Hire experts for ongoing or one-off engagements

An engagement lets you run ongoing expert work on OnFrontiers instead of managing it offline.

Use it for follow-on work after a project, or for a consulting arrangement you're already running outside the platform. There's no contract to draft, no manual invoicing, and no chasing hours by email: the expert logs time, you confirm it with a click, and OnFrontiers handles paying them, all against a not-to-exceed budget you set.

You manage engagements from the top menu bar, and each one also appears inside its project.

Start an engagement

There are two ways in, and both start from an expert you have already found.

• On a completed consultation, select Hire Expert for Ongoing Engagement.
• On an expert's profile, select Hire for ongoing work, then choose the project.

To submit a request:

• Describe the work and estimate the hours
• Pricing is confirmed at the offer step. The expert sets their hourly rate and the not-to-exceed total in their offer, and you see both before you accept
• Choose who confirms hours and who follows along
• Submit. The request goes to the expert

If the expert is not on OnFrontiers yet, send them the expert signup link first and hire them once their profile is active.

The expert sets the rate, you accept or decline

The expert reads your request and answers it with an offer: their hourly rate, the scope, the hours, and a start date. Nothing is committed until you respond.

• Select Accept offer to start the engagement, or Decline with a short reason
• The rate on the offer is the one that applies
• You see your hourly rate and not-to-exceed total; experts never see what you're charged, and you never see what they earn

What happens at each stage

Before an engagement starts you can withdraw the request, and the expert can decline it. Once it is active you can close it, and a brief window stays open to settle hours already worked.

Who approves what

Two approvals, and they answer different questions.

• Work approvers: the project's owners

  • Confirm hours the expert submits, in full, in part, or dispute with a note
  • Nothing is charged until hours are confirmed
  • If nobody responds, hours confirm automatically after 14 days by default, so the expert isn't left waiting

• Account owner

  • Approves the engagement itself when it's above your account's spend threshold, once, before work starts
  • This threshold is set to a default for every account unless you've asked us to change it
  • The drawer tells you at request time whether this is needed
  • Skipped if the person creating the engagement is already the account owner

Rates and billing

• The offer shows one hourly rate and a not-to-exceed total. The total is the most the engagement can cost.
• You are charged only for hours you confirm.
• You get an alert once the engagement reaches a default share of that total (80%), so there are no surprises near the cap.
• Smaller engagements draw on your credit balance. Engagements above your account's threshold are invoiced in USD instead, on default 15-day payment terms. If an engagement grows past the threshold later, it switches to invoicing from that point on and does not switch back.
• OnFrontiers pays the expert. You are billed by OnFrontiers and never pay the expert directly.
• Thresholds, timing windows, and alerts default to standard settings for every account. Contact OnFrontiers if you need different limits.

Messages

Chat is scoped to each engagement, in two channels:

• Engagement chat: shared with the expert and OnFrontiers
• Direct with OnFrontiers: yours with fulfillment managers only, the expert is not in it

Files travel as message attachments.

What engagements do not do yet

• Allow multiple experts per engagement.
• No fixed price and no retainer. Hourly work only.
• Pause engagements.
• Email alerts notify only. Reply in the platform, not by email or text.

Turn engagements on for your account

Engagements are enabled per account and are not available on every plan. If you do not see them, contact your Customer Success Manager or whoever has been managing your expert requests.