The client context
A fast-growing U.S.-based SaaS company was entering a critical phase of product expansion. Demand was rising, customers were requesting new capabilities, and the executive team had aggressive roadmap commitments tied to revenue. But their engineering team was already stretched thin. Hiring in the U.S. had slowed to a crawl, salaries were increasing rapidly, and early signs of burnout were beginning to surface.
The CTO knew they needed to scale engineering capacity quickly — but without doubling their burn rate or compromising quality. They also needed access to niche skills that were becoming harder to find locally, including automation, DevOps, QA, backend engineering, and product support.
After speaking with several offshore vendors and not feeling confident in the quality, structure, or management approach, the company turned to us to explore whether a distributed global engineering model could solve their constraints.
The challenge
The company’s challenges were layered and growing. They needed to increase delivery velocity to meet ambitious roadmap commitments, but adding more onshore engineering talent wasn’t realistic — salaries were rising, senior candidates were scarce, and the local hiring market had become increasingly competitive. Traditional outsourcing didn’t feel like the right fit either. Their product was complex, quality mattered, and they needed engineers who could operate as true extensions of their team, not contractors working at arm’s length.
There were also broader strategic concerns. Their entire engineering organization was based in the United States, with a critical backup function in a high-risk region. Leadership knew this created concentration risk. Any disruption — political, economic, or environmental — could impact both their core team and their contingency layer at the same time.
They needed a way to access high-quality technical talent sustainably, without compromising working style, communication, or culture. They needed a model that could scale engineering pods quickly, ease the load on their overextended onshore team, and give them long-term flexibility as the organization grew. Most importantly, they wanted a partner — not a vendor — and a model they could test gradually, one hire at a time, without introducing unnecessary risk.
The solution
We proposed a distributed engineering pod model that drew on the strengths of several of our global regions — Brazil, Canada, the Balkans, and Pakistan. Each hub brought something different: the Balkans offered deep engineering capability and strong communication skills; Brazil provided front-end and mobile expertise with excellent cultural alignment; Canada supplied senior leadership and architectural oversight; and Pakistan offered reliable DevOps, infrastructure, and extended-hour support. Together, these locations created a balanced, scalable model the company could grow into gradually.
We started small. The first hire — a senior backend engineer in the Balkans — integrated seamlessly with the client’s U.S. development standards and made an immediate impact. Confidence grew, and we built a compact pod supporting backend development, QA automation, DevOps, and application support. As needs evolved, Brazil became the ideal home for front-end and mobile development, thanks to time-zone overlap and strong collaboration with the product organization. We later added Canadian leadership support and introduced Pakistan-based engineers for roles requiring stability during extended hours and off-peak coverage.
To ensure consistency across regions, we provided hands-on management oversight, clear communication frameworks, and proactive performance monitoring. Engineers were fully integrated into the client’s workflow participating in daily stand-ups, using shared tools, and collaborating directly with product managers, architects, and tech leads. Over time, cross-training and technical mentoring created a unified global team that operated as a natural extension of the client’s engineering organization.
Most importantly, the model required no large upfront commitment. The client began with a single hire, evaluated the fit, and scaled only when the results were proven. Growth remained entirely organic driven by quality, trust, and the impact each engineer delivered.
The results
What started as a single test hire quickly evolved into a fully integrated, multi-region engineering capability that reshaped the company’s ability to deliver. With high-performing engineers across Brazil, Canada, the Balkans, and Pakistan, the client gained a broader talent base, stronger redundancy, and far more flexibility than their previous all-domestic model could offer.
Delivery velocity increased immediately. Roadmap bottlenecks eased as distributed pods absorbed workload and expanded the company’s capacity to ship features, stabilize infrastructure, and support ongoing product demands. Quality remained consistently high, and the cultural alignment — something the client had initially been cautious about — exceeded expectations. Engineers communicated clearly, collaborated seamlessly with U.S. teams, and contributed meaningfully to technical decisions and day-to-day product development.
The multi-region model also reduced operational risk. By diversifying their engineering talent across several stable hubs, the company was no longer dependent on a single location or market. Rising U.S. salaries, limited local availability, and concentration risk became less of a concern. Instead, they gained a durable, scalable structure that could grow with the business and adapt as needs evolved.
Costs became more predictable as well. The distributed approach enabled the company to add talent at a sustainable rate without straining their burn rate — freeing budget that could be reinvested into innovation, customer experience, and long-term product strategy.
Today, the client has a strong, reliable global engineering ecosystem spanning backend development, front-end and mobile, QA automation, DevOps, infrastructure, and application support. The team continues to grow selectively, one hire at a time, anchored by trust, proven quality, and a partnership model built on shared success.
What began as a cautious exploration ultimately became one of their most valuable strategic decisions — a distributed engineering engine powering their product roadmap and strengthening the foundation for future growth.
