Hiring external developers: a brief, assessment and onboarding checklist
Practical questions for assessing a proposed role and planning access, collaboration and handover.
Planning notes
Practical questions for assessing a proposed role and planning access, collaboration and handover.
Write the role brief
Describe the work, the existing system and the skills needed to make a useful contribution. Include who manages the role, who reviews changes and any restrictions on access or working location. Distinguish essential requirements from experience that would be helpful.
Ask for relevant evidence
Request examples the supplier has permission to share, and ask what the proposed person actually contributed. An interview or appropriately scoped assessment can explore technical reasoning and communication. Agree the format, ownership of any submitted work and payment where applicable. Do not infer delivery quality from a CV keyword count.
Plan access and the first task
Identify the accounts, repositories, environments and documentation needed for the initial work. Assign someone to answer questions and review the first change. Grant access appropriate to the task and record how it will be removed when no longer needed. Avoid sharing production credentials in a general enquiry or interview.
Agree collaboration hours
Write down the periods when people need to be available together, how decisions are recorded and how urgent questions are escalated. Include public holidays and time off in the plan. A location label alone does not establish working-hour overlap or support coverage.
Record review and handover terms
Agree how work is accepted, how concerns are raised and what happens if the role or project changes. Include notice, documentation and access removal. Availability, replacement terms, fees and any contract-to-hire arrangement depend on the actual agreement; this checklist does not promise a particular hiring speed.
Further reading
For questions about information access and international processing, see ICO international-transfer guidance. For questions to assess a cloud service, see the NCSC cloud security principles.