Remote Software Developers · UK & Ireland
Pre-screened software engineers, embedded in your stack within days
Mid-level and senior developers from South Africa — full-day, dedicated, vetted on real technical screens. Same workday as London, half the all-in cost of a UK hire. From £4,080/month.
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Two tiers — Mid & Senior
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Stacks we routinely place into
- Back-end — Python, Java, Node.js, Go, Ruby, PHP, .NET
- Front-end — React, Angular, Vue, TypeScript, Next.js
- Mobile — Swift, Kotlin, React Native, Flutter
- Data & integrations — SQL, NoSQL, GraphQL, REST
- Cloud & DevOps — AWS (ECS, Lambda, SQS, RDS, CloudWatch), Azure, GCP
- Containers & orchestration — Docker, Kubernetes, OpenStack
- CI / CD — GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, CircleCI
- Specialist — Spring Boot, Cucumber, Angular, Oracle, Postgres
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How developer placements work
- Brief
You give us the role, stack, seniority, time zone overlap, work pattern. We send back a 1-page role spec for sign-off.
- Source & screen
We surface 3–5 candidates per role from our pipeline + active sourcing. CVs, portfolios, GitHub, references.
- Technical screen
We run a real technical screen on each shortlisted candidate before they meet you. No “interview prep” theatre.
- You interview & pick
You meet the shortlist. Choose your developer. Onboard within 5 working days.
- Permanent placement
If you want them on your books, the once-off £8,480 places them with you and ends the management relationship cleanly.
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[q]Will I be working with my developer or with you?[/q]
[a]With your developer. They join your stand-ups, your Slack, your Jira, your code reviews. We’re behind the scenes — managing their VAVarsity training, wellness, and replacement if needed. Day to day, they feel like part of your team because they are.[/a]
[q]How does pricing compare to a UK-based developer?[/q]
[a]A mid-level UK developer at £55K base is roughly £75K all-in (NI, pension, equipment, software, holiday, sick pay, recruiter fee amortised). Our mid-level developer at £4,080/month is £48,960/year all-in — and we handle their training, wellness, retention and replacement. A senior at £6,088/month (£73K) is comparable to a £55K UK senior on total cost.[/a]
[q]Are your developers full-day, dedicated to me?[/q]
[a]Yes. Our developers work a full UK working day exclusively for you. They don’t split between clients. South African working hours map cleanly onto London hours (GMT+2 vs GMT/BST), so live pairing, code reviews and stand-ups happen in real time.[/a]
[q]How do you screen technically?[/q]
[a]Live technical screen with a senior engineer — typically 60–90 minutes covering core competence in the candidate’s specialism, system design, debugging and code-quality discussion. We don’t outsource the screen; we run it ourselves so the standard is consistent across placements.[/a]
[q]Can I do my own technical interview?[/q]
[a]Yes — and we strongly recommend it. We screen first to keep your time efficient, then surface 2–3 finalists for you to interview however you normally would. Take-home tasks, pair-programming exercises, system design — your call.[/a]
[q]What happens if the developer isn’t a fit?[/q]
[a]We replace at no cost within the first 30 days. Beyond 30 days we’ll still replace — we just ask for a re-matching window so the next candidate arrives properly briefed. Roughly 2–3% of developer placements get replaced.[/a]
[q]Can I hire my developer permanently?[/q]
[a]Yes — once-off £8,480 and the developer is yours to employ directly. We end the management relationship cleanly. Roughly 10% of developer placements convert to permanent within 12 months; the rest stay on the managed model.[/a]
[q]Is South African talent strong technically?[/q]
[a]Yes. South Africa has a deep, well-established software industry — major UK and US firms have engineering hubs in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Stellenbosch. Our developers have shipped for fintech, e-commerce, SaaS, EdTech and government. CodingIT (UK) explicitly cited “outstanding value proposition” after hiring senior developers and a marketing associate through us.[/a]
[q]What about IP and code security?[/q]
[a]Every developer signs an NDA and an IP assignment clause before being introduced. Code is committed to your repositories — never to a personal account. We can sign your standard contractor agreement, complete vendor security questionnaires and align with your infosec standards.[/a]
[q]Do your developers have AWS or DevOps depth?[/q]
[a]Yes. Several have shipped production systems on AWS (ECS, Lambda, SQS, RDS, CloudWatch), GCP and Azure. CI/CD via GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins. Container orchestration with Docker and Kubernetes. Tell us your stack and we’ll match for it.[/a]
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