How to Hire Remote Developers in Ukraine in 2022
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If you're looking for a cost-effective and talented software developer, you should consider hiring in Ukraine. Despite the current conflict in the country, many developers are still working remotely, and the talent pool is only growing.
With over 210,000 tech specialists, and more than 30,000 joining the talent pool each year, Ukraine is one of the largest outsourcing markets in Central and Eastern Europe.
And with a large startup and IT company presence in the country, you can be sure that you'll find developers that fit your culture. Additionally, senior software developers in Ukraine have high English proficiency levels, which allows them to work remotely with international firms.
So if European time zones are advantageous for your business, Ukraine should be on your radar. And if you operate an asynchronous organization, Ukrainian remote software developers could easily fit into your team.
Where to find remote software developers in Ukraine
When it comes to finding and hiring remote software developers in Ukraine, there are a couple of effective approaches you could take. These include job boards, outsourcing companies, and using talent marketplaces like ReadyTal.
Job Boards
One of the biggest advantages of using job boards is that they are cost-effective. They are an affordable alternative to recruiters, but you get what you pay for. You can post your job ad and get it seen by people in your industry looking for jobs. However, the rest is up to you.
Job boards can be a time-consuming and inefficient way to hire remote software developers. You could be inundated with applications for each position, causing a significant administrative burden. Anyone could apply for your position, and it will be your responsibility to assess fit and ensure the person in question is actually qualified to do the job. With so many applications to sift through, finding the needle in the haystack can be difficult.
Additionally, there is always the potential for language barriers when using Ukrainian job boards. Many have an English interface, but it can still be difficult to navigate this space if you do not speak the language.
This is where services like ReadyTal come in. We take care of the slush pile and vet promising candidates so that you can focus on qualified, genuine talent that matches your company’s needs and budget.
Job boards could be a great tool to use if you're looking to hire remote software developers. But while they are an affordable method, you will need to invest significant time and expertise if you want to find your next remote team member.
If you decide to go down that route, you may wish to consider the following options.
Ukrainian job boards
Djinni.co is a Ukrainian job board that specializes in tech positions. It has a simple, user-friendly interface and offers features like anonymity for candidates. This is a huge advantage attracting lots of passive and active candidates as it prevents their employers from finding out that they're looking.
Djinni is a job board with a twist. Many candidates post what they are looking for in a job and what skills they have. Recruiters can then reach out to them directly. Rather than candidates searching for your job post, you can peruse candidates' ads and recruit them that way.
You could also post a job, but the Djinni platform states you're unlikely to receive many applicants that way as candidates tend to receive direct offers from companies.
There are some cons to consider. For instance, many candidates only post their ad in Ukrainian. However, the job board does allow you to filter based on language skills.
Djinni offers no quality control whatsoever. That means, candidates are not pre-screened or verified. As with a traditional job board, it is on the employer to do all the checks and interviews and to ensure that the candidate is who they say they are.
Djinni's costs are straightforward and transparent. If you make a hire through Djinni, you must pay the job board 50% of the candidate's first month's salary. That is the fee the job board takes.
Rabota is a mainstream job board in Ukraine which purports to have more than four million candidates looking for work.
Rabota's biggest appeal is that it is free to post on the website. It also offers additional perks like sending notifications to 200,000+ candidates via popular messaging services in Ukraine, including Viber and Telegram. Further, you can chat with candidates via the interface itself.
But, Rabota has some drawbacks too. The website only has two language options - Russian and Ukrainian. If you speak neither, you will need to rely on Chrome's iffy translator to navigate the site. Further, unlike Djinni, this isn't just a tech recruitment site with obvious filters for English speaking candidates. Rather, it is a generic job board.
While it is a major job board with huge reach in Ukraine, it can be difficult to reach English-speaking software developers without the help of someone fluent in the language.
Work.ua is another popular Ukrainian job board. Unlike Rabota, this job board does offer an English interface, suggesting that it caters to international companies as well. It purports to be Ukraine's #1 job site with 500,000 visitors per day and more than 3 million candidates.
Signing up for Work.ua is easy and it allows you to post jobs for free. You can also reach out to 10 candidates via their candidate database every month. Additional jobs and candidates may come at a charge, but the specific pricing is not available via the website.
International job boards
We Work Remotely (WWR) isn’t strictly a tech-recruitment job board, but many of its candidates do tech-related work. However, it is a great starting point for finding fully remote candidates.
WWR is a good option if you’re looking for qualified remote candidates and purports to have a 90% fill rate for positions posted. They also send ‘manually prioritized batches of applicants’ to save companies time sifting through applications that might not fit the bill.
It costs $299 per month to post a job on WWR. But businesses can choose to ‘upgrade’ their listing. If they pay an extra $59, for instance, they get 2 social media posts, a share in the WWR Slack channel, and they get to include their company logo.
There are further upgrades priced at $99 and $149 with similar and improved features, including more social media posts, highlighting the ad on the website, pinning the ad for 7 days, and marking it as ‘featured’ in their daily digest.
RemoteOK boasts more than 1.8 million remote workers looking for jobs via their job board. They claim to be the #1 remote job board.
Their job listings are emailed to more than 204,000 remote job seekers, and their ads are also distributed on the Google for Jobs recruitment network.
Also, they guarantee 200+ clicks per ad, or they bump the ad for free.
This platform is paid but they offer a modular approach to pricing which allows you to tailor the offering to your needs.
Posting a single job ad can cost anywhere between $500 to $1,000. The exact price is calculated by the platform's algorithm. But there are savings to be made if you buy multiple job ads. For instance, if you purchase 5 posts, you could receive a 5% discount.
Further, you can pay for additional features like pinning your job ad to the front page for 24 hours, costing an extra $199. Or, pinning your job ad to the front page for an entire week which costs $549.
While LinkedIn is technically also a job board, it is so big, it deserves its own subsection. LinkedIn has its own job board and recruiter interface which can be used to source and hire qualified candidates. The website has more than 690 million members who could potentially view your job post.
Posting a job for free
You will be able to post a job for free on the site if you wish. Your job will appear in LinkedIn’s search results and you will be allowed to collect applicants on LinkedIn and filter through applications yourself.
But, your job post becomes less visible over time if it’s posted for free. Also, if it receives a certain number of applications, it’ll be paused and removed from search results. It will also appear as “closed” if you have shared direct links.
To re-open the job, you will need to pay to promote it.
Posting a promoted job
You can also post a promoted job on LinkedIn. You will need to set a budget to do this. Then, you pay per click for as long as your daily or total budget allows you to. The cost-per-click is determined by an algorithm.
This dynamic pricing model is designed so you pay the market price for the job you’re recruiting for. But, the drawback is that pricing can be unpredictable and your budget may not take you as far as you’d like.
It’s worth noting you will not pay for viewing your own post and you will not pay if someone views your ad multiple times.
Some of the benefits of promoting your post include applicant management tools allowing you to filter applicants, instant mobile alerts to qualified candidates, and smart alerts when a qualified applicant applies for a job.
Your ad will also appear at the top of search results with a ‘promoted’ tag to encourage more applicants.
The issue with remote jobs on LinkedIn
At the time of writing, LinkedIn hasn’t caught up with the latest hiring practices within the remote work space yet. This makes it a limited tool when it comes to hiring remote candidates. These limitations need to be taken into consideration if you’re planning to recruit via LinkedIn.
You will need to specify a location
Each job ad must have a specified job location. And you must pay for each individual job ad. This means that even if the job is remote, you must specify a country at the very least and then pay for it.
LinkedIn is now rolling out country clusters, so you may be able to include countries adjacent to each other if they’re in the same cluster. But you will not be able to advertise by time zone, for example.
The only way to get around this currently is by creating multiple ads in multiple regions, which can be time-consuming and resource-heavy as all of these ads will need to be managed separately.
You may be billed for applicants from other regions
Even if you wish to only recruit remote applicants from a specific region, you will still receive applications from candidates across the globe.
People can now search remote jobs on LinkedIn and they often cast the net wide in terms of geographic locations. This can cost you time and money, as you may get charged for applicants from locations where you do not wish to recruit people for whatever reason.
The LinkedIn remote recruiting system can therefore be costly and time-consuming as the platform still hasn’t worked out its remote recruitment kinks.
Remote Ukrainian Software Companies (Outsourcing)
Another proven method of recruiting remote software developers in Ukraine is through remote software companies that specialize in working with companies abroad and delivering project-based work.
This method means you will discuss your project with the relevant company and then an entire team of developers will be put together for you to deliver that specific project.
The benefits of outsourcing software development to Ukraine
There are a number of benefits to outsourcing software development to a remote team in Ukraine. First, it can be great for long-term projects where you need a dedicated team working on the project from start to finish.
Second, you can hire an entire team of developers with specific expertise for your project, which can be more cost-effective than hiring individual developers.
Third, the talent is already available and ready to go - you don't have to spend time and resources recruiting and training new hires.
Finally, they act as 'technology partners' and take on much of the project management, freeing up your time to focus on other aspects of the business.
The drawbacks of outsourcing software development to Ukraine
However, there are also some potential drawbacks to this approach. First, it only really works for specific project work - you don't get the same kind of 'buy-in' from the team that you would if they were part of your company.
Second, after the project is completed, the team may move on to other projects or clients, so you don't have the same level of loyalty or commitment.
Finally, you don't get to pick and choose individual developers - you have to work with whoever is assigned to your project. Overall, outsourcing software development can be a great solution for certain projects, but it is worth keeping in mind the limitations of this approach.
While cost is usually discussed with the company directly, this handy guide indicates that most European and US-based companies can expect to save 40-60% if they opt to outsource their team rather than hire a developer team locally.
However, you will pay a fee on top of the developer's salary as part of the outsourcing company's compensation. This fee goes to the outsourcing company and is often non-transparent, meaning you won't know how much the developer is paid. It is, therefore, cheaper and more transparent to hire Ukrainian developers directly.
If you want to consider this method anyway, you may want to look at the leading outsourcing companies in Ukraine. We have listed some examples below.
Dev.pro provide a variety of solutions including DevOps, blockchain development, QA & testing, and system integration. They specialize in several different industries, including digital commerce, retail, fintech, software & IT, and hospitality.
They support every leading programming language, are fluent in English, and offer shifted working hours to cover your time zone. Further, 80% of their teams are either at senior or intermediate level.
Riseapps is another outsourcing company based in Ukraine that focuses on web development, mobile development, UX/UI Design, and project management. They work with startups and SMBs alike and focus on product development.
They work with all major programming languages across several industries, including healthcare, fitness and wellness, and traveling. However, they are happy to accommodate any new industries as well.
You will need to contact them directly for a price and time quote.
ReadyTal
If you are looking for value for money and quality, ReadyTal is a great option to consider. Our candidates undergo rigorous vetting processes before they are added to our platform. We meet each candidate personally to verify their identity and language skills, and send them personalized coding tests to ensure their tech skills are up to scratch. We then match developers with companies and only charge a fee after a successful placement.
ReadyTal is a great place to hire both remote contractors and remote employees depending on your needs. By going with ReadyTal, you will save time and money on the first stages of vetting, and hire pre-screened developers quickly.
ReadyTal saves you more time than a traditional job board and comes with a money-back guarantee. If your new hire doesn’t work out within 90 days, you will receive a full refund. Also, if you opt for our monthly flat fee package, your contractor will be replaced for free.
Unlike outsourcing your work to a specific software company that puts together a developer team for you, ReadyTal lets you retain control over the talent you recruit. You can choose developers who align with your mission and who will be loyal to your company’s values, rather than merely seeing it as just another project to complete.
How to hire remote software developers in Ukraine
Once you have recruited the right remote software developer in Ukraine, you will need to hire them in compliance with local labor laws. This may sound difficult at first, but there are several options available to you to ensure you're hiring remote developers compliantly.
These include Employer of Record (EOR) services, legal entities, direct contracts with outsourcing companies, and compliant freelancer contractors.
Employer of Record (EOR) services
Employer of Record (EOR) services provide a solution to the legal challenges presented by hiring abroad by acting as the legal employer of record for Ukraine-based employees. This allows businesses to focus on their core operations while leaving the complexities of employment law to the EOR service.
In addition to ensuring compliance with local employment laws, EOR services also offer a number of other benefits, such as simplified payroll and access to employee benefits packages. While there is a cost associated with these services, the peace of mind and efficiency they offer make them a worthwhile investment for any business looking to hire Ukraine-based talent.
We broke down the most popular global Employer of Record platforms here, and included their current pricing structures for reference. But, as a general rule of thumb, you can expect to pay in the region of $300 per employee per month to use an EOR service.
Legal entities
The legal entity model, sometimes referred to as an R&D centre, works best for large companies that are planning on expanding operations into another country.
Establishing your own legal entity is essentially setting up an overseas branch, and hiring an HR team to manage local compliance. This solution is likely to take the longest time to set up and usually comes with a significant cost. In fact, costs start from around $15,000 just to set up the entity.
Companies need to carefully research the requirements for doing business in their target country and make sure they are prepared to meet all the necessary legal and financial obligations. If they are not in compliance with local regulations, they may face hefty fines.
It is also unlikely to be the appropriate course of action for hiring software developers in Ukraine right now.
Compliant freelancer contracts
If you would like to go down the freelancer route, you will normally still need to provide your freelancers with compliant contracts. Many companies opt to create their own freelancer contracts. They are more straightforward than employee contracts and do not require the same in-depth knowledge of labor law.
But you can also use an Employer of Record platform to create compliant freelancer contracts. Most global EOR platforms nowadays provide a contractor-only service which is significantly cheaper than the employee service.
The service generates country-specific contracts for freelancers and could even take care of other HR duties, like payroll.
The cost of hiring Ukrainian software developers
Another great reason to consider hiring Ukrainian software developers is the value for money they offer. Ukrainian software developers generally cost less than a software developer in the US, for example.
The average base pay for a mid-range remote software developer in Ukraine is between $3,000 to $6,000 per month. Hiring a senior software developer in Ukraine is slightly more expensive. It costs between $5,000 to $8,000 a month, but can cost as much as $10,000 depending on your needs.
Here are the typical monthly salaries for Ukrainian software developers with advanced English skills. These are based on popular skills you may be recruiting for.
These costs represent a significant saving over hiring remote software developers in the US, for example. If you wanted to hire a senior software developer in Austin for example, this would cost you, on average $120,000 per year just in base salaries. This is twice what you would pay for a software developer in Ukraine.
And a senior software developer in the SF Bay Area could cost you anywhere between $130,000 to $300,000 a year, representing an even more significant saving for companies.
When looking at mid-range software developers, the savings are comparable. In the SF Bay area, a mid-level software engineer would attract a minimum starting salary of $80,000, with an average salary of around $167,000 a year.
Hiring a remote software developer in Ukraine could result in a significant financial saving without having to compromise on quality or expertise.
Hiring remote software developers in Ukraine
Ukraine is an attractive destination for companies looking to hire remote software developers. Ukrainian developers have advanced skills and are typically more cost-effective than developers in other countries. Additionally, Ukraine has a large pool of English-speaking developers, which eliminates the language barrier and allows for effective asynchronous communication.
While job boards can be a good way to find Ukrainian developers, they can be time-consuming and resource-heavy. Another option is to outsource your business to a remote Ukraine-based software company. However, this approach eliminates your autonomy over your team.
ReadyTal provides a quick and easy way to source the candidates you want, while popular EOR services make it easy to hire Ukrainian employees compliantly.
ReadyTal connects companies with the best remote software developers around the world. Our candidates come from more than 60 countries and have passed robust language and technical assessments. If you’re looking for talent, get started here.
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