Pricing
A dedicated Brazilian engineer costs $3,500 per month at mid-level, $4,900 at senior and $6,400 for a tech lead. That is the full price: no recruiting fee, no placement fee, no percentage of salary, no annual minimum. Billing is monthly in advance and either side can end it with 30 days notice.
Mid-level engineer
3–5 years of experience
Full time · about $22/hour equivalent
Ships well-scoped features independently. Needs a defined backlog.
U.S. equivalent costs about $12,604/month loaded — you save 72%.
Senior engineer
6–10 years of experience
Full time · about $31/hour equivalent
Owns a service or product area end to end. Reviews others’ code.
U.S. equivalent costs about $16,458/month loaded — you save 70%.
Tech lead / staff engineer
10+ years of experience
Full time · about $40/hour equivalent
Sets architecture, leads a squad, interfaces with your stakeholders.
U.S. equivalent costs about $19,896/month loaded — you save 68%.
Side by side, per month
Grey is the loaded cost of a U.S. hire at the same level. Teal is us.
What the comparison column means
The U.S. figure next to each tier is a loaded cost: base salary plus 25% for payroll tax, benefits and insurance. Comparing our monthly rate against a U.S. base salary alone would make us look better than we are, because base salary is not what an employee actually costs you.
Base salaries are derived from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics median for software developers, adjusted by seniority. The full methodology and the per-skill table are here.
What a team costs
A worked example: one tech lead, two senior engineers and one mid-level engineer.
| Role | Count | Monthly | U.S. loaded equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tech lead / staff engineer | 1 | $6,400 | $19,896 |
| Senior engineer | 2 | $9,800 | $32,916 |
| Mid-level engineer | 1 | $3,500 | $12,604 |
| Total | 4 | $19,700/mo | $65,416/mo |
That team costs $236,400 a year against roughly $784,992 for the U.S. equivalent — a difference of about $548,592, or 70%.
What is not included
- Your cloud, SaaS and tooling costs — the engineer uses your accounts.
- Travel, if you want someone on site. We arrange it at cost; visas take time.
- Hardware beyond a standard developer laptop, which the engineer already has.
- Anything requiring U.S. citizenship or a security clearance. We cannot staff that at all.
The terms we would sign — scope, notice, replacement, IP assignment, direct hire — are published in full on the contract page. You can read the whole thing before you write to us.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a recruiting or placement fee?
No. Agencies typically charge 15 to 25% of first-year salary to introduce a candidate. We charge nothing to search, nothing to introduce, and nothing on top of the monthly rate.
What if we want to hire the engineer directly, as our own employee?
After six months, hire them onto your payroll at no charge — no conversion fee, no buy-out, nothing owed to us. Before six months, tell us first and we agree a handover date in writing; there is still no fee. The usual outcome of a good engagement is that you want to keep the person, and charging five figures at that moment would make us the obstacle. It is written this way in the Statement of Work you sign, not just here.
What is included in the monthly rate?
The engineer full time, their equipment, their software licenses, their Brazilian tax and social contributions, their paid time off and Brazilian public holidays, and our replacement guarantee. The rate does not move in a month when they take vacation: the contract sets 15 working days a year plus public holidays, scheduled with you at least two weeks ahead. You provide access to your systems and the work itself.
Is there a minimum contract length?
No minimum term. Thirty days notice in either direction, from month one. If a vendor asks you for a twelve-month minimum on a staff augmentation contract, they are removing the only advantage the model has.
What if we need someone part time?
We do not sell part time, and the reason is honest rather than commercial: a half-time engineer on a product team gets half the context and less than half the output. If your need is genuinely small, a fixed-scope project is a better fit and we will say so.
Do rates change by technology?
No. A Go engineer and a PHP engineer cost the same here even though the U.S. market prices them very differently. It means you save more on scarce skills — and it means we cannot quietly upsell you into an expensive stack.
How do we pay?
A single monthly invoice in U.S. dollars, issued in advance for the coming month and due on the 5th, paid by bank transfer — wire or ACH, details on the invoice. We do not take cards today; if your finance team needs one, say so in the first email rather than after signature. One vendor relationship, one line in your accounting, no payroll and no benefits administration.
What happens if the engineer does not work out?
Within the first 30 days we replace them at no extra cost. You still pay for the days the first engineer worked, but never twice for the same period — the overlap while the replacement ramps up is carried by us. After the first 30 days, the usual 30 days notice applies.
Want a number for your actual team?
Tell us the roles and we will send a written quote the same day — no call required if you would rather not have one.