An infrastructure engineer develops and helps maintain the foundation of physical buildings or software cloud foundations. Infrastructure engineers have multiple skill sets, including civil engineering, software development, and architecture.
A freelance infrastructure engineer can make computer science jobs easier or advance building operations. The cost to hire an engineering freelancer on Upwork is an affordable option to consider instead of spending towards an infrastructure engineer’s salary or hiring an engineering firm.
Infrastructure engineers could be creators in a specific engineering discipline or software engineers with extensive training in several programming languages and system design.
The cost to hire an infrastructure engineer will vary due to many factors, including years of experience, the scope of work and timeline for the infrastructure project, market conditions, and the freelancer’s location. Depending on the industry direction of your infrastructure project, you want to make sure that the infrastructure engineer is familiar with the information systems or structural engineering required to complete the job.
The best way to estimate the cost of an infrastructure engineer for your upcoming job is to clearly define your specific project needs, any stakeholder’s input, and determine whether the project is ongoing as things may change with an infrastructure. This could be laid out in a job description or job posting on Upwork.
Experience and expertise
When hiring an infrastructure engineer, it’s important to consider their level of expertise and years of experience in cloud infrastructure or an engineering discipline. A more seasoned infrastructure engineer with full-time experience may command higher pay to develop your AWS backend or architectural building initiatives. Rates for an experienced infrastructure engineer can start at around $75 per hour.
A freelancer that is new to infrastructure engineering may have a more competitive low-cost price, but they might require a longer timeline and could still be learning what’s required to get the job done. Rates for a beginner or intermediate freelancer tend to start at $25 an hour.
Consider what type of infrastructure engineering skills and even education level are relevant to your project. Keep in mind that a freelance infrastructure engineer with a Master’s Degree or experience in automation, computer science, architecture, project management, local governments, and back-end development could be valuable in providing a high-quality system design, but that experience could affect the cost and your project’s profitability.
Scope of work
The scope of work is a step-by-step outline of the project milestones, timeline, expertise, and recommended years of experience needed to get the job done. Be sure to develop a detailed scope of work before hiring an infrastructure engineer, so that the average salary or costs associated with your specific infrastructure project needs are accurate.
Will this be a job related to the cloud or to a building? What metrics can you provide to the freelancer to help them complete the job? Do you have the details from your local government for the infrastructure engineer to keep in mind the quality of life and even stormwater? These are just a few important factors to keep in mind when it comes to defining the project scope before hiring an infrastructure engineer.
Timeline
A beginner infrastructure engineer should be able to execute standard cloud administration or software project management in a short period of time. However, more complex infrastructure projects for solution architecture, automation, and specific rules from a local government or cloud system could take several weeks or months to complete. If you have a flexible schedule, you may be able to negotiate a lower rate with even the most experienced infrastructure engineer. If you are on a strict timeline or need the project completed last minute, you might have to pay a premium.
Geography
The cost of hiring an infrastructure engineer can also be affected by their geographic location. Outsourcing your project to freelancers on Upwork or LinkedIn from another country with a lower cost of living can help reduce your cost to hire or increase your ability to negotiate a fixed price. However, if you prefer a freelancer in a country with a higher cost of living, you may have to adjust your expected pay or budget for their time and effort.
Popular infrastructure engineer projects & costs examples
While there will be multiple iterations included in your costs, here are a few common infrastructure projects you can find on Upwork in real-time:
Backend Developer: $500-$750
The cost of creating an infrastructure with a specific programming language like Python, AWS, SQL, or even Javascript will depend on the skill level of the engineer and their knowledge of the language required to build it.
Engineering Software: $100-$250
The cost of writing macros or the infrastructure basics for structural engineering software will depend on the skill level of the engineer and their knowledge of the language required to write these types of scripts.
Solutions Architecture: $500-$1,000
The cost of developing cloud infrastructure solutions for an AWS back-end or other framework will depend on the skill level of the engineer and their knowledge of the system design required to complete these DevOps jobs.
Find talent at the world’s work marketplace
If you’re looking to hire a freelancer to develop high-end infrastructure or design systems that can improve your overall cloud infrastructure, Upwork has infrastructure engineers that can complete the project on time and within your budget. Get access to top professionals and infrastructure engineers with the experience and expertise you need on Upwork.
Upwork is not affiliated with and does not sponsor or endorse any of the tools or services discussed in this section. These tools and services are provided only as potential options, and each reader and company should take the time needed to adequately analyze and determine the tools or services that would best fit their specific needs and situation.