Senior Engineering Talent, Without the Headcount.
A subscription to a full team of architects and engineers across networking, security, datacenter, cloud, and OT. Priced near a single hire. Zero management overhead. Strategic advisory included.
A Full Bench. Without the Headcount.
Four Ways to Solve a Technical Need.
When a skills gap shows up, most teams default to one of three traditional plays. Each comes with hidden trade-offs that most procurement processes never surface. EaaS is the fourth path.
One person. One skillset. Twelve months minimum.
- Recruitment 3-6 months
- Single point of failure
- Specialization gaps
- Turnover doubles the cost
Short-term skills, premium hourly rate.
- Knowledge leaves with them
- Limited team integration
- Classification risk
- IP ownership debates
A team you rent at premium rates.
- Premium pricing
- Scope-creep change orders
- Knowledge transfer gap
- Generic methodologies
A full bench. No headcount. Predictable OPEX.
- No long recruitment cycle
- No single point of failure
- No knowledge loss
- No surprise costs
We wrote the whole story in a guide so you can take it to your CFO. Navigating Hiring and Contracting: The Real Costs →
The Number Most Procurement Templates Miss.
A senior network engineer's base salary is $80k - $120k. Total Cost of Employment is closer to $150k - $240k+ once you add benefits, recruitment, ramp-up, and the cost of carrying a single point of failure.
Direct Compensation
- Base salarySenior network engineer, mid-market$80k - $120k
- Performance bonusAnnual incentive, retention-tied10% - 15%
Mandatory Benefits
- Payroll taxesSocial Security, Medicare, unemployment10% - 12%
- Workers' compIndustry-rate dependent1% - 2%
Optional Benefits
- Health insuranceIndividual to family plans$7.5k - $20k+
- 401(k) matchEmployer contribution3% - 6%
- PTO accrualVacation, holidays, sick4% - 8%
- Perks & trainingTuition, wellness, certifications$1k - $5k
Recruitment & Onboarding
- Recruiter feesOf first-year salary20% - 30%
- Onboarding costBackground, training, ramp-up$2k - $5k
- Workplace setupHardware, software, licenses$3k - $7k
Hidden & Intangible
- Ramp-up productivityTime to full effectiveness3 - 6 months
- Turnover riskIf they leave in year one~2x
- Single-point riskPTO, illness, departure exposureUnquantified
A single FTE costs roughly 1.75x to 2.0x base salary all-in. EaaS gets you a whole bench for something close to the cost of that one hire.
One Service. Three Engagement Depths.
Every organization is at a different point on the technology maturity curve. Pick the tier that matches where you are now; move up as your environment grows.
Core Support & Maintenance
Small to mid-sized organizations with limited technical resources.
- On-Demand Expert AccessNetworking, security, and IT troubleshooting during business hours.
- 24/7 Monitoring + AlertsContinuous network and system monitoring with critical-issue alerting.
- 8-Hour SLAGuaranteed response time for incident resolution during business hours.
- Monthly Health CheckPerformance and security posture review with executive-readable summary.
- Knowledge Base AccessSelf-service documentation and runbooks for common tasks.
Enhanced Support + Strategic Insights
Mid-sized organizations needing proactive management and tailored guidance.
- Extended Expert AccessDedicated support 7 AM - 10 PM with 4-hour response SLA.
- Proactive MaintenanceRegular patches, optimizations, and configuration tuning across the stack.
- Customized ReportingDetailed monthly reports with actionable insights and recommendations.
- Quarterly Strategic ReviewsAlign IT with business goals; advice on emerging technologies.
- Prioritized Incident EscalationSenior engineer escalation path for critical events.
- 40 hrs/month Project SupportBundled project hours for ongoing work without separate SOWs.
Fully Managed + Tailored
Large enterprises and mission-critical environments requiring end-to-end ownership.
- 24/7 Expert AvailabilityRound-the-clock access; guaranteed 1-hour response on P1 incidents.
- Fully Managed OperationsComplete ownership of network, security, and IT operations.
- Customizable PackagesOT/IoT, cloud migrations, datacenter optimization, AI infrastructure.
- Dedicated Account ManagerSingle point of contact for seamless coordination across pillars.
- Advanced Analytics + DashboardsReal-time visibility with trend analysis and proactive recommendations.
- Unlimited Project SupportFlexible hours with priority access to senior engineers.
- On-Site Support (as needed)Engineer deployment for critical implementations.
Feature by feature
A quick side-by-side so you can take this to procurement.
Nine Reasons CIOs Choose EaaS Over Hiring.
Each of these maps to a real cost line item or operational risk you can quantify in your own budget.
Comprehensive Expertise at a Fixed Cost
A diverse team across networking, security, voice, datacenter, cloud, and OT - priced near a single staffed resource.
Flexibility and Scalability
Scale resources up or down as needs evolve. No long-term commitment to specific skill sets.
Reduced Management Burden
We handle training, onboarding, scheduling, and escalation. No HR overhead, no productivity supervision.
Faster Time-to-Value
Address technical challenges or launch projects without recruitment or onboarding delays.
Predictable OPEX Model
Subscription-style pricing with transparent, upfront costs. No surprise contractor fees or scope creep.
Better Knowledge Retention
The same team stays across your engagement lifecycle, building deep familiarity with your environment.
Improved Quality of Service
Seasoned professionals with a track record across networking, security, and OT/IoT environments.
Focus on Core Business Goals
Your team focuses on strategic initiatives, not firefighting. Technical issues are absorbed by ours.
Single Partner for Multiple Needs
Combines staffing, contracting, and consulting into one unified relationship. Vendor consolidation, simplified.
Cross-Domain Expertise on Day One.
EaaS is not a single specialist on retainer. It is a coordinated team that can reach across pillars when your problem crosses a domain boundary, which it almost always does.
Navigating Hiring and Contracting: The Real Costs
A CFO-ready breakdown of Total Cost of Employment, contractor markups, consulting firm pricing, and how EaaS compares line by line.
Stop Hiring for Every Skill Gap. Start Subscribing to the Bench.
Tell us about your current environment and the gaps you are trying to close. We will recommend the right tier and walk you through the cost comparison with your CFO in the room.
Questions we get every time
What is Expert-as-a-Service?
Expert-as-a-Service gives an organization on-demand access to senior architects and engineers on a predictable operating-expense model, without carrying the full-time headcount. It covers fractional CTO and strategic advisory, architecture reviews, cross-domain engineering support and project-based senior engineering. BlackHawk Data designed it for the case where the need is specific expertise at specific moments rather than a permanent seat.
How does this compare to hiring a senior engineer directly?
Hiring makes sense when the work is continuous and falls within one discipline. It works less well when the need spans network, security, datacenter and cloud, because no single hire covers all four and the role is difficult to fill and retain at the senior level. Expert-as-a-Service trades the capital and time cost of recruitment for a subscription, and gives access to a bench rather than an individual.
What does a fractional CTO actually do?
A fractional CTO provides the technology leadership an organization needs at board and strategy level without a full-time executive appointment: owning the technology roadmap, arbitrating architectural decisions, bringing rigor to vendor and investment choices, and translating technical risk into terms a board can act on. It suits organizations whose technology estate has outgrown their in-house leadership capacity.
What does an architecture review produce?
A BlackHawk Data architecture review produces a documented assessment of the current design, the specific risks and constraints it carries, and a prioritized set of recommendations with the reasoning behind each. It is deliberately vendor-agnostic - a substantial proportion of recommendations are configuration and process changes to equipment an organization already owns, which is the cheapest risk reduction available.
Is there a minimum commitment?
Engagements are scoped to the requirement rather than sold in fixed blocks, and range from a defined project with a clear endpoint through to ongoing fractional advisory. BlackHawk Data scopes this on a call before any commitment, because the right shape depends on whether the gap is a one-time decision, a delivery program, or a persistent absence of senior capacity.
How quickly can an engineer be engaged?
The sequence starts with a scoping conversation with a senior engineer rather than an account manager, so the requirement is understood technically before anything is proposed. Response times and start dates depend on the discipline and the scope involved, and BlackHawk Data confirms both during scoping rather than committing to a number in advance.