Staff Augmentation Cost Calculator

Staffing firms rarely publish markups, but listed firms publish gross margins. Kforce, whose Technology business is 93% of its revenue, reported a 2025 Flex gross margin of 25.8% (Kforce 2025 annual report); Robert Half reported 39.0% on contract talent, including conversion fees (Robert Half 2025 annual report). If legally required payroll taxes add about 9.4% to pay (BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026), those margins equal markups of roughly 47% and 79% on the engineer's pay rate. The calculator offers both, plus 25%, 35% and 60%.

The pay rate is what the engineer earns per hour. The bill rate is what the vendor invoices you: pay rate × (1 + markup). Out of the difference the vendor pays the employer's payroll taxes, and the rest is its gross profit. Example: a median US software developer earns $65.38 an hour ($135,980 a year over 2,080 hours). At a 47% markup the bill rate is about $96 an hour, of which about $6 goes to payroll taxes and $25 to the vendor.

It depends on the engineer's pay and the markup. A median US software developer at a 47% to 79% markup bills at about $96 to $117 an hour. For reference, Kforce's average Technology bill rate was about $90 an hour in 2025 (Kforce 2025 annual report). Second Talent charges $29 to $39 USD an hour, billed monthly.

Ask for the engineer's pay rate and the markup as separate lines in the contract, not just a bill rate. Add a clause that requires the vendor to disclose pay changes and lets you audit the pay rate. Then check the pay rate against public wage data for the role: the calculator shows the US 25th, median, 75th and 90th percentile pay for each seniority. If the vendor will not share the pay rate, assume the markup sits at the top of the range.

A pass-through model: you agree the salary with the engineer, and the provider charges a fixed, disclosed fee for employment, payroll and compliance. That is how an Employer of Record works. Second Talent's EOR starts from $129 per employee a month, and you can compare providers in the EOR cost calculator.

Per month it is often close. A direct US hire costs salary plus benefits and taxes, which were 30.8% of total compensation for professional workers (BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026), so about 45% on top of pay. A vendor at a 47% markup costs a similar amount, but recruiting is included and you can end the engagement without severance. A direct hire adds recruiting costs; see the recruitment cost calculator.

Second Talent helps US startups hire vetted AI-Native Engineers and Specialists from Asia. A full-time engineer costs $29 to $39 USD an hour, billed monthly ($4,599 to $5,999 for 160 hours). Salary, payroll taxes, benefits and our fee are in that one rate, with no markup on a hidden pay rate and a 90-day, one-time replacement guarantee. Against a US hire that is typically 50-70% less. The calculator places the rate within that range by seniority as a planning figure.

Pay rates are US national annual wages for each occupation in the May 2025 BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, divided by 2,080 hours; junior = 25th percentile, mid-level = median, senior = 75th and lead / staff = 90th. Roles map to BLS occupations: software developers (15-1252), web developers (15-1254), software quality assurance analysts and testers (15-1253), database architects (15-1243), data scientists (15-2051), computer network architects (15-1241), information security analysts (15-1212) and web and digital interface designers (15-1255). Payroll taxes are legally required benefits for professional workers, $4.81 per $50.98 of wages (9.4%), and direct-hire costs use a 69.2% wage share of total compensation, both from the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026. The 47% and 79% markups are derived from the gross margins in the Kforce and Robert Half 2025 annual reports.