Devknots places dedicated, pre-vetted AI and tech specialists into your team — certified, production-ready, and delivering within 15 days. From $11.25/hr.
Specialist-only. No generalists. No shared resources. The right engineer, 100% focused on your team.
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Specialist-only model
We work exclusively in AI, cybersecurity, data, and cloud. This means deeper screening, richer networks, and candidates who are actually qualified — not just available.
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One specialist, one client
Every engineer we place works 100% for you. No juggling five clients. No divided attention. They attend your standups, know your codebase, grow with your team.
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15-day delivery
Standard hiring takes 6–12 weeks. We shortlist in 10 days and have your specialist onboarded and delivering within 15. Your roadmap doesn't wait.
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Pre-vetted, not just applied
Every specialist is technically assessed before you see their name. You interview 2–3 finalists — not 50 resumes. The shortlist is tested against your exact stack.
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30-day guarantee
If your specialist doesn't meet expectations in 30 days, we replace them at no cost. No friction, no argument. We carry the risk so you don't have to.
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Transparent pricing
Hourly rate on a monthly retainer. No placement fee. No hidden charges. First month upfront activates your search — that's the only payment before your specialist starts.
What We Place
FOUR CATEGORIES. ALL IN DEMAND.
Roles that will remain in a global talent shortage through 2035 and beyond.
01 —
AI / ML ENGINEER
Production ML models, LLMs, GenAI pipelines, agentic systems. Engineers who've shipped — not just studied.
PyTorchHuggingFaceLangChainOpenAIMLflowRAG
Standard
$15.60/hr · $2,500/mo
Senior
$25.00/hr · $4,000/mo
02 —
CYBERSECURITY SPECIALIST
Pen testing, cloud security, SOC2/ISO27001/HIPAA compliance, SIEM — 100% dedicated to your environment.
CISSPCEHOSCPSplunkWizZero-Trust
Standard
$13.75/hr · $2,200/mo
Senior
$23.75/hr · $3,800/mo
03 —
DATA ENGINEER / SCIENTIST
ETL pipelines, BI dashboards, predictive models. The foundation every AI initiative depends on.
dbtAirflowSnowflakeBigQueryTableauSpark
Standard
$12.50/hr · $2,000/mo
Senior
$21.87/hr · $3,500/mo
04 —
CLOUD / DEVOPS / MLOPS
AWS, GCP, Azure architecture, CI/CD, Kubernetes. Most clients see 20–35% cloud cost reduction within 60 days.
TerraformKubernetesDockerArgoCDDatadogFinOps
Standard
$11.25/hr · $1,800/mo
Senior
$20.00/hr · $3,200/mo
Client Stories
WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY.
★★★★★
"
We needed an ML engineer with production LLM experience. Devknots sent three shortlisted profiles in 4 days. Our specialist was onboarded and shipping code by day 12. Incredible process.
JR
James R.
CTO · Fintech · San Francisco
★★★★★
"
SOC2 audit in 8 weeks, no security engineer. Devknots placed a CISSP-certified specialist in 6 days. We passed the audit with zero critical findings.
SM
Sarah M.
VP Engineering · SaaS · London
★★★★★
"
Our cloud bills were out of control. The DevOps engineer Devknots placed reduced our AWS spend by 31% in 45 days. Paid for himself 4× in month one.
AK
Ahmed K.
Head of Engineering · Dubai
Ready to start?
YOUR SPECIALIST IS 15 DAYS AWAY.
Book a free 20-minute discovery call. We scope your role, match 2–3 vetted specialists, and deliver a shortlist before you commit to anything.
Services & Pricing
FOUR CATEGORIES. TWO TIERS.
Hourly rates on a monthly retainer. No placement fee. No surcharge. First month upfront activates your search.
01 —
AI / ML ENGINEER
Production ML models, LLMs, GenAI pipelines, agentic systems. Engineers who've actually shipped to production.
US fully loaded: $9,600–$16,700/mo · You save up to $13,500/mo
A mid-senior AI engineer in the US costs $110–$180/hr as a contractor — or $18,750/mo fully loaded as an employee. Our Senior AI specialist: $25/hr · $4,000/mo. Same output, a fraction of the cost.
$177K
saved per year, per hire
Rate comparison
STANDARD VS SENIOR
The tier gap is $1,500–$2,000/mo — justified by experience, seniority, and the decisions they can own independently.
Standard Tier
ENTRY-LEVEL EQUIV.
0–3 years · Certified · Production-ready
AI / ML Engineer
LLMs, MLOps, GenAI
$15.60/hr
$2,500/mo
Cybersecurity
Pen test, compliance
$13.75/hr
$2,200/mo
Data Engineer
Pipelines, BI, models
$12.50/hr
$2,000/mo
Cloud / DevOps
AWS, K8s, CI/CD
$11.25/hr
$1,800/mo
US entry-level equivalent costs $7,900–$11,700/mo fully loaded. Your cost: up to 80% less.
Most Popular
Senior Tier
MID-SENIOR EQUIV.
4–7 years · Led teams · Architectural decisions
AI / ML Engineer
LLM fine-tuning, arch lead
$25.00/hr
$4,000/mo
Cybersecurity
CISSP/OSCP, zero-trust
$23.75/hr
$3,800/mo
Data Engineer
Snowflake arch, strategy
$21.87/hr
$3,500/mo
Cloud / DevOps
Multi-cloud, MLOps
$20.00/hr
$3,200/mo
US mid-senior costs $15,000–$18,750/mo. You save $11,000–$14,750 every single month.
Our Process
9 STEPS · 15 DAYS MAX.
From your first message to your specialist's first commit — every step mapped, no ambiguity.
1
Day 1
Discovery Call
We learn your goals, stack, working hours, and team culture. A specialist brief is written and shared for your approval.
2
Day 2
Profile Agreed
Skills, seniority, certifications, timezone, and fit confirmed together. Nothing moves without your sign-off.
3
Day 2–3
Proposal Sent
Transparent monthly retainer — no hidden fees, no placement surcharge. You see the full cost before committing.
4
⚡ Activates Search
Payment Received
First month upfront confirms your engagement. Your dedicated recruiter is assigned the same day. Mutual commitment, both ways.
5
Days 3–10
Talent Hunt
We source and screen from our pre-vetted network. Every finalist is technically assessed against your stack.
6
Day 10
Shortlist Delivered
2–3 finalist profiles with test results, video intros, and experience summaries. You interview to choose, not to filter.
7
Day 11–12
Intro Meeting
You meet your shortlisted specialists. Most clients decide in one or two conversations. Not the right fit? We keep searching at no extra cost.
8
Day 12–14
Channel Set Up
NDA signed, contracts finalised, equipment checked, access provisioned. Slack or Teams — ready before day 15.
9
🚀 You're live
Time to Show Skill
Day 15 — Your specialist is in your systems, attending standups, and delivering. 30-day check-in included. Full replacement guarantee if anything isn't right.
FIND YOUR SPECIALIST.
Book a free 20-minute call. No commitment needed.
About Devknots
WE BUILT THIS TO CLOSE THE GAP.
The global AI talent shortage isn't going away. Companies need production-ready engineers — but the hiring process is broken. It's slow, expensive, and built for a world where talent was local.
Devknots was built on a single idea: the best technical talent shouldn't be locked behind a $200,000 salary requirement and a 12-week hiring cycle. We connect world-class remote specialists with teams that need them — fast, transparently, and with a guarantee.
Every specialist we place is 100% dedicated to one client. They attend your standups. They know your codebase. They show up like a team member — because they are one.
📍 US · UK · UAE
✉️ hello@devknots.com
📅 Est. 2024
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Specialist-only focus
We only work in AI, cybersecurity, data, and cloud. This focus means genuinely deep screening — not generic keyword matching.
🌍
Global talent, real quality
We source from the top 5% of talent across South Asia — engineers who match the output of US or UK hires at a fraction of the cost.
🤝
Long-term partnerships
94% of our specialists are still with their first client after 12 months. We don't fill seats — we build team relationships that last.
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Speed without shortcuts
15 days is fast. But it's fast because the process is well-designed — not because we skip the screening that actually matters.
Our Values
WHAT WE STAND FOR.
01
Precision over volume
We never flood your inbox. Two or three genuinely qualified candidates beats fifty mediocre ones every time.
02
Transparency first
No hidden fees. No vague pricing. What we quote is what you pay — and it's always in writing before we start.
03
Long-term thinking
Our success metric isn't placements made — it's clients who are still with their specialist 12 months later.
04
Specialist integrity
We only place people in roles that match their real skill level. We'd rather say "not the right fit" than make a bad match.
05
Accountability with teeth
Our 30-day replacement guarantee isn't fine print. We fix what isn't working at our cost, not yours.
06
Elite means earned
Every specialist on our bench has been technically assessed. "Elite minds" isn't a tagline — it's a standard we enforce.
LET'S BUILD YOUR TEAM.
Book a free discovery call. We'll scope your role and have a shortlist ready within the week.
Client Stories
WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY.
Real feedback from engineering leaders across the US, UK, and UAE.
★★★★★
"
We needed an ML engineer with production LLM experience. Devknots sent three shortlisted profiles in 4 days. Our specialist was shipping code by day 12.
JR
James R.
CTO · Fintech · San Francisco
★★★★★
"
SOC2 audit in 8 weeks, no security engineer. Devknots placed a CISSP-certified specialist in 6 days. Zero critical findings in the audit.
SM
Sarah M.
VP Engineering · SaaS · London
★★★★★
"
Cloud bills out of control. The DevOps engineer Devknots placed reduced our AWS spend by 31% in 45 days. 4× ROI in month one.
AK
Ahmed K.
Head of Engineering · Dubai
★★★★★
"
Skeptical after bad experiences with freelancers. The difference with Devknots is the vetting. Our data engineer hit the ground running. Zero handholding needed.
LP
Lisa P.
CEO · Health-tech · New York
★★★★★
"
Three specialists placed over 18 months — AI engineer, data engineer, cloud architect. All three still with us. Retention alone saves us a fortune.
RN
Rohan N.
CTO · Series B SaaS · Austin
★★★★★
"
The 30-day guarantee is real. First match wasn't right. Devknots replaced them in 10 days, no friction. That's how you build trust.
TC
Tom C.
Engineering Director · Media Tech · London
★★★★★
"
Finding a security engineer with GCC compliance experience in the UAE was impossible locally. Devknots matched us with someone in 8 days who'd done it before.
NA
Nadia A.
CISO · Financial Services · Abu Dhabi
★★★★★
"
We interviewed one candidate. Hired them. They've been our senior ML engineer for 14 months. The pre-vetting meant we didn't waste anyone's time.
GW
Greg W.
VP Product · AI Startup · Seattle
★★★★★
"
Devknots sent test results, video intros, and a stack-specific assessment. Other agencies sent LinkedIn profiles. No competition.
KL
Karen L.
Head of Data · Retail Tech · Chicago
50+
Clients served
94%
12-mo retention
4.9★
Average rating
15
Days to hire
JOIN 50+ TEAMS WHO HIRED SMARTER.
Book a free 20-minute call and let's find your specialist.
Book a Discovery Call
START YOUR SEARCH IN 20 MINUTES.
Tell us what you need. We'll scope your role, match you to the right tier, and share 2–3 vetted profiles — before you commit to anything.
What happens next
1
Submit this form
Tell us the role, your stack, and your timeline. Takes 3 minutes.
2
We confirm your call within 2 hours
Our team reviews your brief and confirms a 20-minute discovery call — same day or next business day.
3
Discovery call — 20 minutes
We align on the specialist brief, agree on tier, confirm timeline. No commitment at this stage.
4
Shortlist in 10 days
After the call, first-month retainer activates your search. Shortlist of 2–3 tested specialists delivered within 10 days.
5
Specialist live on day 15
After you approve the match, your specialist is onboarded and delivering within 15 days total.