Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about hiring global engineering talent through Terminal.
About Terminal
Terminal removes barriers to global hiring by combining technology and expert services for scalable talent acquisition — handling recruiting, vetting, employment, payroll, and compliance so your team can focus on building.
Terminal combines access to exclusive pre-vetted talent, 40% faster hiring than domestic recruiting, 3x longer retention rates, and up to 40% cost savings versus U.S.-based engineers. Every candidate is assessed through Terminal's proprietary AI Fluency standard.
Unlike traditional marketplaces or PEOs, Terminal provides a comprehensive solution to recruit, hire, manage, and retain global engineering teams — whether full-time or on contract.
Engineers value access to challenging roles at world-class companies, stability as dedicated full-time or long-term contract team members, 100% remote flexibility, and Terminal's support community.
Terminal handles recruiting, onboarding, employment, payroll, compliance, and IT support in one place — eliminating the need to coordinate multiple partners for international hiring.
Only the top 7% of Terminal applicants qualify. Terminal maintains a consistently vetted pipeline for core engineering roles and provides full employment infrastructure — not just candidate introductions.
Terminal treats every hire as a dedicated member of your team with full salary transparency. You get the engineering capacity you need without the margin optimization of a dev shop.
Most in-house recruiting teams aren't built to source efficiently across international markets. Terminal adds specialized sourcing in 9 global markets, a pre-vetted talent pool (top 7%), AI Fluency assessments, and full employment infrastructure — payroll, compliance, and benefits in every market — none of which your in-house team needs to build from scratch.
Building international hiring infrastructure requires legal entities in each market, local labor law expertise, payroll systems, benefits administration, and ongoing compliance as regulations change. Terminal already operates across 9 active talent markets with in-market HR experts and can employ or contract engineers in 180 countries — eliminating the time, cost, and risk of building that infrastructure yourself.
Hiring Models & Roles
You can hire full-time engineers, contract engineers, and contract-to-hire engineers across software development, data engineering, DevOps, mobile, and more.
Full-time hiring is a long-term arrangement where Terminal employs the engineer on your behalf with a full benefits package. Contract hiring provides flexible, fixed-term talent (typically 6 or 12 months) for specific initiatives — with payroll managed by Terminal but without FTE benefits.
Contract-to-hire lets you work with an engineer on a contract basis first, with the option to convert them to a full-time role if it's a strong mutual fit — reducing hiring risk before committing long-term.
A CoE is a structured, regionally clustered team of Terminal engineers — ideal for companies building a permanent offshore engineering hub. It works best for teams seeking shared culture, overlapping time zones, and Terminal's management infrastructure in a single region.
Yes. Terminal supports fully remote hiring across all role types. Engineers are pre-screened for remote readiness, including communication, autonomy, and async collaboration skills.
Remote hiring is best for adding individual contributors quickly or when your needs span multiple regions. A CoE is better when you want a durable, scalable engineering hub in a single region with greater organizational cohesion.
Screening & Hiring Process
Terminal specialists vet every candidate for technical skills, soft skills, English proficiency, domain expertise, and communication ability. Over 4 in 5 candidates who receive an offer accept it.
You have final hiring authority. Terminal presents qualified candidates and you conduct your own technical assessments and interviews before making an offer.
No. Terminal declines candidates who cannot communicate effectively in business English, so every engineer on the platform meets a professional communication standard.
Terminal typically delivers 5+ qualified candidates per open role within 7–14 days. Contract roles are typically filled in under 30 days; full-time placements take approximately 45 days.
Within the first 3 months, Terminal waives recruitment fees for a replacement. Contract hires include a 14-day trial period.
Geography
Terminal sources and vets talent across 9 markets: Canada; Latin America (Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Mexico); and Europe (Poland, Spain, Romania, and Hungary).
Yes. While Terminal actively sources and vets talent in 9 markets, we can provide full-time employment or contract payroll services in over 180 countries — so if you have an engineer elsewhere you'd like Terminal to employ, we can support that.
The vast majority of Terminal engineers work from home offices. Full-time employees are supported with home office stipends, equipment access, and remote concierge support.
Global hiring involves significant hidden costs: legal entity setup, local payroll systems, benefits management, and ongoing compliance. Terminal absorbs all of this under a single monthly fee.
Employment & Contracting
Terminal manages everything on the employment side: payroll, HR onboarding and administration, IT support, work-from-home stipends, compliance, and legal support in every market. You manage the engineering work; Terminal handles the rest.
Full-time engineers employed through Terminal receive a competitive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, and retirement benefits — as well as equity participation, perks, and remote concierge support, the same as any full-time employee.
For contract engineers on fixed-term arrangements (typically 6 or 12 months), Terminal provides payroll processing and contracting services. Contract engineers do not receive the full FTE benefits package.
An EOR is a company that legally employs workers on another company's behalf, handling payroll, taxes, benefits, and compliance. Terminal acts as EOR for full-time placements across 180 countries — you direct the work, Terminal is the employer of record.
Terminal provides compliance and legal support in every market it operates in, including local tax, labor law, and benefits requirements. This eliminates the need for you to set up a local legal entity or navigate unfamiliar employment regulations.
Yes. Terminal's recruiting can source and vet candidates for you, and you can then place them with your existing PEO or EOR. Terminal's platform also offers premium benefits and elevated onboarding compared to standard PEO/EOR solutions.
Yes. Terminal supports direct hire arrangements where your company employs the engineer through your own legal entity rather than Terminal's EOR — giving you maximum control over the employment relationship. Terminal handles the recruiting and vetting; you manage the employment. Speak to your account team about conversion options for engineers already on the Terminal platform.
AI Fluency
AI Fluency measures how effectively an engineer uses AI tools and workflows throughout the development process — from light assistance to fully agentic, orchestrated delivery. Every Terminal candidate is assessed and assigned an AI fluency level during vetting.
AI Assisted (uses AI for light guidance, writes most code manually), AI Enabled (regularly uses coding assistants for daily tasks and acceleration), and AI Native (fully integrated agentic AI across the entire development lifecycle).
Through structured onboarding and live 1-on-1 recruiter screenings, Terminal assesses each candidate's frequency of AI usage, depth of workflow integration, and code ownership practices.
Engineers who have built and deployed production-ready AI features — chatbots, RAG pipelines, ML models, etc. — earn a Shipped AI Products highlight on their profile. Only production work counts; personal projects are excluded.
Yes. The Terminal platform lets you search and filter by AI fluency level and by Shipped AI Products highlights — so you can quickly find engineers whose AI capabilities match your team's needs.
Pricing & Payments
Pricing varies by role type. Full-time placements include a placement fee plus a monthly recurring fee covering employment, payroll, benefits, and HR. Contract engagements are billed as a monthly fee per engineer. Contact Terminal for current rates.
On average, Terminal customers save up to 40% compared to equivalent U.S.-based software developer compensation — without sacrificing quality.
Terminal issues a single monthly invoice in USD regardless of how many engineers you have or which countries they work in. Terminal manages all currency exchange.
Terminal accepts ACH transfers and bank wires.