the role and you approve the hire, first pull requests typically land within a week, faster when the repo, cloud accounts, and existing pipelines are ready.
Yes. GitHub, Jira, your CI, your cloud, your standups. We do not invent a parallel process unless you ask for one.
Hourly ($20) is for spikes and defined tickets. You pay only for hours worked. The monthly seat ($2,000) is a named DevOps engineer on your sprint, about 160 hours of dedicated capacity. The same month billed hourly would be $3,200. Seniority and overlap hours are confirmed on the intro call.
Give the product a DevOps engineer who can ship past the laptop
Tell us CI vs cloud vs release vs MLOps, and the first pipeline you want in production. We’ll come back with a named profile, a start window, and a two-week plan.