Retainer Offer · Max 2 Clients

Get a Principal Engineer in Your Corner (Without the €180k Salary)

10 hours per month of expert iOS & AI guidance

Your tech lead is stretched thin, your team is adopting SwiftUI or AI, and high-stakes decisions pile up. This retainer keeps a principal-level design authority embedded with your team so decisions stay sharp without hiring full-time.

Investment: €1,600/month (three-month minimum)

Availability: Limited to two retainer clients at a time

Format: Weekly office hours, async PR reviews, private Slack

Guarantee: 30-day full refund if you are not satisfied

"Igor is just amazing! He's patient and incredibly knowledgeable. He helped me tremendously while I was struggling with the codebase. The sessions with him are helpful, fun and educating, and they made me learn a lot."

— Tammy Mundel

What You Get Each Month

We structure the 10 hours so you get proactive guidance, fast feedback, and momentum between sessions.

4 hours: Weekly Office Hours

Four 60-minute sessions per month for architecture decisions, roadmap reviews, and mentoring senior ICs.

  • Format: live video call with shared docs or pairing inside your repo.
  • Use cases: validating migrations, planning AI adoption, unblocking launch-critical work.
  • Cadence: scheduled weekly so decisions never queue for weeks.

4 hours: Architectural PR Reviews

Up to four critical pull requests reviewed each month with async feedback inside 24 hours (business days).

  • Reviews cover architecture, performance, and reliability—not just syntax.
  • Each review ships with a summary comment and decision log for future reference.
  • Overflow PRs can be booked as Sessions at €200/hr when you need more coverage.

2 hours: Async Slack Guidance

Private Slack channel for clarifying decisions, sharing context, and keeping momentum between sessions.

  • Expect responses within 24 hours on business days.
  • Great for quick questions, design validation, or gut-checking AI prompts.
  • Not meant for emergency firefighting—use Sessions for urgent incidents.

Where This Retainer Excels

Consistently delivers

  • Ongoing architecture and platform decisions while your team ships features.
  • Critical PRs that must be reviewed by a principal-level engineer before merge.
  • Mentorship for tech leads and senior ICs adopting SwiftUI, TCA, or AI workflows.
  • Structuring evaluation and governance for LLM-powered features.
  • Keeping velocity high when your lead is split between management and delivery.

Not included

  • Hands-on implementation or owning a backlog of tickets.
  • More than four deep PR reviews per month without additional Sessions.
  • Emergency weekend or overnight support.
  • Large-scale audits that require weeks of focused research—use the Sprint instead.

Need extra coverage in a busy month? Retainer clients can bolt on additional €200/hr Sessions for deep dives or urgent reviews without waiting in line.

Who This Retainer Is For

Great fit

  • Tech leads who need a second brain for architectural decisions.
  • Teams adopting SwiftUI, TCA, or production AI and want expert oversight.
  • Engineering managers balancing leadership work with technical stewardship.
  • Founders with technical background who want trusted guidance without hiring full-time.

Not the right option

  • Teams that need a 40-hour-per-week contractor writing code.
  • Organizations without engineers available to implement recommendations.
  • Companies experiencing a one-off crisis—book Sessions or the Sprint instead.
  • Teams looking for a passive advisor who only joins status meetings.

Investment

€1,600 per month for 10 hours of principal-level guidance. That's an effective rate of €160/hour versus €200/hour for ad-hoc Sessions, plus guaranteed availability.

The three-month commitment gives us time to install patterns, see them applied in production, and measure impact. After that you can continue month-to-month or pause with 30 days notice.

If after the first 30 days you don't feel the retainer is paying for itself, I'll refund the first month. No lock-in, no awkward conversations.

How a Typical Month Flows

Monthly rhythm

  • Week 1:
    • Office hour session to review last month's outcomes and set focus areas.
    • Outline the PRs and architectural decisions we'll tackle this month.
  • Week 2:
    • Your team ships PRs following the plan.
    • I provide async reviews and Slack guidance within 24 hours.
  • Week 3:
    • Second office hour session for deep dives, pairing, or training.
    • We adjust approach based on what we learned from implementation.
  • Week 4:
    • Close out remaining PRs and decisions.
    • Deliver written summary of wins, decisions, and next month's priorities.

Common use cases

  • TCA migration support: Weekly sessions review new modules, async PR reviews catch regressions, and the team builds muscle memory in the new architecture.
  • AI feature governance: Design prompts in office hours, install evaluation harnesses via PR reviews, and keep costs sane with ongoing oversight.
  • Performance advisory: Pair on profiling strategies, validate PRs that touch hot paths, and maintain performance budgets month over month.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if we need more than four PRs reviewed?

You can book additional coverage as €200/hr Sessions. Retainer clients get first-priority scheduling, so overflow never waits long. The four-PR baseline keeps the engagement focused while giving you predictable capacity.

Can we bank unused hours?

Hours reset each month. Maintaining rhythm is what keeps your team moving. If a month runs light, we'll use the time for architectural planning, documentation, or mentoring so value still compounds.

What if we have an urgent incident?

Ping me in Slack and book a Session. Retainer clients always get priority access to my ad-hoc time. The retainer keeps decisions flowing; Sessions cover surprise fires without blowing up the agreement.

How do you limit this to two clients?

I reserve 10 consulting hours per week. Two retainer clients at 10 hours total per month leaves room for Sprints and Sessions. If both slots are full, I maintain a short waitlist and onboard as availability opens.

Can we pause after the initial commitment?

Yes. After the first three months you can continue month-to-month or pause with 30 days notice. When you're ready to resume we'll confirm availability so expectations stay clear.

What if we realise this isn't a fit?

The first 30 days are risk-free. If you don't feel you've already received more value than you paid, I'll refund the first month's fee. I'd rather lose the revenue than keep you in an engagement that isn't working.

Ready to Reserve a Slot?

Book a discovery call to confirm fit, walk through your goals, and secure one of the two retainer spots. You'll receive a written agreement and start date within 48 hours of the call.

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