Need Temporary Tech Capacity? Here Are 5 Top Staff Augmentation Companies in Latin America

Your engineering team is stretched. Sprint planning feels more like triage. That feature roadmap you pitched to leadership three months ago? Still backlogged.

You need development capacity, but you’re not ready to commit to permanent headcount. Maybe it’s budget uncertainty. Maybe it’s a specific project with a defined endpoint. Maybe you just want to test the waters with nearshore talent before making a bigger commitment.

That’s why you’re looking at staff augmentation in Latin America.

Staff augmentation lets you bring on developers quickly without the long-term commitment of direct hiring. The agency employs them, handles payroll and compliance, and you direct their day-to-day work. When the project ends or your needs change, the engagement ends too.

But here’s what most companies don’t realize until after they’ve tried staff augmentation: the flexibility comes with tradeoffs. Contractors rotate between clients. They’re not building institutional knowledge. And if you discover you actually need that capacity long-term, you’re paying the agency markup indefinitely.

Before we get to the companies, let’s make sure staff augmentation is actually what you need.

How Does Staff Augmentation Differ from Full-Time Hiring?

Staff augmentation means temporarily adding agency-employed contractors to your team, while with full-time hiring, you hire permanent team members who invest in your business long-term without ongoing agency markups.

With staff augmentation, you manage the developers’ daily work, but the agency handles employment, benefits, and HR. These arrangements typically run 3–6 months, though some extend longer.

The model works well when you need:

• Short-term capacity for a specific project
• Specialized skills your core team doesn’t have
• Flexibility to scale up or down quickly

But many companies discover their “temporary” need is actually ongoing. They need development capacity this quarter and next quarter and the quarter after that. They’re building core product features, not time-limited projects.

That’s when direct hiring makes more sense. You’re not stuck with someone forever. You can structure employment terms that give you reasonable flexibility. But you get the stability that actually helps you ship better products.

With full-time hires, developers invest in understanding your codebase deeply. They’re not expecting to be reassigned to another client when your project ends. And you’re not paying an ongoing agency markup.

The Top 5 Staff Augmentation Companies in Latin America

All these staff augmentation companies deliver on the core value proposition of nearshoring: access to skilled Latin American talent with time zone alignment, strong English proficiency, and cultural fit with US business practices.

What matters are the differences in how they operate, what they specialize in, and how they structure their partnerships with you.

1. Near

Near (Hire With Near) is a full-service staffing and recruiting agency that helps US companies hire top-performing remote talent in Latin America across finance, accounting, sales, software engineering, AI, data, marketing, operations, and customer support.

We’re not a traditional staff augmentation provider. We don’t maintain a bench of contractors waiting to be assigned. Instead, every search starts from scratch to ensure the best fit for your specific role. We help you quickly build permanent teams.

But we’re including ourselves in this guide because many companies start their search looking for staff augmentation when what they actually need is full-time hiring with proper support. If that’s you, we want to make sure you consider the alternative.

Our model: We handle sourcing and vetting, you hire the candidate directly. Either as a permanent placement (one-time fee) or through our staffing model where we handle ongoing payroll and compliance (monthly fee). Either way, they’re your team member, not a rotating contractor.

Key strengths:

• 97% placement success rate and 9.1+ client satisfaction score from obsessing over fit, not just filling seats. We screen for cultural alignment, communication skills, and drive to contribute long-term.
• Elite talent for tech positions: Specialist recruiters who screen backend, frontend, mobile, QA, and data/ML engineers beyond keywords for real-world impact. First candidates in 3–5 days with video introductions, most hires close in under 3 weeks.
• True cross-functional coverage: Unlike tech-only agencies, we recruit across all business functions. If you need to scale finance, marketing, sales, and engineering simultaneously, Near is your single partner.
• Transparent pricing: You always know what your hire earns. We provide salary benchmarks during discovery and explain our fees clearly. No hidden markups. No surprises.
• Long-term team building: 80% of our hires stay 2+ years. Our candidates aren’t expecting to rotate to another client. They’re investing in your business success and building institutional knowledge.

When Near isn’t the right fit: If you truly need someone for just 2–3 months and expect to end the engagement, traditional staff augmentation makes more sense. We’re built for permanent team building, not project-based contracting.

2. Tecla

Tecla is a tech-focused firm that specializes in placing Latin American software developers with US companies through staff augmentation. They offer flexible models, allowing clients to augment their teams with individual developers or hire fully managed agile teams for specific projects.

Their core strength is their network of 50K+ vetted tech talent and speed of placement. Companies needing to scale engineering capacity quickly with time-zone-aligned professionals find Tecla’s model effective.

Key strengths:

• Strong focus on technical roles with deep software development expertise
• Handles payroll, benefits, and compliance 
• Transparent hourly pricing structure published on their website
• 14-day trial period for staff augmentation placements
• Clients include Mercedes-Benz, Major League Soccer, and HomeLight

Limitations: Because Tecla manages payroll and employment directly, clients typically don’t see the developer’s actual salary. This lack of transparency creates distance between you and the talent. They’re employed by Tecla, not you, which limits your ability to build loyalty, influence retention decisions, or feel like they’re truly part of your team. This is inherent to the staff augmentation model.

3. Revelo

Revelo is a major player in the LatAm tech talent space with one of the largest networks of software developers in the region: 400,000+ pre-vetted engineers. They operate primarily as a staff augmentation platform focused exclusively on technical roles.

Their strength is scale and self-serve flexibility. Companies can browse candidates through their platform, conduct interviews, and add or release developers month-to-month based on changing needs.

Key strengths:

• Massive 400K+ developer network providing extensive candidate options
• Self-serve platform for browsing pre-vetted candidates
• 2-week risk-free trials and cancel-anytime flexibility
• All-in-one platform handling interviews, payroll, benefits, and compliance
• Strong client list including Oracle, Dell, and Intuit

Limitations: Revelo’s model prioritizes scale and flexibility—great for adding capacity quickly, but it’s primarily designed for short- to mid-term engagements rather than building long-term, fully integrated teams.

4. BairesDev

BairesDev focuses on technical project delivery and staff augmentation with a bench of 4,000+ engineers. They operate as both a staff augmentation provider and a software development outsourcing company, offering fully managed development teams.

Their model works well for companies that want end-to-end software builds or need short-term project delivery with minimal management overhead.

Key strengths:

• Large vetted network of 4,000+ professionals across Latin America
• Rigorous 7-stage vetting with less than 1% acceptance rate
• Handles both staff augmentation and complete project delivery
• Proven track record on enterprise-scale projects
• No upfront fees required

Category

Limitations: BairesDev’s strength lies in delivering complete development projects and managed teams. For companies that want to build their own in-house capacity, this model may offer less direct control or visibility into individual team members and pricing structures.

5. Leanware

Leanware is a Colombia-based nearshore software development company specializing in AI-first development with flexible engagement models. They position themselves as a long-term development partner rather than just a staffing provider.

Their model offers three options: staff augmentation for adding expertise to existing teams, managed teams that integrate with your processes, and fixed-price projects for well-defined specifications.

Key strengths:

• AI-first approach with proprietary frameworks for faster development
• 200,000+ engineering hours executed
• Onboard senior developers in 2–4 weeks
• 30%+ cost savings compared to US-based teams
• 2+ year average client relationships

Limitations: Leanware typically requires a six-month minimum engagement for full-time placements. That’s fairly standard, but it may limit flexibility for companies needing shorter-term support. 

Final Thoughts: Staff Augmentation vs. Building Your Team

Each of these companies delivers solid results for their target clients. The differences come down to what you actually need.

If you truly need temporary capacity—a developer for 3-6 months to knock out a specific project—staff augmentation makes sense. Tecla, Revelo, BairesDev, and Leanware all offer proven models for this.

But if your “temporary” need is really ongoing, you’re better off building a permanent team. You’ll get:

• Developers who invest in understanding your systems deeply
• Team members who build institutional knowledge instead of rotating out
• No ongoing agency markup eating into your budget
• Better retention and cultural integration

Most companies discover this after trying staff augmentation first. They bring on a contractor, that contractor gets up to speed and becomes productive, and then the contract ends. They start the process over. After doing this a few times, they realize they’re just renting talent they actually need to own.

The only way to know what’s right for your situation is to have actual conversations about your needs with a few providers.

To explore how Near’s approach might work for your team, schedule a free consultation call. We’ll discuss your specific roles, timeline, and budget, and provide salary benchmarks for the positions you need to fill. Interview candidates for free. No fees until you hire.