Overview

Have you decided to create a mobile app? You’ll very certainly need the assistance of a group of people to construct it. Fluttertop has been producing mobile apps for over eleven years, so we know a thing or two about putting together an app development team. Putting together a team for a new project can be tough; many factors must be considered, and a poorly structured team can sabotage the entire development process. We’ll go over the app development team structure, what specialists you’ll need and how many of them you’ll need, and how much it’ll cost in this article so you can get started developing your app faster.

You’ll need the following people on board.

The size and composition of the team is largely determined by the app’s complexity, although there are some jobs in the mobile app development team that are required for any small to medium-scale project.

  • Developers
    They create the app’s architecture — every interface and function — by writing code.
    If you want to build native iOS and Android apps, you’ll need developers who can write in Kotlin and Swift, and if you want to build a cross-platform app (Flutter, React Native, Ionic), you’ll need developers who are familiar with these platforms and coding languages. Two developers should suffice for a simple project. You’ll need a Backend Developer to manage databases if your app will be storing data or processing payments.
  • QA Engineer
    QA Engineer ensures that the app’s final version maintains the specified level of quality. This team member is in charge of reviewing all requirements and technical papers and human and automated app testing and bug tracking. Depending on the development technology used, QA engineers require an extensive understanding of testing technologies such as Robotium, Selenium, TestComplete, etc.
  • The manager of the project
    The PM is the team’s leader, coordinating all team members and communicating directly with the client. He ensures that the app development is completed on time, within budget, and according to the client’s specifications. To generate transparent and effective communication within the team, other departments, and the client, a project manager must be a proactive leader with excellent soft skills. Any mobile app development project manager should be familiar with the Agile management approach, which emphasises client and developer cooperation, flexible response to changes, and experience with management software such as Asana, TeamGantt, and Confluence.
  • UI/UX Designer
    UX/UI Designers handle the app’s visual style and how it looks and feels. They create wireframes for future apps using UI element layouts and graphical prototypes and decide how simple and fun the app’s user experience will be. UX/UI designers require excellent visual communication skills and analytical abilities, which come in helpful during UX research, such as user surveys and usability tests. Invision Studio, Sketch, Proto.io, Webflow, Balsamiq, and Axure are the most popular applications among these professions.

The size of the app development team

The number of people you’ll need onboard is determined by several factors, the most important of which are listed below.

  1. a) Platforms that are supported
    Because native apps are built-in distinct languages (Swift for iOS and Kotlin for Android) and demand slightly different skill sets, you’ll need many developers if you’re developing them for both platforms. Using a cross-platform framework (Ionic, Flutter, React Native) to create an app can be a preferable option. There is only one set of code shared across both platforms, requiring fewer developers and saving money.
  2. b) The complexity of an app
    Apps with many features and integrations, like social networks and digital marketplaces, necessitate a lot of programming and problem fixes. For example, developing a messaging feature takes over 160 hours — a month’s worth of full-time work — therefore, you’ll almost certainly need more developers working on such projects simultaneously. In addition, tablet compatibility may lead to a complete redesign of the app’s interfaces for a team of 1–2 UX/UI designers, which can be time-consuming and require a lot of effort. Increase the number of QA engineers for projects with high-security levels, such as banking apps, to cover all aspects of testing and audits. Some projects may require more foundation throughout the research and prototyping stages, necessitating the hiring of additional business analysts and designers.
  3. c) Deadlines
    Although each project is different, the following are typical timelines for developing an app with a team that includes a project manager, two developers (including backend), a QA engineer, and a UX/UI designer:
    2–4 months for a simple app (with only a few features and screens and a simple design);
    6–10 months for medium-complexity apps (more features, screens and
    graphic elements).
    8+ months for complex projects that require hardware or payment service integrations, interactive graphics, or a large backend. If this is the case, adding more developers and designers to your team will help you get your product to market faster.
  4. d) Size of the budget
    It’s critical to customise the team setup to the anticipated problems and tasks. While hiring too few specialists or solely junior and middle-level developers may interfere and stall the development of a difficult project, hiring too many talents on a relatively basic project can balloon the budget without improving quality or pace. A proper app development estimation is extremely helpful in defining the appropriate size of a team so that the development process may proceed normally without members continually overworking and an unduly strained budget.
  5. e) Salaries of team members
    Wages for app developers are determined by their qualifications, skills, and, most crucially, their location. Software programmers in the United Kingdom, for example, earn roughly $60,000 per year, whereas specialists with the same competence in Eastern European countries (for example, Russia and Ukraine) make $25-30,000 per year. If your organisation is headquartered in the United States, Australia, or Western Europe, employing an app development team in another country makes sense to save money.

Conclusion

Setting up an app development team necessitates research and strategy. Analyze your project’s requirements carefully and assess its complexity. Don’t hire too many people and stretch your budget, and don’t hire too few people and have a long and difficult development process. Aside from engaging an in-house team or freelancers, a development business can hand the project over to an already established team of professionals. This method has a lot of advantages in terms of cost and management. 

Fluttertop has a lot of expertise working on projects of various complexity for various businesses. Fill out the form now, and we’ll give you an estimate within 24 hours.