|
|
| Owner |
Head of Development (HOD) |
| Status |
Active v2. Supersedes _archive/ai_engineer_outsourcing_process_sop.md (April 2026) |
| Last Updated |
July 2026 |
| Part of |
AIS Master Service Documentation |
| Companion documents |
AIS_Client_Intake_Form_v1.md, AIS_Client_Feedback_Form_v1.md, 00_Service_Core/AIS_Service_Scope_v1.md, 03_Client_Acquisition/AIS_Phase3_Client_Acquisition_v1.md, 05_Delivery/AIS_First30Day_SOP_Candidate_v1.md, 05_Delivery/AIS_Checkin_Reporting_SOP_v1.md |
The standard operating procedure for placing an AI Specialist with a client, from Phase 3 handover through day one. All placements follow this process without exception. The nine-stage backbone is retained from v1; v2 adds tier filtering, the panel-of-three standard, stage SLAs, candidate hold rules, referral handling, the Service Scope acknowledgment, Jira tracking, and the formal handover into Phase 5.
Entry points:
- New placement: Phase 3 completes (agreement signed, kickoff deposit paid) and hands over per the Phase 3 SOP.
- Replacement: a Phase 5 escalation triggers a re-match; the placement re-enters at Stage 2 on the expedited path (Section: Replacement Re-Entry).
Current role holders: HOD: Hamza Tasneem. CS Pre-sales: Muhammad Umar. CS Post-sales: Zimal. The SOP is written by role; holders change without a document revision.
| From |
To |
SLA |
| Complete intake form received (Stage 1) |
Panel of three presented (Stage 6) |
5 business days |
| Client confirms readiness to interview |
All three interviews scheduled |
5 business days |
| Client decision to proceed (Stage 8) |
Engineer start date (Stage 9) |
10 business days |
SLAs assume a pooled match exists. Where new sourcing is required, the 30-calendar-day replacement clause of the Service Agreement governs instead, and the client is told which track they are on at Stage 2.
¶ Stage 1: Client Intake and File Open
Owner: HOD, with CS Pre-sales
Trigger: Phase 3 handover (agreement signed, deposit paid), or a scope extension on an existing account
- Confirm the client file exists at
08_Client_Accounts/[Client]_Deal_Context.md and carries the discovery notes, any concessions, and the referral flag: if this client was referral-sourced, the referrer and agreed cut are recorded now, per the Referral Program, never discovered later.
- Assign the REMAP point of contact (account lead).
- Send the Client Intake Form (
AIS_Client_Intake_Form_v1.md) and require completion before any matching begins. No intake form, no matching.
- Open the placement record in Jira: client, engagement type, tier, stage, owner, dates, referral flag. Every stage change in this SOP is logged there with the date.
Output: complete intake form, client file verified, Jira placement record open, placement deadline logged. The 5-business-day clock to panel presentation starts here.
Owner: HOD
Trigger: Intake form received and complete
- Tier filter first. Clients are placed with mid to senior level specialists; tiers are internal. Pull candidates from the pool register at the internal tier matching the engagement as sold (recorded in the client file and Jira). A candidate outside the required tier is not presented, whatever their other fit.
- Track filter second. Only Track A (placement-ready) candidates are presented. Track B candidates are in the readiness programme and are not client-facing until they exit into the pool.
- Score tier-and-track-eligible candidates against the client requirements using the matching rubric below.
- Select the panel of three. Flag any known gaps honestly before presenting (unconfirmed project details, limited domain exposure).
- Internal sign-off from the HOD before any profile is shared externally.
- If fewer than three tier-matched candidates exist, the HOD decides: source to fill the panel (30-day track, client informed) or present a smaller panel with the client's agreement. Never pad the panel with a wrong-tier or wrong-track candidate.
Technical fit, domain and industry relevance, communication level, seniority and leadership, independent operation, timezone and availability compatibility. Client-facing materials use Advanced / Proficient / Developing labels, never numeric scores.
Output: panel of three identified and signed off, with internal notes and a REMAP preferred candidate noted internally.
¶ Stage 3: Profile and Deck Preparation
Owner: HOD
Trigger: Panel confirmed
- Verify all project details with each engineer directly. Unconfirmed information is never presented.
- Update engineer profiles (living documents: always updated, never rebuilt from scratch).
- Prepare the client deck: company introduction, the placement process, client needs at a glance, and the three matched profiles.
- Internal review before anything is sent.
¶ Profile document standard
Name, role, experience (no availability line). Overview paragraph. Capability Overview table (word labels). Tech Stack table, categorised. Project Highlights (Problem / Built / Outcome). "Why [Name] for This Role" bullets. Footer: Remap AI, Private AI LLC, Confidential. No emojis, no ratings, no REMAP backing section (that lives in the deck only).
Output: client deck and three profiles, uploaded to the client folder in Google Drive.
¶ Stage 4: Engineer Briefing and Preparation
Owner: HOD
Trigger: Panel confirmed, profiles approved
- Brief each of the three engineers one-on-one: business context, tech stack, the role, who they will work with, client priorities.
- Share the client requirements with each engineer.
- Identify knowledge or tool gaps; give 2 to 3 days to close them before the mock.
- Confirm each engineer is genuinely available and interested. Disengaged candidates are swapped out now, not presented.
- Availability heads-up (Candidate Agreement): each panelled engineer is told they are being put in front of a client and that they must flag immediately if their availability changes while the client decides. Pooling is nonbinding both ways; the heads-up is what makes the hold rule below workable.
- Each engineer acknowledges the brief in writing (a message is sufficient).
Output: three engineers briefed, gaps addressed, availability and interest confirmed in writing.
Owner: HOD (interviewer)
Trigger: Engineer briefed, preparation period complete
30 to 45 minutes, mirroring the expected client call: introduction and background (5), technical questions on the client stack (15), scenario question (10), culture and working-style fit (5 to 10). Recorded with transcription on.
Clear technical communication, honest and structured answers, confidence under scenario questioning, awareness of the client's context.
- Written feedback to the engineer within 24 hours: strengths, areas to sharpen, specific talking points.
- No engineer goes to a client call without passing the mock. No exceptions. A failed mock returns the engineer to preparation and, if the panel cannot hold the SLA, the HOD substitutes from the pool.
Output: three mock passes recorded, feedback delivered.
Owner: CS Pre-sales
Trigger: All three engineers cleared from mocks
- Send the deck and three profiles to the client.
- Follow up within 24 to 48 hours to confirm receipt and answer questions.
- Confirm the interview logistics: the client interviews all three candidates, per the panel-of-three standard promised in What Happens Next. The panel exists so the client chooses with confidence; a client wanting to interview fewer may do so at their own election, noted in Jira, but REMAP always offers all three.
- Confirm whether REMAP attends the calls (established at intake).
¶ Candidate hold rule
- From panel presentation, the three candidates are held exclusively for this client for 5 business days.
- After 5 business days without a decision, candidates return to first-confirmed availability and may be presented to other clients. The deciding client receives a heads-up before any panelled candidate is presented elsewhere, and again if one becomes unavailable.
- A hold can be extended once, at HOD discretion, for a client with a committed decision date.
Output: client has the panel, interview schedule agreed, hold clock running.
¶ Stage 7: Interview Scheduling and Calls
Owner: HOD (logistics), CS Pre-sales (client communications)
Trigger: Client confirms interview readiness
- All three interviews scheduled within 5 business days of client confirmation, ideally inside the hold window.
- One call per engineer per client, no exceptions. Standard length 45 to 60 minutes.
- All calls recorded with transcription on; both parties informed before the call begins.
Engineer: reminder 24 hours before; platform, time, link confirmed; mock feedback talking points refreshed; client brief re-read.
Client: a short pre-call note with suggested questions and what to look for against their stated requirements; platform and link confirmed; REMAP attendance confirmed.
If REMAP attends: observe only unless asked, the engineer leads. If not: the engineer is the sole REMAP representative, with the HOD on standby.
Output: three calls completed, recordings and transcripts saved to the client folder.
¶ Stage 8: Post-Interview Debrief and Decision
Owner: HOD, with CS Pre-sales
Trigger: Interviews completed
- 10-minute debrief call with the client within 24 to 48 hours of the final interview: an honest verbal read before the written form, hesitations addressed in real time.
- Send the Client Feedback Form (
AIS_Client_Feedback_Form_v1.md) within 24 hours of the final interview, one per interviewed candidate.
- Log all feedback against each engineer's profile, positive and negative.
- Proceed: the client names their specialist. Move to Stage 9 immediately; momentum is never allowed to stall after a positive decision. The 10-business-day clock to start date begins.
- See another candidate: capture the mismatch reason, return to Stage 2 with the gap explicitly corrected. The same mismatch is never repeated.
- Not proceeding: reason captured in full, never left blank. Client file and Jira updated; the account returns to Phase 3 nurture handling.
Output: debrief done, written feedback received per candidate, decision logged, next stage triggered.
¶ Stage 9: Contract Completion, Pre-Start, and Kickoff
Owner: HOD (operational), CS Post-sales (client communications)
Trigger: Client decision to proceed
- The Service Order Form is executed, naming the Assigned Engineer, tier, engagement type, time zone, start date, and any client-specific variations. Pricing snapshots the current Rate Card per the referencing rules.
- The Service Scope acknowledgment (
00_Service_Core/AIS_Service_Scope_v1.md) is signed by the client, the engineer, and REMAP, before day one. No signed scope, no start.
- Kickoff deposit confirmed as received (collected at Phase 3 close; verified here).
- Referral-sourced clients: the referral cut is activated and recorded against the placement in Jira and the client file, per the Referral Program.
- Engineer compensation confirmed against the tier band (or base plus AIS allowance for a placed REMAP employee), recorded in the pool register.
- Client team completes the AI Adoption Pathway surveys; the strategy session is held; the 30/60-day plan is finalised and handed to the engineer.
- Engineer receives the client briefing pack and the First 30 Day SOP, and confirms setup and hours.
- The engineer's national holiday calendar is shared with the client per the Holidays Policy.
¶ Kickoff and handover to Phase 5
- Kickoff call (client, engineer, REMAP) within the first 3 working days: working hours, communication tools, reporting cadence, first-week tangible target, access confirmed.
- Handover checklist, completed by the HOD:
- Jira placement record moved to Active, with start date.
- Pool register updated: engineer status Placed, agreement dates, tier locked for the engagement.
- Client file updated with the SOF, signed scope acknowledgment, and plan.
- CS Post-sales named as the running account owner; the delivery cadence (Day 7, Day 30, weekly reports, Andrew's check-in) is now governed by the Check-in and Reporting SOP and the First 30 Day SOP.
- After day one, this SOP is closed for the placement. Delivery, escalation, and replacement decisions belong to Phase 5.
Output: placement live, handover checklist complete, Phase 5 owns the account.
When a Phase 5 escalation or an engineer exit triggers a re-match:
- The placement re-enters at Stage 2 with the original intake form, refreshed with what the first placement taught (updated in the client file).
- Expedited path: the Service Agreement replacement targets govern (7 to 10 business days where a pooled candidate exists, 30 calendar days where sourcing is required), so stages compress: matching and briefing run in parallel, and the mock may be shortened at HOD discretion for an engineer with a recent recorded mock pass.
- The outgoing engineer's performance flags are recorded in the pool register per the Escalation and Replacement SOP; they do not follow the engineer into unrelated future matches unless the HOD rules otherwise.
- Interim cover (a REMAP team member stepping in) is arranged where possible while the re-match runs.
Every placement is one Jira record carrying: client, engagement type, tier, current stage (1 to 9), stage owner, stage entry dates, SLA due dates, referral flag, and outcome. Stage changes are logged the day they happen. The record is the single operational truth for where a placement stands; the client file holds the narrative.
¶ Standing Rules
- No engineer is presented without HOD sign-off.
- No engineer attends a client call without a passed mock and written feedback.
- All calls, mock and client, are recorded with transcription on, both parties informed.
- Profiles are living documents, updated continuously, never rebuilt from scratch.
- Every client decision reason is captured, never left blank.
- Availability is first-confirmed basis, moderated only by the 5-business-day panel hold.
- Tier and track filters are never bypassed to fill a panel.
- Nothing agreed for one client is precedent for any other.
| Stage |
Name |
Owner |
Key output |
| 1 |
Client Intake and File Open |
HOD + CS Pre-sales |
Complete intake form, Jira record open |
| 2 |
Engineer Matching |
HOD |
Tier-filtered panel of three, signed off |
| 3 |
Profile and Deck Preparation |
HOD |
Deck and three profiles in client folder |
| 4 |
Engineer Briefing |
HOD |
Three engineers briefed and confirmed |
| 5 |
Mock Interview |
HOD |
Three mock passes, written feedback |
| 6 |
Client Presentation |
CS Pre-sales |
Panel delivered, hold clock running |
| 7 |
Interviews |
HOD + CS Pre-sales |
Three calls done, recordings saved |
| 8 |
Debrief and Decision |
HOD + CS Pre-sales |
Feedback forms in, decision logged |
| 9 |
Contract, Pre-Start, Kickoff |
HOD + CS Post-sales |
SOF and scope signed, placement live, Phase 5 handover |
03_Client_Acquisition/AIS_What_Happens_Next.md (Stage 4) references the "balance of first month paid" before start. The locked commercial position (Rate Card, Schedule B) is that the kickoff deposit is the full first month, paid at Phase 3 close. What Happens Next should drop the balance line at its next revision.- The v1 SOP is preserved unchanged at
_archive/ai_engineer_outsourcing_process_sop.md with a SUPERSEDED header. Nothing was deleted.
REMAP AI · Private AI LLC · Internal Use Only · Confidential