Hire dedicated developers, matched in days.
Qilin Lab places senior engineers full-time on one client's product as dedicated developers, from Bengaluru, India, on a month-to-month contract from $1,500 per developer per month with $0 upfront. A matched shortlist takes about 48 hours and a developer joins in roughly a week. The first 3 days are a trial: if it is not working you stop and you do not pay. This is a service for companies, not a job board.
We'll send a shortlist and pricing in about 48 hours.
What you get when you hire dedicated developers from Qilin Lab.
A dedicated developer is a software engineer who works full-time on one client's product for as long as the client needs, while staying on the supplier's payroll. The same model is called IT staff augmentation, remote contract developers or an offshore development team. You set the priorities and run the work. The supplier finds, vets and pays the engineer.
Qilin Lab supplies dedicated developers on a remote, month-to-month contract. The engineers work from Bengaluru, India, and are matched to overlap with your working hours. The company behind the contract is Qilin Software Lab Private Limited, incorporated in India in 2019, with 35+ engineers and 100+ businesses served across all of its services. Its CEO is Aditya Agarwal (about the company).
A dedicated developer from Qilin Lab starts at $1,500 per developer per month for a senior full-stack engineer, $1,600 for mobile and $1,800 for AI/ML. Nothing is due upfront. The first 3 days are a trial: if it is not working, you stop and you do not pay. A matched shortlist takes about 48 hours, and a developer is in your team roughly a week after your brief.
Who it is for
- Companies in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, the UAE and India that want contract developers for a project or a set period.
- A team that has the roadmap and the technical direction, and not enough engineers to ship it.
Who it is not for
- Developers looking for work. This is not a job board. Openings at Qilin Lab are on the careers page.
- Companies recruiting a permanent employee. Qilin Lab is not a recruiter and does not place people on your payroll.
- Anyone who wants a few freelance hours. The unit here is one full-time developer, by the month.
From brief to shipping, in about a week.
No sales maze. Tell us what you need and we do the matching — you only meet developers who already passed our bar.
Tell us what you need
Share your stack, the work, and how many developers. Two minutes is enough.
Get a shortlist
We match vetted developers to your brief and send a shortlist to review.
~48 hoursInterview & pick
Meet the shortlist, ask anything, and choose the engineer who fits.
Start risk-free
Begin with a 3-day trial. Keep them only if you're happy.
pay only if you continueSenior, vetted, and ready to ship.
Every developer clears a multi-stage review of real engineering skill and clear English before they reach you.
Representative of the engineers we match — real profiles are shared on your shortlist.
Find the engineer for your stack.
Each stack page covers what that engineer works in, the projects our team has shipped with it, and what to ask on the interview. Two more pages cover hiring dedicated developers in India and IT staff augmentation as a model.
Senior engineers who also happen to be good with AI.
AI has made it easy for almost anyone to look like a developer. Everyone we place was already a senior engineer before that wave — and they treat AI the way a craftsman treats a power tool: it speeds up the routine work, it never makes the decisions.
Most applicants don't make it past the technical stage.
The honest comparison.
How hiring through Qilin stacks up against the other ways teams get developers.
| Qilin Lab | Freelance sites | In-house hire | Big agencies | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vetted for skill + English | ✓ multi-stage | ✗ self-listed | ✓ but slow | ✓ |
| Time to first developer | ~1 week | days, risky | 2–3 months | several weeks |
| Risk-free trial | ✓ 3-day | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ rare |
| Senior engineers, AI-fluent | ✓ | varies | varies | ✗ rare |
| Works in your time zone | ✓ | varies | ✓ | sometimes |
| Commitment | month-to-month | per project | full-time salary | long contracts |
| Starting cost | from $1,500/mo | low, variable | US salary + overhead | $$$ |
How much does it cost to hire a dedicated developer?
One dedicated developer from Qilin Lab costs from $1,500 a month for a senior full-stack engineer. Mobile engineers start at $1,600 and AI/ML engineers at $1,800. That is one person full-time on your product, billed by the month, with nothing due upfront.
“From” means what it says. The final rate depends on seniority and stack, and is confirmed on your shortlist. It buys the engineer; your own tooling, cloud and licences stay yours. Currency and tax treatment are agreed in the engagement contract.
For scale, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics put the median annual wage of a US software developer at $135,980 in May 2025, about $11,330 a month. That is pay only: an employer also carries payroll taxes, benefits, recruitment and equipment, and the figure covers developers at every level, not only seniors.
The page on hiring dedicated developers in India sets the same rate against official pay figures for the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, each with its source and the date it was read.
One monthly rate per developer.
Predictable, no upfront cost, and a fraction of hiring the same seniority locally. Final rate depends on seniority and stack — we confirm it on your shortlist.
Full-time, dedicated to your team, in your time zone.
- ✓ One senior, vetted engineer, full-time on your work
- ✓ Matched to your stack and time zone
- ✓ 3-day risk-free trial — pay only if you keep them
- ✓ Replacement guarantee if the fit isn't right
- ✓ Month-to-month — scale up or down anytime
Building a team?
Need several developers, or a lead plus a squad? We'll assemble a team and a blended rate that fits the roadmap.
- ✓ Multiple developers, coordinated as one team
- ✓ Optional tech lead to run delivery
- ✓ Volume pricing across the team
- ✓ One point of contact at Qilin
Teams that trust Qilin's engineers.
"The Qilin developer felt like part of our team from week one. They owned the work the way we own our product, not like a contractor waiting on tickets."
Jaskaran KamboCEO, Spend The Bits"They put a senior full-stack engineer on our real-time portfolio app who was shipping from day one. It felt like hiring in-house, without the months of hiring."
Henry AnnHead of Americas, Allindex AG"The developer we brought on through Qilin was beyond our expectations. Genuinely senior, a clear communicator, and everything they shipped was high quality."
Abhishek KariwalCEO, ThinkFirst EducationHiring one contract developer, or a team with a tech lead.
Two models, both month to month. Pick by how much direction you can give, not by headcount.
One dedicated developer
One senior engineer joins your team and takes work from your backlog. You run the day to day. This suits a team that already has technical leadership. Five stacks have a page of their own: hire React developers, hire Node.js developers, hire full-stack developers, hire Next.js developers and hire AI developers.
A team, with an optional tech lead
Several developers work as one team. You can add a tech lead from Qilin Lab to run delivery, which matters when nobody on your side has the time. The team is priced at a blended rate, and you deal with one person at Qilin Lab. There is no list price, because it depends on the roles. For scale, six senior engineers have built and run AllIndex's institutional backtesting platform for two years and counting. That engagement is a platform engineering partnership rather than a set of placements, but the team is the same size and seniority.
When a dedicated developer is the wrong buy
Two cases where we would talk you out of it. A few days of work is a freelancer's job, because the unit we sell is one full-time developer by the month. A fixed scope you want a single price for is software development, not this. The IT staff augmentation page covers the rest: no technical direction on your side, core knowledge that belongs on your own payroll, and work that has to happen on your premises.
What you sign, and who owns the code.
You sign one contract, with a company. You do not contract with an individual developer, and you do not employ anyone.
- The party and the forum. Qilin Software Lab Private Limited, which trades as Qilin Lab, an Indian company with CIN U72900DL2019PTC357074 and its operating office in Hennur, Bengaluru. Under the published terms, Indian law governs, and disputes go to arbitration administered by the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration (MCIA), seated in Bangalore, in English.
- The developers. They are engaged and paid by Qilin Lab, never by you. You direct their work; the employment relationship stays with Qilin Lab.
- Intellectual property. Under the same terms, once all fees are paid Qilin Lab assigns to you the IP in the bespoke work you commissioned. Until then the work product stays with Qilin Lab. Qilin Lab keeps its own pre-existing tools and libraries, and licenses to you any that are built into your deliverables.
- Everything else. Notice, confidentiality, working hours and payment terms are set out in the engagement contract. Where it differs from the website terms, the signed contract wins.
The contract is the same wherever you are. Companies in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, the UAE and India all sign with the same Indian company, so there is no local entity to set up and no one for you to employ.
Before you hire.
How do you vet developers?
A real coding assessment first, then a live interview covering engineering and spoken and written English. Only developers who clear both reach your shortlist. You then interview them yourself and pick, so nobody starts on your product without passing all three stages.
What does the risk-free trial cover?
Start with a developer for 3 days. If it's not working, you don't continue and you don't pay for it — we'll match someone else or part ways cleanly.
Are these “AI developers”?
No. They are senior engineers who also use AI tooling well. Since AI arrived it has become easy to look like a developer, so we hire for engineering experience first and treat AI fluency as an extra skill. The tools take routine work off an engineer. The architecture and every judgement call stay with the human.
Which time zones do you cover?
Developers are matched to overlap with your working hours, so stand-ups and reviews happen live, not overnight.
How does billing work?
One monthly rate per developer, from $1,500, with nothing due before the developer starts. You are billed by the month and can add or remove developers as the work changes. Invoicing currency, tax treatment and payment terms are set out in the engagement contract.
How fast can someone start?
A matched shortlist in about 48 hours, and a developer in your team in roughly a week from your brief.
How much does it cost to hire a dedicated developer?
At Qilin Lab, from $1,500 per developer per month for a senior full-stack engineer, from $1,600 for mobile and from $1,800 for AI/ML, for one developer working full-time on your product. The final rate depends on seniority and stack and is confirmed on your shortlist. For scale, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median annual wage of a US software developer at $135,980 in May 2025, about $11,330 a month before employer costs.
What is the difference between a dedicated developer and a freelancer?
A freelancer is an individual you find, vet and contract yourself, who may be working for other clients at the same time. A dedicated developer from Qilin Lab works full-time on your product only, has already passed a coding assessment and a live interview, and is engaged and paid by Qilin Lab, never by you. Your contract is with a company, and a replacement is available if the fit is wrong. For a few hours a week, a freelancer is usually the better buy.
What is the minimum commitment?
One month at a time. There is no annual contract and no upfront payment, and if you stop inside the 3-day trial you do not pay. After that you can add or remove developers as the work changes. The notice needed to end or reduce an engagement is written into the engagement contract, so read that clause before you start.
Who owns the code?
You do, once it is paid for. Under Qilin Lab’s published terms, on full payment the company assigns to the client the intellectual property in the bespoke deliverables the client commissioned. Qilin Lab keeps its own pre-existing tools and libraries and licenses any that end up inside your deliverables. A signed engagement contract takes precedence over those defaults.
What happens if a developer is not a fit?
Inside the first 3 days you stop and you do not pay. After the trial there is a replacement guarantee: if the fit is wrong, Qilin Lab matches another vetted engineer. The developer is engaged and paid by Qilin Lab, not contracted to you as an individual, so finding the replacement is Qilin Lab’s job and not yours. Handover and timing are agreed in the engagement contract.
Do you work with companies in my country?
Qilin Lab offers this service to companies in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and India. The developers work remotely from Bengaluru. Wherever you are, the contract is with Qilin Software Lab Private Limited, an Indian company, and its published terms are governed by Indian law.
Sources
Last updated · Qilin Software Lab Private Limited, Bengaluru, India
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