Some of what you need built is properly someone else's work. What is hard is not finding a builder — it is knowing whether what comes back is right. Arc holds the architecture, the quality gates, and the acceptance criteria, and supervises whoever builds to them. Technical authority over the build, not labour inside it.
WHAT IT IS
The architecture and the gates stay Arc's.
Much of a build is genuinely ordinary work, well served by your own team or a vendor, and there is no reason for Arc to take it on. The difficulty is rarely finding someone to build it. It is that no one on your side can write the specification, judge the architecture that comes back, see where an AI system will fail quietly, or say with authority that what was delivered meets a standard. That judgement is what you are engaging.
So Arc holds the load-bearing layer: the architecture, the deterministic/non-deterministic boundary, the evaluation plan, the quality gates, and the acceptance criteria — and supervises whoever builds to them. The build is delivered to Arc's standard without Arc becoming your software department. Closer to a consulting architect than a development shop: Arc supplies judgement, artefacts, review, and acceptance.
TWO WAYS IT ARRIVES
Arc may build nothing, or build the core.
- 01
Arc supervises only
The build is ordinary work, properly given to your team or a vendor. Arc never writes the system — it writes the standard, reviews against it, and accepts.
- 02
Arc builds the core, supervises the rest
Arc builds the part that carries the intelligence — the engine, the core, the layer that has to be right. What surrounds it is ordinary platform work: authentication, single sign-on, cloud deployment, operations. That work is real and must be done well, but it is not where Arc is decisive and you should not be paying Arc's rate for it. Arc sets its standard and supervises whoever builds it.
The position is the same in both: Arc holds the standard and the acceptance. What moves is how much of the system Arc builds with its own hands.
WHO IT'S FOR
- You have your own developers, a solution architect, or a delivery vendor
- The AI-critical layer needs Arc's judgement, not more hands
- A build large enough that Arc should not take it end-to-end
- You want Arc's standard enforced on work others do
- You need someone accountable for whether the AI layer is right
- Arc has built your core, and the platform around it belongs elsewhere
THE SPLIT
Who holds what.
Arc holds
- Architecture & system design
- The deterministic / non-deterministic boundary
- The evaluation plan
- Quality gates
- Acceptance criteria
- Architecture & code review
Your team or vendor builds
- Implementation
- Interfaces & integration
- Deployment & operations
- The day-to-day delivery
Where Arc has also built the core, that sits on Arc's side of the line too. The split moves; the principle does not.
HOW IT RUNS
Arc defines and accepts; others build.
- 01
Architecture & spec
Arc designs the system and the deterministic/non-deterministic boundary, and writes the spec the build follows.
- 02
Gates & criteria
Arc defines what good means — the quality gates and the acceptance criteria the build must pass.
- 03
Build
Your own team or a vendor implements against the spec. Arc does not staff this.
- 04
Review
Arc reviews the work against the gates and flags what must change before it ships.
- 05
Acceptance
Arc signs off the AI-critical layer against the criteria; the system is yours to run.
THE POSITION
Judgement and artefacts, not developer-time.
Supervised delivery is engaged the way you engage a specialist's judgement, not a contractor's hours — as a review, an architecture, ongoing supervision, or a standing governance arrangement. Arc provides no unmanaged ad-hoc engineering; its time is for defined review, architecture, supervision, and governance.
The boundary is the point. Arc keeps your build to its standard and keeps itself a technical authority rather than another pair of hands. Where Arc should build the load-bearing layer itself, that is forward-deployed engineering — and the two compose: Arc can build the core under one and hold the standard over everything around it under the other.
ENQUIRE
Bring the build.
Write to us with the build you are planning, the team or vendor who would deliver it, and where the AI-critical risk sits. ArcSoft Pty Ltd signs and holds the commercial terms.
Should Arc build the load-bearing layer itself? Forward-Deployed Engineering →