How to hire a software engineer-consultant

How to hire a software engineer-consultant, step by step

Here's a step-by-step software engineer-consultant hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a software engineer-consultant job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new software engineer-consultant
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a software engineer-consultant do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The software engineer-consultant hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect software engineer-consultant also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   Here's a comparison of software engineer-consultant salaries for various roles:

   Type of Software Engineer-Consultant	Description	Hourly rate
   Software Engineer-Consultant	Software developers are the creative minds behind computer programs. Some develop the applications that allow people to do specific tasks on a computer or another device... Show more	$40-73
   Software Developer	A software developer is responsible for designing application systems to support the user and business' needs. Duties of a software developer include testing software codes, performing diagnostic programs and troubleshooting, interpreting system data and establishing efficient parameters, and ensuring the compatibility of the systems... Show more	$32-54
   Data Engineer	A data engineer is someone who makes data science possible. This IT job requires the search for data set trends and algorithm development to make raw data more beneficial to the enterprise... Show more	$38-71

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Java
   • Python
   • Architecture
   • Software Development
   • Scrum
   • API
   • UI
   • Database
   • Web Application
   • Spring Boot
   • Application Development
   • Jenkins
   • GIT
   • Web Services

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Contribute to implementing microservices used to manage entities and maintain a synchronize state between supplier and distributor.
   • Create a suite of python unit tests and manual UI tests for all the surveys and researcher tools
   • Perform reviews of C++ code and assist in the debugging of a WinCE/SH4 base auto navigation system.
   • Web portal provides UI, middle tire and persistence for controlling air and water conditioning systems in buildings.
   • Design and develop near-real time fault tolerant software for control of railroads in C++ on Linux and other Unix base platforms.
   • Work to bring the browser into standards compliance with the W3C DOM, JavaScript, HTML 4.0 and CSS 2.1.

   More software engineer-consultant duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the software engineer-consultant job description is a good way to get more applicants. A software engineer-consultant salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a software engineer-consultant in Oklahoma may be lower than in California, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level software engineer-consultant. Additionally, a software engineer-consultant with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average software engineer-consultant salary

   $113,987yearly

   $54.80 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level software engineer-consultant salary

   $85,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 20, 2026

   Average software engineer-consultant salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$148,157	$71
   2	Washington	$121,579	$58
   3	Arizona	$117,247	$56
   4	Virginia	$111,886	$54
   5	Connecticut	$111,531	$54
   6	New Jersey	$111,263	$53
   7	North Carolina	$109,628	$53
   8	Massachusetts	$109,042	$52
   9	New York	$108,218	$52
   10	Texas	$107,125	$52
   11	Michigan	$106,603	$51
   12	Georgia	$102,957	$50
   13	Ohio	$102,003	$49
   14	Pennsylvania	$99,675	$48
   15	Missouri	$96,745	$47
   16	Florida	$93,777	$45
   17	Illinois	$92,045	$44
   18	Colorado	$90,725	$44

   Average software engineer-consultant salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Advent Software	$131,452	$63.20
   2	Cisco	$130,371	$62.68	493
   3	Lowe's Companies	$129,366	$62.20	18
   4	Cybersource	$128,116	$61.59
   5	Dell	$127,638	$61.36	25
   6	Blue Shield of California	$126,135	$60.64	16
   7	myMatrixx	$119,540	$57.47
   8	Hitachi Vantara	$119,403	$57.41
   9	SS&C Technologies	$119,242	$57.33	40
   10	Verizon Data Services Inc	$118,555	$57.00
   11	JDA Software Inc	$118,553	$57.00	5
   12	Ericsson	$117,870	$56.67	3
   13	EMC	$117,181	$56.34
   14	TSYS	$116,870	$56.19	7
   15	Oracle	$116,390	$55.96	11,991
   16	Neudesic	$115,934	$55.74
   17	Unitedheath Group	$115,316	$55.44
   18	SITA	$115,113	$55.34
   19	Cynosure	$114,788	$55.19
   20	Omnicell	$114,777	$55.18	5

4. Writing a software engineer-consultant job description

   A software engineer-consultant job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a software engineer-consultant job description:

   Software engineer-consultant job description example

   As a Software Engineer - Sr. Consultant, you will be part of our Risk Solutions team to help design, enhance and build our transactional Fraud detection engine in an agile development environment. You will work with colleagues, who will support and challenge you daily. You will take leadership roles working on multiple projects building full stack development of real-time transactional services, RESTful APIs and Container based distributed services that are highly available, secure, scalable, and resilient. You will spearhead development of next generation software based on machine learning and deep learning. We believe in self-managing Agile teams who build products end to end focusing on unit testing, code reviews and continuous integration for excellent code quality. You will see the code written and moved to production within just a few days, to then be used by a huge customer base including Meta, Nike, FedEx, Apple to name a few. You will be driving innovation that makes our products stand apart from our competitors and delight the customer with accelerated time-to-market delivery.
   
   If this sounds exciting, we want to chat and tell you more about our work culture and environment and see if this will be a good fit.
   Essential Functions:
   
   You'll be the face of the team representing us in various technical forums.
   
   You'll help our customers achieve their business goals by understanding their requirements. You will build deep partnerships with product management to make sure that the products we are building deliver real value.
   
   You'll analyze business requirements and architect highly secure, robust, and scalable solutions.
   
   You'll drive internal proof of concept initiatives. When needed, quickly design and implement a prototype of a system or component with a proper architecture, and then lead or hand over to engineering team to implement.
   
   You'll build relationships with key architects across technology organizations and collaborate on promoting architectural best practices across technology.
   
   You'll introduce new technologies to build the next generation of Risk Services.
   
   You'll champion efforts to architect, design and implement various components of our global transaction processing systems.
   
   Your DNA will include following and creating software best practices and processes.
   
   You'll coach and mentor your team members and help them grow professionally. You will also create an atmosphere of mutual accountability.
   
   You'll play key role in meetings and discussions with cross-functional and non-technical teams.
   
   You'll be able to speak with confidence and clarity about what we do in industry conferences as the need arises.
   
   This is a hybrid position. Hybrid employees can alternate time between both remote and office. Employees in hybrid roles are expected to work from the office two days a week, Tuesdays and Wednesdays with a general guidepost of being in the office 50% of the time based on business needs.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find software engineers-consultant for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your software engineer-consultant job on Zippia to find and attract quality software engineer-consultant candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit software engineers-consultant, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   Sometimes, it's not enough to interview software engineer-consultant candidates, so you can ask them to do a test project. If you are not a technical person and don't know what a test project should be, you can use these websites:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new software engineer-consultant

   Once you've selected the best software engineer-consultant candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   To prepare for the new software engineer-consultant first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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