Core engineering
Hire Full-Stack Engineers
Engineers who own a feature from database schema through to the interface, and the tests that keep it working.
A full-stack engineer owns features end to end across data model, API and user interface. Hire one when your team is small enough that handoffs cost more than they save, or when a product area needs a single accountable owner. Expect $60 to $140 per hour by seniority.
What this role actually does
Full-stack is often treated as a euphemism for shallow, which is unfair to the engineers who do it well. The genuine value is reduced handoff cost: one person designs the schema, exposes it, consumes it, and finds out immediately when the API shape is wrong for the interface it serves. On a small team that feedback loop is worth more than deeper specialisation.
The trade-off is real at scale. Once a system has serious performance, security or accessibility requirements in a particular layer, specialists outperform generalists in that layer. The right question is not whether full-stack engineers are good, but whether your current bottleneck is coordination or depth.
Core skills to look for
- TypeScript across both sides of the stack
- React and Next.js App Router, including the server-component model
- Relational data modelling and migration discipline with Postgres
- API design: REST and increasingly typed RPC layers
- Authentication, authorisation and session handling done correctly
- Testing across the stack: unit, integration and browser-level
- Enough operational skill to deploy and debug what they ship
When you need to hire this role
- A small team where handoffs between specialists are the bottleneck
- A product area that needs one clearly accountable owner
- An MVP that must reach real users quickly without being unmaintainable
- An existing codebase where nobody understands both ends of a critical flow
How to assess candidates for this role
Ask for an end-to-end change
Have them describe adding a non-trivial feature across schema, API and interface. Watch whether the layers connect coherently or are described in isolation.
Probe the schema instinct
Give an ambiguous product requirement and ask for a data model. Full-stack engineers who are really frontend engineers reveal themselves here.
Test debugging across boundaries
Describe a bug that could live in any layer and ask how they would isolate it. Strong candidates narrow systematically instead of guessing.
Check testing discipline
Ask what they test at which layer. A clear, opinionated answer indicates someone who has maintained their own code over time.
Typical rate bands
| Level | Experience | Typical rate | What they own |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid-level | 3-5 years | $60-90/hr | Ships well-scoped features across the stack with review |
| Senior | 6-9 years | $90-120/hr | Owns a product area end to end, sets patterns for others |
| Staff / Principal | 10+ years | $120-140/hr | Owns cross-cutting architecture and technical direction |
Frequently asked questions
What does a full-stack engineer do?
They own features end to end: data model, backend logic, API surface, user interface and tests. The advantage is a tight feedback loop with no handoffs, which matters most on small teams and early-stage products.
Is a full-stack engineer worse than a specialist?
Not worse, differently optimised. Generalists reduce coordination cost; specialists provide depth where a layer has hard requirements. Choose based on whether your bottleneck is coordination or depth, not on which title sounds stronger.
What stack should a full-stack engineer know in 2026?
Most commercial work sits on TypeScript, React with Next.js App Router, a Node or Python API layer, and Postgres. Specific tools matter less than whether the candidate can reason about the boundaries between them.
How much does a full-stack engineer cost?
Typical vetted contract rates are $60 to $90 per hour at mid-level, $90 to $120 at senior and $120 to $140 for staff and principal, varying with region and product complexity.
When should we stop hiring generalists and start hiring specialists?
Usually when a specific layer develops requirements a generalist cannot meet — sustained performance work, serious accessibility obligations, or security-sensitive infrastructure. That is a capability signal, not a headcount threshold.