“We need two more developers” is one of the most common requests we hear from UK and US companies. The real question behind it is usually: how do we add capacity quickly without a six-month hiring process or a hire we regret?
This guide compares the options honestly, including the ones we do not sell, so you can pick the route that fits.
The four ways to hire a remote developer
| Route | How it works | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freelancer | You contract an individual directly | Short, well-defined pieces of work | Split attention across clients, no cover if they leave |
| Dedicated developer through a partner | A partner employs the engineer; they work only on your product | Ongoing product work, scaling a team up or down | Partners who rotate people or hide who is actually working |
| Employer of record (EOR) | You recruit; an EOR employs them legally in their country | A specific person you have found and want long term | You still carry recruitment, management and retention |
| Your own hire | Direct employee in your country | Core, long-term roles and leadership | Cost, hiring time, and the risk of a wrong hire |
A useful rule: hire in-house for the people who own your technical direction, and use remote or dedicated developers to scale the building around them.
The true cost of an in-house developer
Salary is the number everyone compares, and it is the smallest part of the picture. For a senior developer:
- United Kingdom: salaries commonly range from around £60,000 to £90,000, more in London. Add employer National Insurance (15% on earnings above the secondary threshold since April 2025), at least 3% employer pension contribution, equipment, software licences and any office cost.
- United States: base salaries for senior engineers commonly run from about $140,000 to $190,000, higher in major tech hubs. Add employer payroll taxes, health insurance, retirement contributions and equipment. A fully loaded cost of 1.25 to 1.4 times salary is a common rule of thumb.
- Both: recruitment fees (often 15–25% of first-year salary through an agency), months of vacancy, onboarding time, and the cost of a wrong hire, which is the one nobody budgets for.
Monthly cost compared
Typical monthly cost of one full-time senior developer at the time of writing, all in. These are market ranges, not quotes.
| Route | Typical monthly cost | Time to start |
|---|---|---|
| In-house, US (fully loaded) | $14,000–$22,000+ | 1–3 months + notice |
| In-house, UK (fully loaded) | £6,500–£10,000+ | 1–3 months + notice |
| UK or US freelancer, full-time hours | $10,000–$20,000+ | 1–4 weeks |
| Dedicated developer, outsourcing partner | $3,000–$12,000 | 1–3 weeks |
| Dedicated DataVolve engineer | From $2,500 | 1–2 weeks |
The cheapest line is not automatically the best one. A senior engineer who needs little supervision is worth more than two juniors who need a lot. Compare cost per shipped, maintainable feature, not cost per hour.
Need senior developers who join your stand-ups next week?
Tell us your stack, time zone and what you are building. We will suggest a team shape and a monthly price within 24 hours.
How to vet a remote developer
You can learn more in one afternoon of realistic work than in five rounds of puzzle interviews.
- Read their real code. Ask them to walk you through something they built: why it is structured that way, what they would change, what broke in production.
- Give a small paid task. Two to four hours, from your actual backlog or close to it. Watch the questions they ask as much as the result.
- Test written communication. Remote work runs on tickets, pull requests and messages. Ask for a short written summary of their task and any trade-offs.
- Check overlap and reliability. Confirm the hours they will be available in your time zone, and how they handle being blocked.
- Talk to a previous client. One honest reference call beats ten testimonials.
Onboarding that keeps them productive
Most remote developers who “did not work out” were never set up to succeed. The first week decides it:
- Day one: access to the repository, environments, tickets and chat. A working local setup before lunch.
- Context, not just tasks: who the users are, what the business is trying to achieve, and what “done” means.
- A small first ticket: something they can ship in the first few days to learn the deploy path.
- A named person to ask: a technical lead with time in the calendar during overlap hours.
- The same rituals as everyone else: stand-ups, reviews, demos. Remote developers should not be a separate caste.
UK and US employment rules to know
- UK: IR35 and off-payroll rules. These apply when a UK worker provides services through their own intermediary. Medium and large clients are responsible for determining status. Engaging an overseas company that employs its own staff is generally a different arrangement, but take advice on your specific setup.
- US: contractor classification. Treating someone as a contractor when they work like an employee creates tax and legal risk. Classification tests vary by federal agency and state. Using a partner or EOR moves the employment obligations to them.
- Both: data protection. Give remote developers least-privilege access, anonymised data for development, and put the right contract terms in place, such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement where personal data is accessed from outside the UK.
- Both: IP. Make sure the contract assigns all work to your company, whether the developer is employed by you, a partner or an EOR.
Red flags
- The CV you interviewed is not the person who turns up.
- The developer is “dedicated” but only reachable through an account manager.
- No pull requests, no commits you can see, just status reports.
- Reluctance to work in your repository and tools.
- No plan for holiday cover or replacement if the developer leaves.
DataVolve provides senior dedicated remote engineers to companies in the UK and US. They work in your repository and join your stand-ups from day one. For a whole project rather than extra capacity, read our outsourcing guide or estimate a full team with the software development team cost calculator, or tell us what you need and we will reply within 24 hours.