How to Hire a Remote AI Engineer: A Step-by-Step Guide

Key Takeaways

Hiring a remote AI engineer gives you access to a global talent pool, helps reduce costs, and allows you to hire faster without sacrificing quality.
Hiring the right AI engineer starts with a clear process—defining the role, sourcing candidates, and assessing technical and soft skills. You can handle this in-house or speed things up by working with a recruiting partner who specializes in remote AI talent.
Latin America stands out as a strong hiring region, offering skilled engineers who work during US business hours and bring excellent communication and technical expertise.

AI is everywhere these days. It’s curating our playlists, powering our chatbots, and even deciding what Netflix thinks we’ll binge next. But there’s a catch: AI might be intelligent, but it certainly doesn’t build itself (yet).

The demand for skilled AI engineers is soaring, but finding them can be quite a feat for US businesses. So, how do you hire an AI engineer when local talent pools are tapped out or out of budget?

Going remote is your smartest bet. In this guide, you’ll find practical advice and actionable steps for how to hire a remote AI engineer effectively.

Why Hiring a Remote AI Engineer Is a Smart Move for Your Business

Hiring AI engineers is tough. Hiring the right ones is even tougher—especially if you’re only looking in your backyard. But because this role can be done entirely remotely, you’re not limited to local candidates. Going remote opens up far more possibilities for finding the talent you need at a cost you can actually afford.

Instead of competing for a limited pool of engineers in the US, you can tap into a global talent market. The best fit for your team might be sitting in Jakarta, São Paulo, or Warsaw—ready to contribute.

There’s also the not-so-small matter of cost. Hiring remotely, especially from regions with lower living costs, can give you access to top-tier talent without stretching your budget. And you won’t need to worry about office space, relocation packages, or stocked cupboards full of ground coffee and snacks.

Then there’s productivity. For those wondering if remote work tanks performance, you will be pleased to know that it doesn’t. In fact, according to Gartner, two-thirds of remote workers say they’re more productive when not physically in the office.

One of the benefits of remote work is that it tends to boost morale and retention, especially when done right. Happy engineers stick around longer and do better work.

The bottom line is that remote hiring opens doors, saves money, and can lead to a happier, more productive team.

Top Regions to Find Quality Remote AI Talent

You can absolutely find great AI engineers within the US. But if you’re dealing with budget constraints or struggling to compete with Big Tech salaries, widening your search makes a lot of sense.

Going international is where the real opportunity lies. In fact, many of the countries leading today’s AI workforce are ranked in the top tiers of the Tortoise Global AI Index report. These include Brazil, Poland, Argentina, Estonia, India, Mexico, and Malaysia.

If you’re wondering where to focus your search, here’s a quick breakdown of some standout regions.

Latin America

It’s hard to beat the combination of time zone overlap with US teams, strong English proficiency, and well-established tech communities. Hiring a nearshore AI engineer from LatAm often comes with significant cost savings without compromising quality.

South and Southeast Asia

Home to booming tech hubs like Bangalore, Jakarta, and Kuala Lumpur, this region offers a huge supply of skilled, English-speaking AI talent. It’s also one of the most cost-efficient markets for sourcing engineers, especially for long-term projects.

Eastern Europe

Known for their rigorous technical education and growing innovation scene, countries like Poland, Romania, and Estonia consistently produce strong AI engineers. Rates here are lower than in Western Europe or the US, with no drop in quality.

Essential Skills to Evaluate When Hiring Remote AI Engineers

Hiring an AI engineer isn’t just about technical knowledge. The best remote hires are those who combine strong engineering skills with clear communication, independence, and the ability to adapt to different work environments.

Knowing the right skills to look for when hiring AI engineers can help you build a more effective team from the start and reap the full benefits of hiring an AI engineer.

Hard skills to look for

ML frameworks: Candidates should be confident using tools like TensorFlow or PyTorch to build and deploy machine learning models.
Programming languages: Python is the industry standard and the most popular, but experience with R or Java can be a valuable bonus depending on your tech stack.
Data handling: Look for experience working with large datasets, including cleaning, transformation, and preparation for modeling.
Data visualization: The ability to communicate insights using tools like Matplotlib, Seaborn, or Plotly is an important part of the job.
Math and statistics: A strong foundation in linear algebra, probability, and statistics is essential for solving more complex problems.

For many roles, experience with building or fine-tuning language models—like GPT, BERT, or custom NLP systems—is also a major plus, especially if your product involves chatbots or automated text processing.

Soft skills that matter in remote settings

Communication: Remote engineers must be able to express ideas clearly across written and verbal channels.
Self-management: The best candidates are comfortable working without close supervision and know how to stay productive.
Adaptability: Changing priorities, tools, or timelines should not throw them off track.
Time management: They should be able to manage their workload and stay aligned with the team, even across time zones.
Problem-solving: Engineers should be resourceful and confident in approaching unfamiliar challenges.

Whether you’re hiring remotely or not, technical skill is only ever half of the equation. The right combination of expertise and soft skills is what sets great AI engineers apart.

How to Hire a Remote AI Engineer: 7 Clear Steps to Success

Hiring the right AI engineer remotely doesn’t need to feel like a gamble. With a clear, structured process, you can find skilled candidates, evaluate them thoroughly, and get them up to speed fast. Here’s a step-by-step approach that actually works.

Step 1: Clearly define the role and your requirements

Before you post anything or reach out to candidates, take time to clarify exactly what you need. That means more than just listing “AI engineer” as the job title. Are you building predictive models? Working with natural language processing? Need production-level deployment experience?

Your job description should include core technical requirements, preferred frameworks, level of experience, and any industry-specific knowledge.

Be clear about expectations around availability, hours of working hour overlap required, and collaboration tools. The more specific you are upfront, the better your chances of attracting candidates who are the right fit and filtering out those who aren’t.

Step 2: Choose between direct hiring or using a staffing agency

Once the role is defined, decide how you want to approach the search. If your team has the time and internal resources, you can go the direct hiring route. This means posting on job boards and managing the process yourself.

But if you’re hiring for the first time, dealing with multiple candidates across borders, or just want to move faster, working with one of the many staffing companies for hiring AI engineers can be a smarter move.

These firms already have vetted candidates and understand international compliance. They can help you cut hiring time dramatically while reducing risk.

Step 3: Identify effective sourcing channels

If you’re going it on your own, take time to carefully choose where you’ll search for candidates. Popular platforms like LinkedIn, GitHub, and Stack Overflow are good starting points, especially if you’re targeting skilled developers already working in AI or machine learning.

You can also tap into AI-focused communities, Slack groups, and subreddits where top talent hangs out.

Sourcing platforms that specialize in hiring offshore AI developers and engineers can give you access to pre-vetted candidates and region-specific insights.

The goal is to go beyond job boards and connect with engineers who are actively building and contributing to the AI space.

Step 4: Screen and assess candidate qualifications

Once applications start rolling in, don’t rush into interviews. Start with a screening phase to verify technical qualifications and filter out mismatches. Ask for portfolio projects, GitHub links, or past case studies if available.

Use structured technical assessments to test core skills related to the role. This might include a short machine learning task, a data cleanup challenge, or a model tuning scenario.

Keep the scope reasonable. This isn’t a PhD dissertation, but it should still be meaningful and relevant to the position. Knowing how to screen remote candidates effectively means looking at both their technical ability and how they operate in a self-managed, distributed environment.

Step 5: Conduct in-depth AI-focused interviews

A great interview helps you see how candidates think, communicate, and solve problems. Go beyond typical dev questions and ask about real-world AI challenges they’ve faced:

How did they approach training a complex model?
What tradeoffs did they consider?
What failed, and how did they adapt?

Include a mix of technical and behavioral questions, and give them scenarios that relate to your actual product or data. Ask candidates how they’ve applied AI solutions to real-world applications, such as improving customer support workflows or automating repetitive business processes.

If you need inspiration, we’ve pulled together some great interview questions for remote workers and tech interview questions that help uncover not just skill but mindset. This is especially important for engineers working remotely.

Step 6: Make an offer and finalize the contract

After you’ve found your ideal candidate, move quickly. Great AI talent doesn’t stay available for long. Present a clear, detailed offer that includes salary, working hours, deliverables, and communication expectations.

If you’re hiring internationally, factor in local labor laws, currency exchange, and tax compliance. Depending on the route you take, you might need to work with an employer of record (EoR) or under a contractor agreement.

If you’re unsure what fair compensation looks like, start with benchmarks around the cost of hiring an AI engineer in that region. A little research here saves a lot of back-and-forth later.

Step 7: Set up for a smooth remote onboarding

Great work—your hire is in. However, onboarding doesn’t stop at handing over credentials. Start with a kick-off call to introduce the team, outline short-term goals, and share documentation. Be clear about processes, meeting rhythms, and what success looks like in the first 30 days.

Set them up with everything they need, like tools, access, and context. Regular check-ins during the first few weeks help you build momentum and trust.

Managing remote employee performance starts with a strong onboarding experience that makes the engineer feel like part of the team from day one.

How Working with a Recruiting Partner Simplifies Remote AI Hiring

If your team is short on time, hiring AI engineers for the first time, or navigating international hiring laws, working with a recruiting or staffing partner can take a lot off your plate.

Finding top-tier machine learning talent is already competitive. Add in legal compliance, currency considerations, and vetting technical skill sets, and it’s easy to see why many companies choose to get expert help.

A staffing or recruitment firm that focuses on remote hiring can drastically speed up the hiring process and help you avoid costly missteps.

You benefit from:

Faster recruitment timelines, especially for high-demand roles
Pre-screened and vetted candidates who are ready to interview
Expertise in international hiring compliance, contracts, and local laws
Access to established talent networks across multiple regions
Market knowledge around salaries, availability, and regional strengths

These advantages are especially valuable when hiring outside your home country or trying to scale a remote team quickly. For many businesses, partnering with remote talent recruitment services offers a faster, safer, and more strategic path to hiring success.

Final Thoughts

Hiring an AI engineer is no small task—especially when you’re up against high demand, tight timelines, and steep salaries in the US. But with the right approach, building a high-performing remote AI team is not only possible—it’s a competitive advantage.

By following a clear process—defining the role, vetting candidates properly, and onboarding with intention—you set your team up for long-term success. Remote hiring gives you the flexibility to access top-tier AI talent, often at a fraction of the local cost, without compromising on quality or collaboration.

If you’re open to hiring beyond the US, Latin America offers a great mix of technical talent, cost advantages, and overlapping time zones that make collaboration feel almost local.

That said, hiring remotely across borders comes with a steep learning curve if you haven’t done it before.

That’s where Near comes in. We help US businesses hire pre-vetted AI engineering talent from Latin America. These are professionals who work your hours, speak your language, and are ready to contribute right away.

Ready to meet top AI engineers who are a match for your team? Fill out this form to help us get to know you better. We’ll send you a list of pre-vetted candidates who are ready to start when you are.