A senior creative or developer in the US runs $180-260K all-in once you load benefits, equipment, training, and the manager-time tax. If utilization sits at 65% — typical for a year-one senior — the effective hourly rate is north of $180.

That's before you account for a hire that doesn't pan out. Replacement cost on a senior role lands between 1.5× and 2× annual salary. One bad hire can erase a quarter of profit.

A partnership lets you treat senior capacity as variable cost. You pay for what you use, scale up the moment a brief lands, and stop paying when the brief ends. The headcount stays at one (yours).

It also removes the management burden — you don't onboard, you don't perform-manage, you don't carry the firing risk. Those are real costs even when the numbers look like zero on a P&L.