Working backwards from go-live: how to staff a new contract without paying twice for the same headcount.
Twelve weeks out
Confirm the TUPE picture and the genuine gaps. Everything downstream depends on knowing which seats are transferring and which you are actually hiring. Guessing here is how contracts end up over-recruited on paper and short on site.
Eight weeks out
Hire the supervisor or contract manager first. They shape the rota, sit on the technical interviews and hold the client relationship from day one. Recruiting engineers before that role is filled means re-running conversations once the leadership arrives.
Four weeks out
Notice periods are the constraint, not availability. Anyone starting on go-live day needed an offer a month earlier. Build the shortlist around the leaving dates you already know rather than hoping for a fast release.
Go-live
Keep one flexible seat unfilled for the first month. Every mobilisation reveals a gap the specification missed, and holding a little capacity is far cheaper than restructuring a fully committed team in week three.
