Shift is a leading end-to-end auto ecommerce platform transforming the used car industry with a technology-driven, hassle-free customer experience. Their mission is to make car purchase and ownership simple — to make buying or selling a used car fun, fair, and accessible to everyone. They provide comprehensive, digital solutions throughout the car ownership lifecycle: finding the right car, financing and vehicle protection products, an efficient, digital trade-in/sale transaction, and a vision to provide high-value support services during car ownership.
Headquartered in San Francisco, Shift was founded in 2014 and has over 500 employees across the U.S. Shift also partners with multiple contractors across the globe.
Accessing the top talent we need, as we need it
When it was time to scale their development team, Shift needed to ramp up fast to maintain velocity but did not want to hire more full-time employees at that point in time.
“Sourcing great talent is difficult because many people aren’t marketing themselves,” said Shift’s Senior Technical Recruiter, Lori Yunk. “Teamit does a great job of sourcing and introducing us to the people in their network that we would not have been able to get access to otherwise. They have been so responsive in helping us fulfill our hiring roadmap.”
Teamit’s candidate network is referral-based giving clients access to a community of vetted, reputable, intermediate-to-senior-level talent. Not only does this take the stress and uncertainty out of the hiring process, but it also allows companies like Shift to scale quickly.
Over the last few years, the demand for top developers has also been extremely competitive, making it difficult for companies to attract and retain talent. Finding quality developers while being cost-effective was top of mind for the San Franscisco-based company.
Shift leverages Brazil’s top tech talent to be responsive to business needs
Known for its large pool of developers, Brazil is rapidly becoming a major tech hub. It ranks ninth globally and first in Latin America for IT talent outsourcing, making it a cost-effective option for North American tech companies looking to expand their workforce.
Several factors led to the Shift's decision to hire contractors in Brazil. Firstly, the exceptional quality of candidates and vast talent pool stood out. Secondly, the cost of hiring in Brazil was significantly more affordable, with rates up to 50% less expensive compared to hiring contractors in North America. Additionally, the time zone was within a four-hour window, making communication with their U.S.-based team seamless.
Shift was looking for motivated, high quality, senior developers with experience in Ruby on Rails. Within a week, Teamit presented candidates and Shift was able to get the contracted engineers they needed within a month.
“The candidates Teamit found us have been plug and play,” Yunk said. “They are wildly brilliant and talented developers. We love working with Teamit because they find great people who are as excited to work with us as we are to work with them.”
The entire process, from finding the candidates to interviewing and hiring, has typically been within four weeks on average. Shift has been particularly impressed by the calibre of support from Teamit’s account manager. “We know and have met the team, but it’s so great having such a high level of service from my one point of contact.”
In the last two years, Shift has hired 18 contractors with Teamit, primarily senior software developers.
“Our Brazilian contractors are part of the team,” said Yunk. “Not only are they talented engineers, but they are also leaders who have made enormous contributions to the company. We have been able to hit some incredible benchmarks since adding them to the team.”
By outsourcing developers in Brazil, Shift was able to hire top talent at affordable rates and scale quickly.
“Partnering with Teamit has enabled us to be responsive to the business needs because they match us with the talent we need when we need it,“ added Yunk.
Build your software development team in Brazil
Teamit connects North American companies with highly qualified, vetted, English-speaking software developers in Brazil. Globally recognized as having the largest talent pool of back-end, front-end, and full-stack developers, hiring remote contractors based out of Brazil has become a cost-effective talent strategy for growth-focused North American tech companies.