Engagement Models

Four ways to work.
Long, short, or overflow.

Thinklens supports four engagement shapes for agencies, freelancers, and businesses — picked to match how clear the scope is, how long the work runs, and (for agencies) how your client is billing you. The right model is decided before SOW drafting, not after.

Compare the
alternative.

The traditional route
$130K+/year

A senior in-house data hire — salary before benefits and overhead, a 10–12 week search before day one, and a seat that stays on your payroll whether the pipeline is full or not.

A Thinklens engagement
A fraction of that

Senior, pre-vetted expertise on keyboard in 1–2 weeks. You pay for engaged time only — and it stops the day the work stops. Rate cards on the first call, always.

Pick the one
that fits the client deal.

Each model is priced and structured differently. We'll tell you which one fits before you draft the SOW — including when none of them does and we should walk away.

Model 01

Time & Materials (T&M)

Best for evolving scope — discovery work, performance tuning, ongoing platform support. Weekly status, monthly invoicing, fixed daily rates per consultant level. We track hours transparently and you can pause or extend at month boundaries.

Model 02

Fixed-Scope

Best for well-defined deliverables — dashboard builds, report migrations, defined data-cleanup sprints. Scope locked in the SOW, milestone-based invoicing, change-orders for anything outside scope. Predictable for both sides.

Model 03

MSA Sub-Contracting

Our most common shape. We operate as the silent offshore extension under your existing client MSA — your client never sees us, branding stays yours, invoicing flows agency-to-client. Long-running engagements with rolling SOWs underneath.

Model 04

B2B Freelance Consultant

Short or specialist engagements — a named senior consultant on a defined contract, sometimes engaged direct, sometimes through your agency. Useful for specialist disciplines (e.g. TIBCO Spotfire IronPython, SAP MM data harmonization) where you don't have the bench depth.

Three calls, then
a signed SOW.

The process is short by design. Most engagements move from first call to consultants-on-keyboard in 7-14 days.

Step 01

Discovery call (30 min)

Your engagement context, the client deal shape, the skill mix needed, and the rough timeline. We tell you upfront if it's a fit or if you need a different kind of partner — no pitch-deck theatre.

Step 02

Scope & CV review (1 week)

We draft a one-page scope, propose 1-3 consultant CVs matched to the skill mix, and you optionally interview them yourselves. Rates and timeline come with the CVs, not after.

Step 03

SOW signed, NDA in place, kickoff

SOW signed under your existing MSA (or a fresh agreement for new partners), NDA executed if not already, and consultants on keyboard typically within 1-2 weeks. Pre-vetted skill sets — Power BI, Tableau, SQL, ETL Testing, Technical BA — can start within 5 business days.

If pricing or rate cards aren't shared on the first call, walk away from that conversation — including ours. Transparency from minute one is how silent-partner engagements stay clean.

Compliance &
trust.

Fully registered in India (GST, PAN, IEC). Transparent contracts and audit-ready processes. A reliable offshore team with proven delivery — the three things every overseas partner wants on day one.

Request our compliance pack
GST Registration
Fully registered for Indian GST — clean, compliant invoicing every time.
PAN Verified
Permanent Account Number verified for complete financial transparency.
IEC Holder
Import Export Code — authorized for international trade in services.
Transparent Contracts
Clear SOWs, audit-ready processes, and proven offshore delivery — reliable from day one.

Need extra hands,
on short notice?

An unfilled seat isn't neutral — every week it stays empty is a slipped deadline or a client conversation you'd rather not have. Tell us the gap before it costs you one, and we'll line up the right senior consultant, remotely, with fast ramp-up.

Get in touch
India-based · IEC-authorized · Serving global partners

Ready to
expand your
capacity?

An overflow crunch, a long-term mandate, ongoing support, or training — tell us what you need and we'll move fast.

Before you even say hello

Take these with you — free, no email wall, no strings:

01 ETL Testing Tools Checklist 02 Power BI vs Tableau vs Spotfire 03 What is ETL Testing? A plain-English guide
01Engagement
02Expertise
03Start window
04Details
Your brief
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