Dedicated elite Data Engineers who hit the ground running

Most clients receive their vetted shortlist within 2-3 days of briefing us. From first conversation to developer onboarded: 10 days on average.

One call, that’s all. You tell us your stack, your team, and what you need. We handle everything from there – sourcing, vetting, shortlisting. You meet the candidates, choose the ones you like, and we take care of onboarding, HR, payroll, performance, AI training and everything else.

None. Meet candidates at zero cost and zero obligation. You only pay once you decide to hire.

A brief on the role – the tech stack, seniority level, and a sense of how your team works. A 30-minute call and a job spec are all we need to get going.

Superior vetting and elite quality. Every Engineer on the shortlist we send you is AI-enabled and has passed a 4-stage vetting process – technical assessments, logic testing, communication screening and background verification. Also, our Engineers work 45 hours per week, not 40. This isn’t a searchable database. It’s a curated shortlist built specifically for your brief.

We process ~100k applications every month. Fewer than 1 in 100 make it through our full vetting process. By the time you see a profile, they’ve already cleared 4 rounds of assessments, ready to go. The shortlist you receive has been filtered so you don’t have to.

We specialise in senior and lead-level engineers typically 6+ years of experience. If you need a mid-level engineer for a specific role, let us know and we’ll advise on fit.

120+ skills and technologies, including Software, Full Stack, Product, Mobile, AI/ML, Cloud, DevOps, Data, QA, Front-End and Back-End Engineering, and more. If you have a niche requirement, just tell us – we’ve got over 1 million Engineers in our network.

Yes. All Engineers placed through Smart Working receive continuous in-house AI training. They’re not just familiar with AI tools, they’re actively trained to use them in their day-to-day work to improve productivity and solve complex problems. This is standard, not optional.

Yes. We present you with a shortlist of elite candidates at no cost. You review profiles, conduct interviews, and assess fit before any hiring decision is made. No obligations at all.

Engineers start from £25/hour, all-in. That covers salary, NI, pension, compliance, HR admin and ongoing support and AI training. No recruitment fee, no hidden costs, no surprises. You only get a simple invoice each month.

No. Unlike traditional agencies that charge 15-30% of annual salary as a placement fee, we charge nothing upfront. You only pay the hourly rate once your Engineer starts.

Hiring in-house in the UK costs roughly £38/hour equivalent – before recruitment fees, employer NI and pension contributions. Let alone the months it typically takes to find someone good. Traditional agencies add a 15-30% placement fee on top of salary. Smart Working is all-in at £25/hour, with a 10-day time to hire. Most clients save between 30% and 50% compared to local hiring.

Everything. Salary, employer contributions, local taxes and charges, compliance, payroll management, HR admin, performance management, our ongoing support and AI training. What you see is what you pay.

None. Our hourly rate is all-inclusive. No additional charges whatsoever. We built the pricing this way deliberately so you can plan your budget with confidence.

4 stages. First, a technical assessment tailored to the role – coding ability, architecture thinking, and stack-specific knowledge. Second, logic and problem-solving tests. Third, communication and English proficiency screening. Fourth, in-person interviews and background verification. Only Engineers who ace all 4 stages make it to the shortlist. 99% don’t.

Our NPS is 75 – which puts us in the top tier for B2B services globally. It reflects the fact that our clients actually recommend us, consistently. That doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of consistently building and iterating to maintain elite quality.

Our rigorous vetting process ensures the perfect fit. Our account team stays involved throughout the engagement. If something isn’t working, we address it early and fix it. In the rare case a replacement is needed, we move quickly and do it for free. Our 26-month Engineer tenure and low churn reflect how rarely this happens, but the support is there if it does.

Your Engineers work your hours, join your standups and meetings, use your tools, and operate as a fully embedded team member – not a distant contractor delivering tasks in a silo. From day one, they’re part of your team.

Smart Working Engineers working your hours is part of the brief. If you need full overlap with UK or EU business hours, that’s what we match for. Time zone alignment is never an afterthought.

You do – just like any other team member. Smart Working handles compliance, payroll, HR admin, performance and AI training in the background. You manage the work. We manage everything else.

That’s straightforward. Many of our clients start with 2 to 4 Engineers and grow their Smart Working teams over time to 15+. Just brief us on the new role and the process restarts – usually a lot faster the second time because we already know how your team works.

We don’t disappear after hire. In fact, we make money only when our Engineers continue in your teams. Therefore, it is in our best interest to continue offering you the best possible service. You get a dedicated Account Manager and a proactive Customer Success Team that checks in regularly with both you and your Engineer, addresses any friction and actively supports the relationship throughout the engagement. This is why our average engineer tenure is 26 months – nearly double the industry average.

It means we handle everything talent related so you can focus on growing your business. We are Tech Talent as a Service – we handle the entire talent lifecycle – from before they join your team to when they leave. You focus on the work. We handle the infrastructure around the person.

Yes. All Smart Working Engineers receive regular in-house AI training as standard. As AI tooling evolves, so does their capability. You’re not hiring someone who’ll be outdated in 18 months.

We manage it entirely. Employment contracts, local tax and NI obligations, pension contributions, data protection compliance and background verification are all handled by Smart Working. You’re not taking on employment risk or administrative overhead.

Yes. We’re ISO 27001 certified, meaning your data and your Engineers’ data are managed to internationally recognised security standards.

All Engineers sign comprehensive NDAs and IP assignment agreements as part of onboarding. Any work produced for your business belongs to your business. We’re happy to share our standard contract terms on request.

Because we employ the Engineers directly and manage all payroll and HR, IR35 does not apply to you as the client. There’s no ambiguity, no risk, no contractor compliance headache on your end.