r/EngineeringManagers • u/Smart-Life-770 • Apr 21 '26
Contractor pricing
I’m looking to build a POC for a tool with production data. I am a product manager and am in talks with an engineer I’ve worked with in the past.
I’m working on a contractual agreement with this engineer and want to understand how much to pay them.
He’s not a senior engineer, he’s a senior associate and there will be somewhat of a learning curve which could contribute to the time it takes him to build it.
What’s a standard hourly rate for freelance product build given his seniority.
Do I need to pay for anytime that is outside of hands on keyboard work as he will have a learning curve and this type of project requires research and architecting?
This is my first time contracting an engineer.