One client, ongoing
An engagement is continuous work with a single client, not a queue of small tasks. You join a team, you learn a codebase properly, and you stay long enough for that knowledge to be worth something.
That is the point of the model. Constantly winning small pieces of work is exhausting and it stops you ever doing your best work, because you never stay anywhere long enough to.
What is agreed before you start
Your rate, your level, when you are paid, and notice on both sides. All of it in writing, in a contract you sign before your first day rather than after it.
The contract is written to protect you as well as us. It confirms you are engaged to deliver an outcome rather than supervised hour by hour, which matters both for how the work feels and for your position as an independent contractor.
Work is accepted as you go
You record what you delivered as you go, and the client confirms it. It is a light step, not a performance review, and it exists so that nothing builds up unspoken.
The process is designed so that a client who goes quiet cannot stall you indefinitely, and so that a disagreement about one day is handled as one day rather than putting a whole week in question. The exact mechanics are set out in the agreement you sign before you start.
When it ends
Engagements end. Products get finished, budgets change, teams reshape. There is notice on both sides, written into your agreement, and the work is contracted right through it rather than wound down early.
We then work to find your next engagement within the network. We will not promise one is always waiting, because that would be a promise about our clients' hiring rather than about us. What we can say is that being placed once means we know your work, so you are not starting from nothing.
How this differs from the alternatives
It is not a job. There is no employment, no payroll, and no manager. You are a contractor running your own affairs.
It is not freelancing either. You are not bidding, not marketing yourself, not chasing invoices, and not negotiating your own rate under pressure. That work exists and we do it.
What it is closest to is being a trusted long-term contractor to one good team, with the administrative weight taken off you.