FAQ
Questions we get asked before an engagement starts
Honest answers. If yours isn't here, ask us directly.
Working with us
- How quickly can you start an engagement?
- Typically one to two weeks from a signed statement of work. For straightforward engagements we can sometimes move faster. We don't carry a bench of idle consultants — we plan our capacity honestly, and if we can't start when you need us, we'll tell you rather than over-promise.
- Do you work remotely, on-site, or hybrid?
- All three, depending on what the work requires. Most engagements are hybrid — remote for deep work, on-site for workshops, stakeholder sessions, and decision points that benefit from being in the room. We're based in London and work across the UK.
- How large are your engagement teams?
- Usually one to three people. We're a focused practice, not a staffing agency. You get senior practitioners on the work, not a senior face in the pitch followed by a team of juniors on delivery. If an engagement needs more capacity than we can provide, we'll tell you.
- Can you sign an NDA before we discuss the details?
- Yes, always. We'll send a standard mutual NDA before any discovery conversation. If you'd prefer to use your own form, send it over and we'll review it promptly.
Engagements and scope
- What does a typical engagement look like?
- Most engagements run in phases: a short discovery (one to two weeks) to define scope and constraints, followed by delivery phases with clear milestones and review points. We build in a structured handover — we don't want clients dependent on us indefinitely. Scope, timelines, and success criteria are agreed before we start.
- Do you do fixed-price work?
- For well-defined scopes, yes. For exploratory or advisory work, we use a time-and-materials model with an agreed cap. We're clear about this upfront — we won't run a T&M engagement without boundaries, and we won't take a fixed-price contract on a scope we know will change.
- What happens at the end of an engagement?
- We build towards a structured handover: documentation, runbooks, training for your team, and a defined exit state. We don't design engagements to create dependency. If there's ongoing support needed, we agree a separate retainer with explicit scope.
- Can you work within an existing programme rather than running one independently?
- Yes — and this is often how we're most useful. Embedding alongside an existing team to provide specific expertise, challenge assumptions, or fill a capability gap is a common engagement model. We've done this inside large bank transformation programmes and smaller in-house teams.
AI and regulated environments
- We have a POC that's ready but can't get it past legal or compliance. Can you help?
- This is one of the most common problems we see. Governance, audit trails, escalation paths, and test frameworks are often absent from POC builds — not because they're hard, but because they weren't in scope when the prototype was designed. Our approach is to audit the governance gap specifically and address each blocker in sequence, without rebuilding the model. The model is rarely the problem.
- Do you work on AI strategy, or only delivery?
- Both, but we're strongest on delivery. If you have an AI strategy that isn't translating into working systems, that's where we're most useful. Pure strategy work without a path to implementation isn't something we pursue.
- Do you have experience with the FCA's expectations around AI in regulated financial services?
- The founder's background is in regulated financial-services delivery — core banking, payments, and test governance at large institutions. We design AI systems with legal sign-off as a first-class requirement: audit trails, escalation paths, explainability documentation, and test frameworks that demonstrate consistent behaviour across protected-characteristic inputs. We're not a law firm and don't give legal advice — but we know what your compliance team will ask, and we build for it from the start.
- What's your approach to AI testing?
- We test AI systems the same way we test any critical system: defined input distributions, explicit pass/fail criteria, regression packs that run pre-deployment, and a documented process for handling outputs outside expected bounds. For LLM-based systems we add non-determinism-aware evaluation frameworks — the absence of a fixed output doesn't mean the absence of testable properties.
Commercial
- What's your day rate?
- We don't publish day rates — engagements vary in scope and team composition. What we don't do is underprice to win work and then expand scope. We give honest estimates and we stick to them. Contact us with a brief description of what you're working on and we'll give you a frank view of what it would cost.
- Are you VAT registered?
- Yes. TechRock Ltd is VAT registered in the UK. Our company number is 15719754, registered in England and Wales.
- Do you work with startups, or only enterprise clients?
- We work with organisations that have real delivery problems — company size is less relevant than the seriousness of the problem. We're not the right fit for early-stage product development or pre-revenue startups; we're most useful when there's an existing system, programme, or process that isn't working as it should.
Still have questions?
Tell us what you're working on. A 30-minute conversation will tell you more than this page can.