What we offer

Five services.
One standard.

CORDA is a hybrid consulting and engineering company. Different clients start at different points. Choose the service that fits your situation.

<8 Clients at once
2 wk To written proposal
60d First working build
0 Middlemen
01 / Technology Consulting

Expert technical guidance on strategy and decisions.

Technology strategy, architecture reviews, technical audits, modernization planning, cloud strategy, build-vs-buy analysis, vendor evaluation, technical due diligence, hiring strategy, cost optimization, engineering process assessment. We provide expert recommendations independent of whether CORDA ultimately builds the solution.

Our recommendations have value whether you execute with us, with another partner, or internally. This independence strengthens our credibility and makes us a trusted technical advisor, not a vendor trying to manufacture engineering work.

Strategy & Architecture Technical Audits Modernization Planning Due Diligence
Engagement formats
Fractional CTO Monthly retainer for ongoing technical leadership, architecture decisions, engineering hiring, and strategic guidance.
Technical audit Focused assessment of a specific technical problem or strategic question. Fixed scope, deliverables in 1–2 weeks.
Advisory engagement Ongoing access to senior technical expertise. Project or retainer basis.
Typical engagement
Project or monthly retainer. Independent of implementation decisions.
02 / Discovery & Strategy

Clarity before commitment.

Before you spend serious money building something, you need to know you are building the right thing. Discovery is a fixed-price, time-boxed engagement — usually two to three weeks — that produces a written scope, a technical architecture plan, a build-vs-buy analysis, and a phased roadmap with real cost estimates. You can take those deliverables and build with us, or take them to any team you choose.

Most of our ongoing client relationships started here. It is the right way to begin, and we designed it so you leave with something useful regardless of what comes next.

Fixed Price Roadmap Scoping Architecture Plan Build vs. Buy
Deliverables
Problem definition document A written, agreed definition of the actual problem — including what is out of scope.
Technical scope and architecture Stack recommendation, system design, integrations required, and technical risks flagged.
Phased roadmap with estimates Phase-by-phase plan with realistic time and cost ranges based on the defined scope.
Build vs. buy analysis An honest assessment of where custom software is worth it and where off-the-shelf tools are the smarter call.
Pricing
Fixed price. Delivered in 2–3 weeks. Outcomes are yours to keep.
03 / Product & Software Engineering

CORDA owns delivery of the outcome.

Custom software, platforms, integrations, or modernization projects. You define what needs to be built; we take full responsibility for delivery. Not developers for hire — we own the architecture, the code quality, and the production result.

We ship working software used by real users, not prototypes, pilots, or proofs-of-concept. Every engagement comes with full documentation, knowledge transfer, and support for a successful handoff.

SaaS Platforms Internal Systems Integrations Modernization Architecture Ownership
Engagement model
Defined scope Clear deliverables, measurable outcomes, and a fixed timeline or milestone schedule.
Senior engineering team No junior developers or outsourced junior resources. Senior engineers on every engagement.
Architecture responsibility We make technology decisions, own code quality, and take responsibility for the result.
Production delivery Working software in production, not staging. Full documentation and knowledge transfer.
Typical engagement
Fixed scope or milestone-based. 8–16 weeks typical. Discovery often precedes.
04 / Dedicated Teams

A stable engineering team. Senior leadership built in.

Recruiting a senior engineer takes three to six months on a good day. You post the role, screen candidates, run interviews, make an offer, wait out a notice period, and then spend another month onboarding before they are actually productive. Meanwhile the work is not getting done.

This track is the alternative. A CORDA engineer embeds directly into your existing team on a monthly retainer. They attend your standups, work in your codebase, review PRs alongside your people, and contribute to architecture decisions. They are functionally indistinguishable from a hire — without the recruiting timeline, the equity cost, or the long-term headcount commitment.

When the engagement ends, the knowledge stays with your team. We document what was built, hand off cleanly, and leave your engineers in a stronger position than before we arrived.

Monthly Retainer Any Stack 3-Month Minimum Knowledge Transfer Senior Only
How it works
One-week onboarding We learn your codebase, your deployment setup, and how your team works. By week two we are shipping.
Fully embedded, not advisory We are in your Slack, your GitHub, your sprint board. We attend your standups and your architecture discussions. We do the work, not just the review.
Month-to-month after the minimum Three-month minimum to make the onboarding worthwhile. After that, monthly rolling. No lock-in.
Clean exit When you are ready to hire or wind down, we document everything, brief your team, and hand off with zero knowledge loss.
Structure
Monthly retainer. 3-month minimum. Scope agreed upfront — hours per week, primary focus, team integration.

Embedded Engineering vs. Traditional Staff Augmentation

CORDA Embedded Engineering is not the same as hiring a contractor. Here is how we differ:

Traditional Staff Augmentation
  • Capacity-driven — fill open slots on your team
  • Execute tasks as assigned
  • Mixed seniority levels
  • Limited accountability for outcomes
  • Often interchangeable resources
  • Transactional relationship
CORDA Embedded Engineering
  • Outcome-driven — solve problems, not fill slots
  • Senior engineers making architectural decisions
  • Senior-only, no junior contractors
  • Full ownership of results and code quality
  • Consistent engineer throughout engagement
  • Partnership with knowledge transfer built in
05 / AI & Automation

Apply AI where it improves an actual workflow.

Most companies know AI should be part of their operation. Few know exactly where, or how to get there without wasting six months building something nobody uses. We map the highest-leverage opportunities in your specific workflow, then build systems that your team actually adopts. Every engagement ends with working, deployed software — not a prototype, not a slide deck, not a proof-of-concept that requires three more phases to become useful.

We work across LLM-based workflows, document processing, internal tools, customer-facing automation, and data pipelines. We are not tied to any vendor stack. We pick what fits the problem.

LLM Workflows Document AI Internal Tools Automation Data Pipelines
What is included
Opportunity mapping A structured audit of your current workflows to find where AI creates real leverage, not just novelty.
Build and ship End-to-end development of the integration, fully deployed and handed off with documentation.
Team onboarding We make sure the people who need to use the system understand it and trust it.
Iteration support Optional post-launch support retainer to refine behavior as real usage surfaces edge cases.
Typical engagement
Fixed price. 6–12 weeks. Starts with paid discovery.
Ready to start

Not sure which track fits? Start with a call.

30 minutes. We will tell you honestly which engagement makes sense for where you are right now.

Start a conversation See our work →