Dedicated Client Services
Embed a senior cybersecurity professional in your organization at 40 hours per week, on a monthly retainer. One dedicated resource. One accountable principal. Zero bait-and-switch.
The Problem
Most mid-market organizations cannot recruit a senior security engineer, cloud architect, or GRC lead on a competitive timeline. Compensation expectations are at all-time highs, hiring cycles stretch for months, and good candidates are consumed by FAANG and the largest managed security providers before mid-sized teams can even interview.
Traditional staff augmentation was the default answer, and it has quietly failed. Contractors are billed at senior rates but delivered at junior depth. Institutional knowledge walks out the door at the end of every statement of work. The vendor manages utilization, not outcomes.
Deep Layer Security Advisory's Dedicated Client Services model is deliberately different. A single senior practitioner is embedded in your team at 40 hours a week, under a fixed monthly retainer, with principal oversight and a documented set of quarterly outcomes. No bench. No hand-offs. No ambiguity about who is accountable.
Available Roles
Every dedicated resource is a senior or principal practitioner. No rotating benches, no stealth offshoring, no delivery through junior analysts you never interviewed.
A hands-on senior engineer embedded in your security or platform team, owning day-to-day operational security and hardening.
Principal-level cloud architect driving landing zone design, posture management, and DevSecOps across AWS, Azure, GCP, or OCI.
Your embedded AI and machine learning security specialist — securing AI adoption end-to-end from model development and LLM deployment pipelines to AI governance frameworks and regulatory readiness.
Dedicated governance, risk, and compliance operator running your compliance calendar, evidence collection, and control ownership.
Detection engineer dedicated to your SOC — building, tuning, and operating detections against real adversary behavior.
Full-time virtual CISO accountable for strategy, governance, board reporting, and cross-functional security leadership.
How It Works
Engagements move through a defined five-step sequence so both sides know exactly what happens when — and who owns each step.
Week 0
A 45-minute working session to confirm the role type, reporting line, tooling, clearance or compliance constraints, and the outcomes the first 90 days need to produce.
Week 0–1
We match the engagement to a senior practitioner with the right domain depth. You review the proposed resource, scope of work, and success criteria before anything is signed.
2 business days
Accounts, access, tooling, calendars, and stakeholder introductions completed within two business days of kickoff so the dedicated resource is productive in week one.
40 hrs / week
The resource operates as an embedded member of your team — in your standups, on your tickets, in your Slack — with defined objectives, not open-ended staff augmentation billing.
Recurring
Monthly executive reports on outcomes, metrics, and risk posture. Quarterly business reviews to re-baseline scope, priorities, and the next quarter's objectives.
Model Comparison
The same seat on your org chart can be filled three different ways. The economics and the outcomes are not the same.
| Dimension | DLSA Dedicated | Traditional Staff Aug | Full-Time Hire |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level of expertise | Senior / principal practitioners only | Mixed — often junior with senior-priced hours | Depends entirely on the candidate market |
| Ramp-up time | Productive in week one | 2–4 weeks of billable ramp-up | 60–120 days to full productivity |
| Institutional knowledge | Retained across the engagement and documented | Walks out the door when the contractor rolls off | Retained — if the hire stays |
| Management overhead | Principal oversight included — no babysitting | You manage the contractor and the vendor | Full people-management responsibility |
| Flexibility | 3-month terms with quarterly re-scoping | Time-and-materials exposure, limited flexibility | Rigid — severance, notice, and HR overhead |
| Executive reporting | Monthly execs + quarterly business review included | Not included — additional fees if available | Depends on the hire's seniority |
| Replacement guarantee | 5 business day replacement SLA if fit is wrong | Case-by-case, often weeks of delay | Restart the hiring process from zero |
Engagement Terms
Commercial terms are published, not negotiated line by line in a black box. Everything below applies to every dedicated engagement.
Initial term
3-month commitment
Month-to-month continuation after the initial term, with 30 days' notice to end.
Capacity
40 hours per week
Full-time, single-client focus during engagement hours.
Billing model
Fixed monthly retainer
No time-and-materials surprises. Scope and fee defined up front.
Onboarding SLA
2 business days
From signed SOW to productive week-one work.
Replacement guarantee
5 business days
If the match is wrong, a replacement resource is sourced and onboarded within five business days.
Reporting cadence
Monthly exec + quarterly business review
Outcomes, metrics, risk posture, and forward priorities delivered on a fixed cadence.
A 45-minute scoping call is enough to determine the right role, the first 90 days of outcomes, and whether a dedicated engagement is the right answer for your environment.