13+
Years shipping software
Consulting
Staff engineering and technical leadership, on demand.
I work with founders, VPs of Engineering, and CTOs building production AI systems, modernizing infrastructure, and establishing security posture. Engagements are hands-on, scoped around what you actually need, and run without overhead.
Available for staff / principal engineering roles, AI product leadership, and selective consulting.
100K+
Users on live AI products
$400M+
Fintech customer assets protected
40K+
Telematics devices streaming data
Engagement Types
Four ways to work together, scoped to your situation.
Advisory Retainer
Ongoing technical guidance, on call when it matters.
Weekly or bi-weekly sessions covering architecture decisions, hiring, roadmap, and whatever is on fire that week. Best for founders and VPs Eng who need a trusted technical voice without a full-time hire.
Cadence: 4–8 hours/month, month-to-month
- Making consequential architecture or vendor decisions
- Scaling the engineering team and need a hiring bar
- Need a second opinion before committing to a technical direction
Embedded Engineering
Hands-on delivery inside your team for a fixed period.
I work alongside your engineers on a specific initiative — AI product build, cloud migration, security program — with the depth of a staff+ hire and the flexibility of a contractor. Full code, full reviews, full ownership of the outcome.
Cadence: 20–40 hrs/week, typically 6–16 weeks
- Need to ship something technically complex in a compressed timeline
- Onboarding a team to a new technology or architecture pattern
- Backfilling a departing staff or principal engineer
Security Leadership
Fractional CISO and compliance execution for AI companies.
SOC 2, HIPAA, and ISO 27001 from design through certification, plus ongoing security architecture, incident response readiness, and the posture that closes enterprise deals — delivered at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire.
Cadence: 5–10 hours/month minimum
- Enterprise prospects are asking for SOC 2 before signing
- Preparing for a Series A security review
- Security program built on good intentions rather than documented controls
Technical Assessment
One-time audit of your stack, team, or architecture.
A structured evaluation of your current technical situation — architecture, codebase, infrastructure, team structure — delivered as a written report with a prioritized action plan. Useful before a major investment, acquisition, or strategic pivot.
Cadence: Fixed scope, 1–2 weeks
- Technical due diligence ahead of an M&A or fundraise
- Need a baseline before a large refactor or replatform
- Evaluating a proposed architecture before committing headcount
How it works
From first call to scoped engagement in under a week.
Intro call
30 minutes, no prep required
Tell me what you're building, what's breaking, or what decision you're sitting on. I'll tell you honestly whether and how I can help. No pitch, no slides.
Written scope
Objectives, deliverables, time commitment
If the intro call points toward an engagement, I'll send a short scope doc within 48 hours. It covers what I'll do, what I won't do, how we'll measure success, and what it costs. No ambiguity, no surprises.
Engagement
Hands-on from day one
Retainers start with a structured onboarding session and a running async doc for context and decisions. Embedded work starts with a codebase triage and a shared milestone plan. You get real availability, not calendar roulette.
Common questions
Before you book the call.
What does a typical engagement look like?
Most start with a 30-minute intro call, then a short written scope doc covering objectives, deliverables, and time commitment. Advisory retainers run month-to-month with 30 days notice to wind down. Embedded work is milestone-scoped upfront.
What's your typical rate?
Advisory retainers start at $3,500/month for 4–6 hours. Embedded engineering is scoped at a weekly rate depending on commitment and duration. Security leadership (fractional CISO) starts at $2,500/month. All engagements are scoped before we start — no surprise overages.
Are you available right now?
I maintain a small number of active engagements at a time to ensure real availability. Book the intro call — if I'm fully committed, I'll say so directly and we can plan around it.
Do you work with early-stage companies that can't yet afford a full staff engineer?
Yes. Advisory retainers are specifically designed for this. Six hours of staff-level guidance per month on architecture, hiring decisions, and technical risk is often exactly what a seed-stage team needs before they can justify a full-time hire.
What's the best way to start?
Book the 30-minute intro call. Come with the specific problem you're trying to solve — not a job description, but the actual situation: what's breaking, what you're building, what's blocking you. We'll figure out from there whether and how I can help.
Ready to talk?
Tell me what
you're building.
If you're dealing with a hard technical decision, a team scaling problem, a security review blocking enterprise deals, or a production system that needs real attention — book the call. Thirty minutes, no agenda required.
Direct: jared@sublimecoding.com
LinkedIn: @jared-smith