№ 001 · VermillionEst. 2011 · Fort Lauderdale / Miami

The fractional mobile engineering function.

Hiring a senior mobile engineer in the United States means six-figure base, equity and recruiter load, plus benefits, plus 90 days to sign. Once hired, they are one person.

Vermillion is a senior team, AI-first, embedded for the long haul. We start in five days. We stay for years.

Talk to the team15 minutes. No pitch. Walk away with at least one actionable insight.
Fifteen years of subscription mobile authorityAI-first senior teamPartnerships measured in yearsFort Lauderdale · Miami
№ 002 · Definition

The engineering function.

Most buyers conflate it with developers, an agency, or a project shop. It is none of those. It is the continuous responsibility for the mobile codebase, owned by a senior team for the long arc.
function · noun

A continuous, owned responsibility for the mobile codebase. The team that ships, maintains, and evolves it. The team that owns architecture decisions, release discipline, vendor relationships, and on-call response. The team your CEO calls when an App Store rejection lands at 11pm. The team that gets credited at acquisition.

  • A function is owned.A deliverable is handed off.
  • A function compounds.A project completes.
  • A function stays.A contractor leaves.

Vermillion sells the function. The deliverables are the byproduct.
№ 003 · The core idea

We are the engineering function.

The alternative to hiring an in-house mobile team. A senior, AI-first engineering function that arrives the week the contract is signed and stays through acquisition, IPO, or a deliberate handoff to your in-house team. Not an agency. Not a contractor. Not a project shop.

Hiring a senior mobile engineer
0days to sign

From job description to a signed offer. Add weeks of onboarding to a codebase they have never seen. Once hired, they are one person.

  • Recruiter fees, benefits, equity
  • One person carrying every release
  • Vacation, burnout, attrition
  • Architecture decisions made alone
Vermillion, embedded
0days to ship

Same week the contract is signed, a full senior team is in your Slack and your codebase. AI-first workflow, fifteen years of subscription mobile authority, ready to own the function from day one.

  • A team, not a single hire
  • Senior judgment on every PR
  • Stays for years, not quarters
  • Architecture owned, releases shipping
№ 004 · The math on hiring

A senior mobile engineer in the United States.

Plus benefits. Plus recruiter fees. Plus 90 days of subscription experiments queued behind releases that never ship. Once hired, they are one person. Vermillion is a senior team with the engineering function ready to run.

Six-figure base
Base compensation, senior mobile engineer, US
Equity and fees
Equity, plus benefits, plus recruiter load
0 days
To sign one engineer. We start in five.
№ 005 · How we work

How a partnership starts.

Start with a short call. If the fit is there, The Trial puts Vermillion in your codebase within days. Each stage earns the next. By The Partnership, we own the mobile function.
01

Conversation

A short call. We learn your stack, your constraints, and where engineering is the bottleneck. You walk away with at least one actionable insight either way. No pitch.

No pitch

02

The Trial

30 days. We join your codebase, ship two priority features, audit your subscription infrastructure, and deliver a 90-day roadmap. You see exactly how we work before committing further.

30 days

03

The Function

90 days of full mobile engineering. Subscription infrastructure operational, webhooks reliable, App Store releases automated, shipped work you can plan around. Owned end to end.

90 days

04

The Partnership

Open-ended. We become your mobile engineering function. Architecture, releases, vendor relationships, on-call. Engagements end in acquisition, IPO, or a deliberate handoff to your in-house team.

Measured in years
№ 006 · What AI cannot do

AI can generate code. It cannot own the function.

AI commoditizes implementation. The work it does not touch is owning architecture across years, staying accountable when production breaks, and shepherding a codebase to acquisition. That work is what Vermillion sells. AI is how we ship it faster.
01

We own the decisions, not just the code.

AI generates the code. The work that determines whether it survives production stays with senior engineers: what to build, what to refuse, what will break at scale. Those decisions are the function.

02

We own the function, end to end.

Architecture, releases, subscription infrastructure, vendor relationships, on-call. We are the team your CEO calls when an App Store rejection lands at 11pm. Not a contractor filing tickets.

03

We own the outcome.

Engagements end in acquisition, IPO, or a deliberate handoff to your in-house team. We do not deliver and leave. The team that owns the codebase is the team that gets credited at the exit.
№ 007 · Selected work

Partnerships, not portfolios.

Named cases plus one anonymized embedded engagement across nine subscription apps. Where partnerships ended in acquisition, we are named in the due diligence.
PicklePlay · 4 years · Build to acquisition

Built the PicklePlay app from zero. Stayed embedded through acquisition by Universal Tennis.

Four-year partnership. We were the engineering function from greenfield through scale through technical due diligence. The architecture survived the acquisition reviewer's read.

4 yearsAcquiredDue diligence ready
Read the case
Artfare · Build to embedded partnership

Built from zero. Stayed embedded for the long arc.

Greenfield mobile build, transitioned into ongoing engineering function. The shape of an engagement that started as a project and became a partnership.

GreenfieldEmbeddedOngoing
Read the case
Anonymized · NDA · Embedded engineering function

The full mobile engineering function for a seven-figure MRR portfolio.

Multi-year embedded partnership. Full mobile and backend engineering ownership across a portfolio of nine subscription apps. Every subscription experiment, every release, every webhook handler, every architecture decision. The team the CEO calls when an App Store rejection lands.

Seven-figure MRR9 appsYears embedded
Read the case
Washlava · Multi-year · IoT deployment

Mobile engineering through eight million raised and a multi-year IoT deployment.

Full iOS and Android ownership across the entire funding arc. We shipped the in-store experience that ran on real machines and stayed in the codebase through raise, scale, and exit.

Eight million raisedSuccessful exitiOS · Android · Hardware
Read the case
№ 008 · Who we work with

The teams Vermillion is built for.

US subscription mobile companies with real revenue, a roadmap, and a hiring plan that is taking too long. We become the engineering function that ships against it.

Subscription mobile operators with real MRR

Your growth team runs subscription experiments at high tempo. You want engineering velocity that matches the pace of your funnel, with senior judgment on every decision.

Founder, CEO, CTO, or Head of Mobile

The person accountable for what ships on mobile. A team between eleven and two hundred people. You want a senior team in the codebase by next week, owning the function.

Scaling consumer apps

You have proven product-market fit. You want an engineering function that scales with your growth team and architecture that will not become the bottleneck at 10x.

Teams replacing a contractor or agency

You have a codebase that needs senior ownership, an architecture that needs decisions made, and releases that need clear ownership again.

Probably not the right fit if: you're pre-launch and exploring, you're looking for a cheap build, or you need a team that takes orders without context. We work best with teams that already have revenue and need engineering velocity. The fit is usually obvious in the first 15 minutes.
№ 009 · The product hierarchy

Four ways to work with us.

Most engagements start with The Trial and grow into The Partnership. The Function and The Handoff exist for the buyers whose situation fits them directly. Same team, same standard, four entry points.
03

The Partnership.

We become your mobile engineering function. Architecture, releases, vendor relationships, on-call response. Engagements end in acquisition, IPO, or a deliberate handoff to your in-house team.

Read about The Partnership
Pricing per scope.
Buyers ask.
01

The Trial.

The paid evaluation. We join your codebase, ship two priority features, audit your subscription infrastructure, and deliver a 90-day roadmap. You see exactly how we work before going further.

Start The Trial
02

The Function.

90 days of full mobile engineering. Subscription infrastructure operational, webhooks reliable, App Store releases automated, shipped work you can plan around.

Read about The Function
04

The Handoff.

When you are ready to bring engineering fully in-house, we run your hire process. JD, sourcing, technical interviews, onboarding, embedded handoff.

Plan a graduation
№ 010 · Insights

The latest thinking.

Notes on subscription mobile, engineering ownership, and how we ship. Updated as we publish.

Browse the archive

№ 011 · Frequently asked

The questions buyers ask before they book a call.

Direct answers, including when we are not the right fit.
№ 012 · Ready to embed?

We become the engineering function.
We stay until you have built your own.

15 minutes. No pitch. We learn your stack and tell you honestly if we are the right fit, including when we are not.

Talk to the team15 minutes · No obligation