Rails staff augmentation · Remote

Hire Ruby on Rails developers Experienced Rails hands for your backlog, working inside your team.

Your backlog keeps growing and recruiting takes months. Instead, hire Rails developers from Akolads: they join your repository, your tickets and your sprints for a few weeks or a few months, and leave the code better documented than they found it.

Describe what you need What you get
  • 100+ projects delivered
  • 8 years of experience
  • 98% satisfied clients
  • 48h reply time

What's included

What you get when you hire Ruby on Rails developers from us

You have a CTO, a lead developer or a small team. What you lack is extra hands that know Rails inside out. This is the reinforcement side of our Ruby on Rails agency: same developers, working under your lead instead of ours.

Developers who have shipped Rails before

People who have built and maintained Rails applications in production. They read an existing codebase, pick up its conventions and start contributing quickly.

Part of your tools and rituals

Your Git repository, your tickets, your Slack or Teams, your CI. They join your stand-ups, planning sessions and retros, and you stay in charge of priorities.

Code review in both directions

Every change goes through a reviewed pull request. We can also review your team’s code if you wish, with feedback that stays concrete and well argued.

Tests for everything delivered

Features come with their RSpec or Minitest tests, depending on what you already use. Your suite grows instead of eroding under deadline pressure.

Knowledge transfer

What we build is documented and explained through pair programming, technical notes and handover sessions, so your team can carry on without us.

Flexible duration and pace

A few weeks to absorb a peak, several months to keep a roadmap on track, full time or a few days a week. We adjust as the engagement goes on.

Your options

In-house hire, freelancer or Rails staff augmentation?

All three make sense. The right one depends on how long you need the extra capacity and how much risk you can take on continuity.

Hiring a permanent employee

The right choice for a long-term need. Expect several months between posting the job and having a productive Rails developer, in a tight market for experienced profiles. For a temporary peak, the hire often arrives too late.

An independent freelancer

Quick to bring on board and often very skilled. The weak point is depending on one person: holidays, illness or a better contract elsewhere, and the work stops with nobody else who knows the code.

Rails developers from an agency

The flexibility of a freelancer with the continuity of a company. Knowledge of your project is shared internally, another developer can step in, and a second pair of eyes reviews the important decisions.

Need a whole product delivered rather than extra hands? Our team can also run the project end to end, for example through Rails MVP development for a new SaaS.

Our method

How a Rails staff augmentation engagement works

Four steps, from the first call to the handover.

  1. A call about your context A call with your CTO or lead developer about your Rails version, architecture, tools, team organisation and target tasks. We identify the right profile and the pace you want.
  2. Proposal and kick-off You receive a quote with the profile, the duration and a start date. Once approved, we sort out access to the repository, the development environment, the issue tracker and messaging.
  3. Working in your sprints The developer picks up tickets from your backlog, opens pull requests and follows your review process, with regular check-ins with your technical lead.
  4. Handover and next steps Before the end, we document the work and run handover sessions with your team. You carry on alone, or keep us on as extra developers or for maintenance.

Tech stack

The Rails tools we work with every day

We work on your existing stack, recent or older. Here is what our developers bring to your team.

Current and older Rails

The latest versions for new development, and the experience to work on older applications and prepare their upgrade.

Data and queries

Data modelling, safe migrations, indexes and optimised queries. We track down N+1 queries and the tables that slow the application down.

Hotwire interfaces

Responsive server-rendered screens with no separate JavaScript app to maintain. Ideal for back offices and internal tools.

Background jobs

Emails, imports, syncs and document generation, on Solid Queue or on the Sidekiq setup you already run.

Tests and continuous integration

Unit, request and system tests running in your CI, whether that is GitHub Actions, GitLab CI or something else.

Deployment

Container deployment to your own servers with Kamal, or the pipeline you already have on Heroku, Render or another platform.

Case study · close to the business

Le Baroudeur du Vin: turning a business into Rails code

Le Baroudeur du Vin sells wine online. We built its e-commerce site and SEO strategy, and as the business grew, the admin work grew with it. So we developed an internal OS in Ruby on Rails that brings invoicing, inventory, logistics and the product catalog into one tool designed around how the team works. That is the know-how a developer brings when joining your team: understand the business, then turn it into clean, tested Rails code.

Stack
Ruby on Rails · PostgreSQL · Hotwire
Services
Rails business app · e-commerce · SEO
Approach
Long term, close to the team
Our Ruby on Rails approach
Le Baroudeur du Vin online wine shop, built by Akolads
The storefront. The team works in the Rails OS behind it.
  • Product catalogOne place for every wine record.
  • InventoryStock in step with sales and deliveries.
  • InvoicingInvoices straight from orders.
  • LogisticsShipping steps automated.

Frequently asked questions

Your questions about hiring Rails developers

How quickly can I hire Ruby on Rails developers through Akolads?

We reply to every enquiry within 48 hours. After a call about your context and your stack, we propose a developer profile and a start date. The lead time depends on our availability at that moment, and we tell you plainly on the first call.

Will the developer work with our tools and processes?

Yes. They use your Git repository, your issue tracker, your messaging tool and your CI, take part in your stand-ups, planning and retrospectives, and follow your coding conventions and review process. Your team stays in charge of priorities.

What is the minimum length of a Rails staff augmentation engagement?

There is no set minimum. Some engagements last a few weeks to get through a peak in workload, others run for several months alongside a team. We agree on an initial period together, then adjust to your needs.

How is this different from hiring a Ruby on Rails freelancer?

A freelancer is one person: if they fall ill, go on holiday or move to another contract, the work stops. With an agency, knowledge of your project is shared internally, another developer can take over, and a second pair of eyes reviews the important technical decisions.

How much does it cost to hire a Rails developer through Akolads?

Rails staff augmentation is quote-based. The price depends on the duration, the number of days per week and the level of autonomy you expect. We put a proposal together after a free first call.

What happens at the end of the engagement?

The code lives in your repository and belongs to you. Before we leave, we document what was done and run handover sessions with your team. If needed, we can then take over the maintenance of the application.

Our other Rails services

More ways we can help with Rails

Every service below is run by the same team. For the full picture, see our Ruby on Rails agency page.

Rails MVP development

Accounts, Stripe subscriptions, an admin back office and your core feature, live in a few weeks.

€8,000 to €20,000

Rails upgrade services

Take over a legacy Rails app, cover it with tests and bring it to Rails 8, one version at a time.

Custom quote

Rails code audit

Code, security, performance, tests and infrastructure reviewed, with a written report and prioritised fixes.

Custom quote

Rails maintenance services

Security patches, updates, monitoring and small improvements for your app in production.

Custom quote

Need a Rails developer on your team?

Tell us about your context and the workload you need to absorb. We reply within 48 hours, in English, with a first proposal.

Get a free quote Book a call