FAQ
Frequently asked questions.
Clear answers about how Zenaide works, what to expect, and how to get started.
General
Zenaide is a specialized IT staffing and delivery firm. We help engineering teams fill critical technical roles (contract, contract-to-hire, or permanent) and deliver complex projects through managed services and managed project teams. Our core specialties include AI/ML, DevOps, Cloud, Data, Software Engineering, IoT, and QA.
Our headquarters are in San Jose, California — in the heart of Silicon Valley. We serve clients nationally, with many engagements supporting remote and hybrid teams.
Over 20 years. We’ve been supporting technology-driven organizations since the early 2000s.
We work primarily with technology and SaaS companies, financial services, healthcare and life sciences, and manufacturing/IoT organizations. Our strongest fit is with companies that have meaningful technical complexity in their engineering teams.
Staffing
For our core specialties, most clients see first qualified candidates within 5–10 business days. Highly specialized or niche roles may take longer — we set expectations during the intake conversation.
Mid-level through principal/staff-level individual contributors, plus technical leads, engineering managers, and project managers.
Yes. Contract-to-hire is one of our standard models, and we support conversions on standard contract engagements as well — with a straightforward conversion process.
We address performance concerns quickly. If a replacement is needed during the guarantee period, we prioritize a backfill from our pipeline at no additional sourcing cost.
Every candidate goes through a multi-step process: technical screening specific to the role requirements, scenario-based evaluation, experience verification, and communication/collaboration assessment. We don’t use generic skills tests.
Yes — AI/ML is one of our core specialties. We place machine learning engineers, MLOps engineers, LLM/GenAI specialists, NLP engineers, computer vision engineers, and AI infrastructure engineers. Our vetting focuses on production ML experience — not just research or certifications. We evaluate candidates on ML system design, model deployment, pipeline architecture, and real-world delivery track record.
ML Engineers, Applied AI Engineers, MLOps/ML Platform Engineers, LLM and GenAI Specialists, NLP Engineers, Computer Vision Engineers, Data Scientists with production focus, and AI Infrastructure Engineers. We cover tools like PyTorch, TensorFlow, Hugging Face, LangChain, SageMaker, Vertex AI, MLflow, and more.
Managed Services & Projects
Managed services provide ongoing operational support — a dedicated team that manages a continuous scope (like DevOps operations or application support). Managed projects are time-bound — a team assembled to deliver a specific outcome within a defined timeline and budget.
Typical team assembly takes 3–4 weeks, including onboarding and knowledge transfer. Complex scopes may take longer.
Both. We structure teams based on what the engagement requires — remote, hybrid, or onsite. Most current engagements are remote or hybrid.
Managed services are typically structured as a monthly retainer based on team composition and scope. Managed projects can be milestone-based or fixed-fee depending on scope certainty. We provide transparent pricing proposals before any commitment.
Working with Zenaide
Contact us through the form on our website, schedule a call directly, or call us at 408-564-7176. We’ll set up a 30-minute discovery conversation to understand your needs and recommend the right approach.
For staffing, we work with engagements as small as a single role. For managed services and managed projects, minimum scopes typically start at a small team (2–3 people) to ensure we can deliver meaningful outcomes.
Our strongest results come from our core specialties (DevOps, Cloud, Data, Software Engineering, IoT, QA). For roles outside these areas, we’ll assess whether we can deliver to our standard — and we’ll be honest if a different partner would serve you better.
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