Finishing up my server and I know this might be a stupid question, but what perms does a dev normally need on your server? 

I think you are right in the first instance, YOU are the server owner/Admin. its up to YOU what plugins you install on it and it is up to YOU what configuration you choose for those plugins, Devs have absolutely no interest in your server , The only thing devs are interested in is their product and some recognition of the time they spend in keeping it working,
As for permissions to use aspects of those plugins that is again YOUR choice who gets those permissions , If you want other people to be admins/moderators on your server YOU are the one that makes that choice and to what degree they have control to do anything by use of permissions granted to them.

So i dev other games not really rust im still kinda new to it but what pookins said is true and another thing is alot of (Dev from what i understand) that are looking around for work are usally people that just have a basic understaning of the game and are really just looking to get a high rank in a server. best thing to do is just watch some youtube videos (srtbull is a really good channel to watch to learn about rust) and do it on your own this way if anything goes wrong with the server you'll know how to fix it and you wouldn't have to rely on someone else's.

pookins

I think you are right in the first instance, YOU are the server owner/Admin. its up to YOU what plugins you install on it and it is up to YOU what configuration you choose for those plugins, Devs have absolutely no interest in your server , The only thing devs are interested in is their product and some recognition of the time they spend in keeping it working,
As for permissions to use aspects of those plugins that is again YOUR choice who gets those permissions , If you want other people to be admins/moderators on your server YOU are the one that makes that choice and to what degree they have control to do anything by use of permissions granted to them.

I wasn't really talking about a dev that controls my server. Its more of an emergency solution if I am away. Or a problem is severe, but I get your point tho.

Gioirizarry

So i dev other games not really rust im still kinda new to it but what pookins said is true and another thing is alot of (Dev from what i understand) that are looking around for work are usally people that just have a basic understaning of the game and are really just looking to get a high rank in a server. best thing to do is just watch some youtube videos (srtbull is a really good channel to watch to learn about rust) and do it on your own this way if anything goes wrong with the server you'll know how to fix it and you wouldn't have to rely on someone else's.

 I wouldn't pay a dev who doesn't know what he is doing. And ive actually watched srtbull a lot hahahah. So don't worry i'm doing everything myself.

In a perfect world I recomend this work flow when it comes to dev work, have 3 servers

1. dev server
2. staging server
3. live server

The dev server is a low end budget temporary instance / vps etc. Dev only has access to dev server, its firewalled off from the internet but only whitelisted to trusted ips / jump hosts etc to do dev work on. Be sure to copy over your rust server config with something like rsync (be sure to clense any personal data, logs, rcon passwords, etc). Once the dev is done, review the code yourself / with your team, then copy it over to staging.

Staging server is a 1:1 copy of your live server(same os, updates, specs) Ideally on the same as live but running on a different port / interface that is firewalled off to all but you and your testing q.a. team. Use this to test / benchmark performence differences and compadibility etc.

Live server is the server that the world can connect too, and is running the live code etc.

So to recap, dev only has access to dev server, you review + test on staging, then push changes to live when all looks good.

Dev can run the server on his PC or you can do it on your computer if possible and both of you will pay nothing, then the completed work from the Dev is moved to the main server from you. As I have experience when made my complete x2 server, finished with the main stuff 1st couple days when decided to turn it x2... then only used to update next months, outdated plugins if they break after the forced update or if wanna add something new I do it myself because its single plugin, so you do not need dev most of the time to set up, configure, bugfix tons of sh*t daily... But yeah if you need this with the dev server works great. In-game (live server) you can give him permission too for Permission manager, run oxide commands in F1 and etc, you can also give him FTP access and RCON access but he might f*ck up the server, anyways if you do not trust him why you gonna make him dev at all? If you want someone for an emergency like server is down or needs update etc, check control panel for your host if they support sub-users, so make for him new sub-user to only allow him stop/start/restart server...