Contract Data Team for Insurance Block Migrations
Four hourly seats for an acquired block, staffed in days and priced from published index rates.
The seat rates are right below. Reading them takes no form.
KORE1 staffs hourly contract teams for acquired block conversions, four seats in all. A senior contract data engineer bills $118 to $140 an hour nationally, about $134,400 for six months (KORE1 Contract Rate Index 2026-Q4, modeled).
Last updated: October 22, 2026
A block acquisition closes on a date. The transition services agreement starts a clock the same day. By then the buyer has a funded project, a seller’s data tape and roughly six months. What’s missing is the people. Four of them, as it turns out. A tape analyst, a mapping data engineer, a reconciliation business systems analyst and a project manager.
That’s a closed block migration data team. It needn’t be permanent. KORE1 places the seats on W2 contracts, billed by the hour. Your manager directs the work. The tape-to-file data work itself lives on our closed block migration data services page, and the recruiters behind these seats work the insurance and data lines of our IT staffing services, through the insurance IT staffing desk and our contract staffing model.
“Companies may not approve three or four permanent hires, but they may absolutely approve the resources or project team necessary to complete a $300K or $500K initiative that has already been funded.”
Devin Hornick, Partner at KORE1, October 16, 2026
A conversion fits that logic. Funded at signing. Dated by the agreement. Finished when the converted file ties out. How many seats does one block need? Four, for a single product family moving from one source system, and our team size and duration guide shows the arithmetic. The wider case for putting funded work on contract is in staffing a project without adding headcount.
Which Seats Does KORE1 Staff for a Block Conversion?
Four seats cover one product family moving from one source system to one new platform. Each strip shows a typical 26-week run and the national median bill rate.
-
Seat
Tape analyst
Data analyst, midOwnsProfiles the seller’s tape before anyone maps a field, then hands the seller a written list of questions.
Typical runWeeks 1 to 14Median$95per hour -
Seat
Mapping engineer
Data engineer, seniorOwnsWrites the source-to-target spec and the load code, and settles what counts as a rider.
Typical runWeeks 3 to 26Median$129per hour -
Seat
Reconciliation analyst
Business systems analyst, midOwnsWalks the policy count every month until the unexplained line reads zero or has a name on every row.
Typical runWeeks 3 to 26Median$84per hour -
Seat
Project manager
IT project manager, seniorOwnsReads the transition services schedule first, then holds the cutover plan and the seller’s delivery dates.
Typical runWeeks 1 to 26Median$106per hour
Yellow tab, from week 1. Steel tab, from week 3. These are the modeled windows from our team size guide. Yours will differ.
What Does Each Seat Cost per Hour?
Every figure is a bill rate, what an employer pays through a staffing firm, at 40 hours a week. Three months is 13 weeks. Six months is 26.
| Seat2 | Level | Market | Bill range1 | Median | 3 months | 6 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit | $ / hr | $ / hr | $ | $ | ||
| U.S. national, four seats | ||||||
| Tape analystData analyst · Modeled | Mid | U.S. national | $82 to $111 | $95 | $49,600 | $99,200 |
| Mapping engineerData engineer · Modeled | Senior | U.S. national | $118 to $140 | $129 | $67,200 | $134,400 |
| Reconciliation analystBusiness systems analyst · Modeled | Mid | U.S. national | $75 to $95 | $84 | $43,700 | $87,300 |
| Project managerIT project manager · Modeled | Senior | U.S. national | $93 to $114 | $106 | $54,900 | $109,800 |
| Four-seat team3Sum of the four national medians | All four | U.S. national | n/a | $414 | $215,400 | $430,700 |
| KORE1 observed placements | ||||||
| Project managerIT project manager · KORE1 observed, n=21 | All levels | Southern California, mostly | $105 to $124 | $116 | $60,400 | $120,900 |
| Senior mapping engineer by metro | ||||||
| Mapping engineerData engineer · Modeled | Senior | Boston, MA | $128 to $143 | $132 | $68,800 | $137,600 |
| Mapping engineerData engineer · Modeled | Senior | Chicago, IL | $120 to $139 | $128 | $66,800 | $133,500 |
| Mapping engineerData engineer · Modeled | Senior | New York, NY | $117 to $145 | $134 | $69,800 | $139,600 |
| Mapping engineerData engineer · Modeled | Senior | Philadelphia, PA | $134 to $154 | $143 | $74,200 | $148,300 |
| Mapping engineerData engineer · Modeled | Senior | Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN | $112 to $132 | $122 | $63,300 | $126,700 |
- 1Bill range is the 25th to 75th percentile. It includes payroll taxes, workers’ compensation, insurance and a modeled 24% employer burden.
- 2Modeled rows use BLS OEWS May 2025 wages for SOC 15-1243 (data engineer), 15-2051 (data analyst), 15-1211 (business systems analyst) and 13-1082 (project manager). The observed row is KORE1’s own project manager placements, 21 started 2023 to 2026, primarily Southern California.
- 3The team row adds the four national medians and holds every seat for all 26 weeks. It’s a planning figure, not a quote.
Two things move the bill. The engineer is the expensive seat, and the city changes it. A senior mapping engineer in Philadelphia runs about $13,900 more over six months than the national median, and Minneapolis-St. Paul runs about $7,700 under it, which is why a conversion rarely needs the engineer sitting where the block does.
The project manager row is different in kind. It’s real placement data. Not a model. At $116 an hour it sits above the modeled $106, and seat by seat the detail is on our data analyst, business analyst and project manager bill rate pages, while the other cities are in IT contractor rates by city.
Get a bill rate quote for your conversion team
Send us the seats, levels, start date, length and metro. A KORE1 recruiter prices it from the same index you just read.
How Fast Can the Team Start?
Once you accept a candidate, a KORE1 contractor starts a median of 3 days later, across 1,997 placements from 2019 to 2026, and 86% of them started within a week.
The clock starts at your yes. Sourcing comes first. In a regulated shop the access and security reviews can stretch the last mile, so open the equipment and access requests the day you extend the offer, not the day the candidate accepts.
History, not a promise. We don’t guarantee a start date. The data runs 79% California. The full breakdown is in How Fast Can a Contractor Start.
3 days
Median from accepted offer to first day
86%
Started within a week of the offer
37%
Started the same day
1,040 hrs
Then a contractor can convert to your payroll at no fee
Start data is KORE1’s job-activity report, 1,997 placements from 2019 to 2026. Method is in how the contract rate index is built.
What Breaks If the Conversion Misses the Transition Services Date?
A transition services agreement is the seller’s promise to keep administering the block until a set date. After it, you’re negotiating, not planning.
Premiums and claims keep running on the seller’s system while your platform holds half a file. The reinsurer still wants its monthly numbers, so somebody ties the two systems out by hand, and that spreadsheet quietly becomes the book of record.
Put the seller’s extension quote next to those numbers. Then decide. We won’t predict what a regulator or a counterparty does about a late conversion, and the plan doesn’t need to. It only has to show what each late week costs in people, and who’s doing the work. The team size and duration guide prices the slip seat by seat.
How Does the Contract Team Work Alongside Closed Block Data Services?
They’re two answers to the same deal. Pick the seats when you already have a conversion plan and a manager to run it. Pick the data work when you want the tape replay and the count walk delivered.
Contract seats, this page
KORE1 staffs, you direct
KORE1 recruits, employs and pays the four contractors. Your manager sets the work, signs the hours and moves people on and off as the plan changes. Billing is hourly. Simple.
Closed block data services
KORE1 delivers the data work
KORE1 runs the tape replay, the record spec and the monthly count walk with data and AI consultant Khurram Tehseen, and recruits the analysts and engineers who carry it. See how a block is walked from tape to converted file.
What Does KORE1 Commit to on Contract?
A short list. Contract is hourly work, and we’d rather promise four things we keep.
Arrival
Show up on time
Your contractors start on the agreed day and arrive when your team does.
Payroll
Paid on Fridays
Every contractor is paid weekly, on Friday, so nobody on your block chases a paycheck.
Replacement
No guarantee on contract
Contract seats carry no replacement guarantee. We say so up front. Don’t build a plan that leans on one.
Conversion
No-fee conversion at 1,040 hours
After 1,040 hours a contractor can convert to your payroll with no fee from KORE1. That’s 26 weeks at 40 hours.
A seat held for the whole 26-week run is exactly 1,040 hours, so keep the reconciliation analyst through the first quarter on the new platform and then convert the seat if the person fits. What that choice costs against a direct hire fee is in our contract-to-hire vs direct hire cost comparison.
How the Rates Are Built
Two kinds of cell. Always labeled. You’ll know which rows are placements and which are a model.
- VersionKORE1 Contract Rate Index 2026-Q4, effective October 16, 2026. Updated quarterly, next in January 2027.
- ObservedKORE1’s own W2 contract placements with 2023 to 2026 starts, published only where a cell has five or more. 180 placements sit behind the 15 observed cells.
- ModeledBLS OEWS May 2025 wages, a 24% employer burden and the bill-to-cost range KORE1 sees on its own placements.
- Left outPayrolling, direct hire, offshore and corp-to-corp work, and placements whose bill and pay fall outside the normal range. Contractor pay isn’t published.
- SourcesBLS OEWS May 2025 release, BLS OEWS metro and national tables, IRS Publication 15 for the employer payroll taxes inside the burden, and how the contract rate index is built.
Cite this page
KORE1. KORE1 Contract Rate Index, version 2026-Q4 (effective October 16, 2026). https://www.kore1.com/contract-data-team-insurance-block-migration/
Common Questions
What does a senior contract data engineer cost for a block conversion?
A senior contract data engineer bills $118 to $140 an hour nationally, median $129, or about $134,400 for six months at 40 hours a week (KORE1 Contract Rate Index 2026-Q4, modeled). That’s a bill rate, so it includes payroll taxes, insurance and a modeled 24% burden. Boston runs $128 to $143, Philadelphia $134 to $154 and Minneapolis-St. Paul $112 to $132.
What does the project manager seat run?
KORE1’s own project manager placements billed $105 to $124 an hour, median $116, about $120,900 for six months (KORE1 Contract Rate Index 2026-Q4, observed, 21 placements started 2023 to 2026, primarily Southern California). The modeled senior national figure is lower, $93 to $114 with a $106 median. Budget toward the observed number.
Can the team convert to our payroll after cutover?
Yes, a contractor who completes 1,040 hours can convert to your payroll at no fee from KORE1. That’s 26 weeks at 40 hours a week, the length of a full conversion run. Talk to your recruiter before you make an offer earlier than that.
Who manages the contractors, KORE1 or us?
You do, because KORE1 recruits, employs and pays the four contractors while your manager directs the work and signs off the hours. We bill hourly, so a week more or a week less simply shows up on the next invoice. Want it delivered instead? That’s our closed block migration data services.
How fast can the four seats start?
A KORE1 contractor starts a median of 3 days after the offer is accepted, measured across 1,997 placements from 2019 to 2026, and 86% started within a week. The clock starts at your yes, so sourcing time comes first. No start date is guaranteed.
Price the Four Seats for Your Conversion
Send the seats, levels, start date, length and metro. A KORE1 recruiter prices the team from the same index you just read.
Get a Bill Rate Quote for Your Conversion Team →Or download the 2026 contract rate card, or run your own numbers in the contract staffing cost calculator.
