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Operator-led LatAm hiring

Direct-hire LatAm developers.
One fee, no ongoing markup.

Direct-hire LatAm contractors, vetted for your startup's pace. No agencies, no middlemen, just high-performing engineers and operators. First candidates in ~5 days, hired in 2-3 weeks.

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5d Avg. to shortlist
98% Placement success
50% Cost savings vs US
90d Replacement guarantee

Available now

Senior Backend Engineer

Colombia · 6 yrs · Node, AWS, Postgres · English C1

 Direct-hire · First candidates in ~5 days

Recently hired

Full-Stack Lead · Mexico

React + Django · placed in 4 days · 18 months in

 Still with the team
Direct-Hire No Middlemen 5-Day Delivery Vetted Contractors Brazil · Mexico · Colombia · Argentina 90-Day Guarantee Operator-Led Build teams that actually work Direct-Hire No Middlemen 5-Day Delivery Vetted Contractors Brazil · Mexico · Colombia · Argentina 90-Day Guarantee Operator-Led Build teams that actually work

Hiring in LatAm isn't the problem.
The way you do it is.

I've watched great startups wait 6 months to hire one engineer. Generic agencies, job boards, endless screening, then the person quits a quarter in. We built direct-hire because there's a better way: you own the relationship, you set the pace, and you get the team you actually need.

We vet every contractor for technical depth, communication quality, and startup culture fit, not just LinkedIn keywords. That's what reduces churn.

Remote LatAm engineer at work

Why founders choose direct-hire.

Direct-hire isn't just cheaper. It's faster, more reliable, and builds the foundation your team actually needs.

01

Speed

5-day shortlist delivery

Stop waiting months. We tap our LatAm operator network and deliver 3 to 5 vetted candidates fast.

02

Cost

Up to 50% less than US rates

Not because the talent is cheaper, because LatAm markets are different. Same seniority, same quality, significantly lower burn.

03

Control

You own the relationship

No agency lock-in. No contract restrictions. The contractor works directly with your team, on your tools, in your culture.

04

Vetting

Operator-led screening

We don't just check resumes. We run technical assessments and communication evaluations built around what startups actually need.

05

Retention

3-month replacement guarantee

If it doesn't work out, we restart the search at zero cost. No questions, no friction.

06

Onboarding

We stay through Day 90

Placement is not the finish line. We support the onboarding window, the phase where most remote hires actually fail.

The roles we fill best.

Our network spans engineering, design, product, and operations. These are the profiles we place most, and fastest.

Engineering

Backend Engineer

Node.jsPythonGoAWS

$3,500, $6,500 / mo

Engineering

Full-Stack Developer

ReactNext.jsDjangoSQL

$3,000, $6,000 / mo

Engineering

Mobile Engineer

iOSAndroidReact NativeFlutter

$3,500, $6,500 / mo

Engineering

DevOps / SRE

KubernetesTerraformCI/CDGCP

$4,000, $7,500 / mo

Product & Design

Product Manager

B2B SaaSAgileFigmaAnalytics

$3,500, $7,000 / mo

Product & Design

UX / Product Designer

FigmaUser ResearchDesign Systems

$2,500, $5,000 / mo

AI & Data

ML Engineer

PythonPyTorchLLMsMLOps

$4,500, $8,000 / mo

Operations

Head of Operations

Process DesignHiringFinance Ops

$3,500, $6,500 / mo

Awana vs. generic agencies.

Most companies get this wrong by underestimating what vetting actually means. Here's what we've seen, and how we're different.

What matters ✦ Awana Generic agency
Time to shortlist ✓ 5 business days ✗ 3-6 weeks
Technical vetting ✓ Operator-led assessment ✗ Resume screening only
Culture-fit check ✓ Startup pace & communication ✗ Generic interview
Onboarding support ✓ Day 1 to Day 90 ✗ Ends at placement
Replacement guarantee ✓ 90 days, zero cost ✗ None or limited
Ownership of contractor ✓ You own the relationship ✗ Locked to agency
Operator experience ✓ Built by LatAm operators ✗ Marketers, not operators

Your first LatAm contractor in under 3 weeks.

01

Strategy call

We define the role, the technical bar, and audit your onboarding readiness. Real conversation, not a form.

02

Targeted search

We tap our operator network across Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina, not job boards.

03

Vetted shortlist

3-5 candidates who passed our technical and communication gauntlet. People we'd hire ourselves.

04

Hire + onboarding

Contracts handled. Day 1 setup. 90-day check-in program. We stay until it sticks.

From people who've been through it.

★★★★★

"

Awana has been a crucial partner in helping us hire for key roles at our company. Their thorough vetting process consistently delivers highly qualified candidates who are a strong fit for our needs.

Verified client

via Trustpilot

★★★★★

"

We partnered with Awana for multiple years to source engineering roles and UI design projects with consistently excellent results. The team is professional, responsive, and a pleasure to work with. Highly recommend.

Verified client

via Trustpilot

★★★★★

"

The process was clear, efficient, and very well-managed. Communication was consistent, and I always felt supported throughout each step. The hiring process was smooth and fast.

Verified client

via Trustpilot

Read every review on Trustpilot →

Ready to hire? Shortlist in 5 days.

Hire Talent

We've been in your shoes.

Awana was founded by operators who scaled LatAm teams themselves, and made every mistake before building the right system. We share what actually works.

Calvin Sedao, Co-Founder & CEO, Awana

Co-Founder & CEO

Calvin Sedao

Operator who built and scaled engineering teams across LatAm. Seen what breaks. Built what lasts.

Javier Dutan, Co-Founder & COO, Awana

Co-Founder & COO

Javier Dutan

Built operational systems for remote teams before building Awana. No-BS transparency in everything.

Direct-hire salary data

What direct-hire LatAm developers actually cost.

Real annual comp ranges for senior LatAm developers hired directly, no monthly agency markup. Numbers pulled from 200+ Awana placements in 2025-2026 and cross-checked against the LatAm Compensation Report.

Role / Country Colombia Mexico Argentina Brazil
Senior Backend$60-85K$65-90K$55-80K$70-95K
Senior Frontend$55-75K$60-85K$50-75K$65-90K
Senior Full-Stack$65-90K$70-95K$60-85K$75-100K
AI / ML Engineer$80-115K$85-120K$75-110K$90-130K
Founding Engineer$85-125K$90-130K$80-120K$100-140K

All figures USD, fully loaded (includes contractor payments only, no benefits). US-equivalent roles typically run $150K-$220K for the same seniority.

How direct-hire pricing works at Awana

One-time placement fee equal to 15-25% of the engineer's first-year comp. That's it. After you sign, we're out of the compensation stack. You pay the engineer their salary directly, at LatAm-market rates, with no monthly markup ever again.

The alternative, outsourcing firms like BairesDev or Revelo, charges you a blended hourly rate of $60-90/hr forever. Over 24 months on a senior full-stack developer, that adds up to $80,000-$150,000 more than direct-hire.

If you want the deep comparison, see Direct Hire vs EOR or use the LatAm Salary Calculator to model your specific role.

Things founders ask us.

A direct-hire contractor is a professional you hire directly to work as a full-time, long-term member of your team, but under a contractor agreement rather than an employment contract. You own the relationship, they work in your tools and culture. No agency lock-in, no markup on ongoing payments. See how this compares in direct hire vs. an EOR and the full menu of EOR alternatives.
We run operator-led technical assessments, not just resume reviews. Every candidate goes through a role-specific technical test, a communication and async-work evaluation, and a culture-fit interview focused on startup pace and expectations. We only send people we'd hire ourselves.
After the strategy call, we typically deliver a vetted shortlist of 3-5 candidates. The full hiring process, from first conversation to signed offer, usually takes 2-3 weeks. Here's what we've seen: slower companies create scope confusion upfront. We fix that in the strategy call.
We have deep networks in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina, the four markets with the strongest US-timezone overlap and deepest tech talent pools. Depending on the role, we may also source from Chile, Peru, or Costa Rica.
Our replacement guarantee kicks in: we restart the search at zero cost. We also do an honest post-mortem: was it a technical mismatch, a communication issue, or something structural? We tell you what actually happened, even when it's uncomfortable.
We charge a one-time placement fee, no ongoing monthly markups after the hire. The contractor's rate goes directly to them. Our fee is typically a percentage of the first-year compensation and is shared transparently before you commit. Book a strategy call to get exact numbers for your role.
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