A structured engagement framework refined across 12+ active engagements and a decade of embedded delivery. Scope, Match, Embed, Retain. This is how we work, in detail.
Most providers will quote you after a one-line role description. We won't open a search until we can describe the role back to you in a paragraph. Title, stack, team context, time-zone overlap, what success looks like at 90 days. If we can't describe it precisely, we can't match for it.
"We won't run a search we can't describe. The hour we spend scoping is the reason the 7 to 10 day match works."
From an applicant pool with a 2% acceptance rate, we shortlist 2 to 3 engineers per role. We match for context fit (your domain, your stack, your culture), not just resume keywords. You meet them. You decide. We never push.
"For every 100 engineers who apply to Density, two make it through. We staff from the top of that pyramid, not the middle."
The pool isn't filtration alone. The engineers matched to clients come from two sources: senior hires from the 2% acceptance pool, and residents we trained inside Density and placed on three-year structured paths inside client codebases. See: Start senior. Scale through a residency we own →
Most providers consider the deal closed when the engineer logs into Slack. We consider it just starting. The first 90 days are the highest risk window of any engagement, so we built a structured framework around them. The result: zero forced replacements across every placement since 2019.
Codebase walkthrough. Team introductions. Expectations doc signed by both sides. Access to our internal AI playbook from day one.
First production commits. Weekly 1:1 with a Density tech lead, separate from the client's standups. Written check ins to surface friction early.
Engineer takes ownership of a feature or surface. Becomes a peer in design discussions. The shape of the engagement past day 90.
Every engineer we place gets access to our internal playbook covering RAG architectures, agent patterns, MLOps best practices, evals, and the production patterns we've seen work and fail across 12+ engagements. This is institutional knowledge that compounds. Most staff aug providers keep this kind of context internal. We share it with the engineers we place because the alternative is they reinvent the wheel on your time.
Once a week during the first 90 days, a Density tech lead has a 30 minute private conversation with the engineer. Separate from your team's standups. The goal is to surface friction your team doesn't see and resolve it before it becomes attrition. Most issues that look like "the engineer wasn't a fit" are actually issues your team didn't have visibility into. We do.
Most providers treat placement as the deal closing. We treat it as the deal starting. The first 90 days are when bad placements show up, and most providers are not paying attention. We are. It is how the zero-forced-replacement record stays clean.
Convinced? Book a scoping call →
96% client retention over a decade. Engineers who stay for years, not months. For senior placements, retention is multi-year tenure on the same codebase, Ooma in year 4, telecom since 2016. For residents on the Density Residency, retention is a structured three-year path through trainee, junior, and mid, accountable to us, evaluated at milestone gates by your manager. Same operating system. Two trajectories. See the residency in detail →
"Most staff aug providers brag about how fast they replace. We brag about how rarely we have to."
30 to 45 minute call. We scope the role together. No charge, no obligation.
Book a scoping callSearch opens after sign off, not before.