"Awana quickly helped us refine our profile, then source, interview, and hire. We spoke with half a dozen candidates, and all of them were high quality."
AT
Andy Trattner
Co-Founder, Shuffle
Now placing Backend Engineers
Hire Top 1% Latin American Engineersin Under 5 Days
Half the cost of a US hire, same timezone. Vetted senior developers and engineers on your desk in five business days, replacement guaranteed.
Trustpilot
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Senior Backend Engineer
Node.jsTypeScriptPostgreSQLAWSKubernetes
Experience
8 yrs
English
C1 fluent
Available
2 weeks
US hours shared9 of 9
Live technical + take-home + references
See profiles
Illustrative profiles. Every shortlist is built for your role.
5d
Avg. time to first
candidates
98%
Placement
success rate
50%
Cost savings
vs. US hiring
200+
Teams built
across LatAm
Trusted by founders from 200+ fast-growing US companies
Founders on Awana
Don't take our word for it.
How we vet
Roughly 1 in 40 make it through.
Every shortlist goes through the same four gates before it reaches your desk.
40 sourced. 1 shortlisted.
- 01
Live technical interview
A real conversation about real work, in your stack.
- 02
Role-specific take-home
About four hours. Built for the role, not a generic test.
- 03
English fluency screen
Verified live, so stand-ups and reviews run without friction.
- 04
Reference checks
We talk to people they have actually shipped with.
Step 01
Discovery
Understand your needs. Real conversation.
30-minute call with an operatorStep 02
Source
We search our LatAm network. Only the top 5% make the cut.
Live technical interview + take-homeStep 03
Present
Vetted shortlist on your desk. Ready to interview.
First candidates by day 5Step 04
Hire
Onboarding + support. Replacement guarantee.
3-month replacement guaranteeDev-first
Built like a tool. Run by operators.
A search, as a command
Live now
What a vetted senior looks like
Pass rate
1 in 40
Every shortlist clears four gates: live technical interview, role take-home, English screen and references.
Case study
The first time we told a client: we can't help you.
Their team dynamic would have churned any hire within six months, so we said fix that first. 34 days to hire. Still there.
How we workSide by side
Awana vs. traditional
US hiring.
The average US hiring cycle runs 6 to 12 weeks. Ours runs five business days.
| Awana | Traditional US Hiring | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to hire | 5 business days | 6-12 weeks |
| Cost vs US equivalent | ~50% lower | Full US market rate |
| Time-zone overlap | Full US overlap (GMT‑3 to GMT‑8) | Varies |
| Placement guarantee | ✓ Free replacement | None |
| Vetting process | Technical + culture + background | Resume review only |
Run your numbers
What your team costs here, and there.
What we do
Three ways to build
your team. Pick what fits.
Recruiting
Build your core team full-time. Top LatAm engineers at half the US cost.
Freelance Teams
Vetted freelancers for surge projects. Flexible. Fast. Reliable.
Staff Augmentation
We handle recruiting, compliance, payroll. Zero headaches.
Free resources
Hiring intel, on us.
Real data and playbooks from 200+ LatAm placements. No email walls. No fluff.
Data Report
LatAm Compensation Report
Benchmark engineering salaries by country, role, and stack. Updated quarterly with real placement data.
Download
Free
Playbook
Hire from LatAm Guide
The full-cycle playbook: where to source, how to vet, what to pay, what to avoid.
Read the guide
Free
Industry Report
AI Skills Report
Which AI/ML roles are scaling, what they earn, and where the LatAm talent is.
Read the report
Free
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FAQ
Things founders ask us
before they hire.
First candidates land on your desk in 5 business days. Most clients are interviewing within a week and have signed offers within 21 days, end to end. If your role is very specialized, expect 2-3 weeks for the first shortlist.
Four steps: a live technical interview, a role-specific take-home (~4 hours), an English fluency screen, and reference checks. Roughly 1 in 40 sourced candidates make it through. Our placement success rate is 98%. For senior Latin American engineers we go deeper on system design. For AI Evaluator roles we add a calibration test, bilingual raters for RLHF and red-teaming.
3-month replacement guarantee. If the engineer leaves or it's not a fit within the first 90 days, we replace them at no extra cost. Most replacements are sourced within 2 weeks because we already know your role and team.
Two models. Direct hire: one-time placement fee, you pay the Latin American engineer directly at their local salary, no monthly markup. Staff augmentation: monthly managed rate covering contracts, compliance, and payroll. Either way, total cost lands ~50% below an equivalent US hire. See the salary data or get a custom quote on the discovery call.
All within UTC-3 to UTC-6, with full overlap on US business hours. Your engineer joins your stand-ups, attends afternoon meetings, and ships in your sprint. No async-only friction, no graveyard-shift fatigue.
Primary markets: Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, and Ecuador. We've placed engineers from Brazil, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Costa Rica, and Venezuela when the role calls for it. We don't lock you to a country, we go where the best fit is.
Marketplaces hand you a list, we deliver a shortlist. Our team has built engineering orgs from inside (Calvin scaled teams pre-Awana), so we know what a real fit looks like. We're not an EOR by default, but we partner with one if you need formal employment in a specific country. Deep dive: Direct Hire vs EOR, BairesDev alternatives, and the 8 best LatAm recruiting agencies compared.
Let's get your
team built.
30-minute call. We scope your role, you meet the process. No pressure.