How much does it cost to hire a nearshore LATAM engineer?

TeamStation AI's all-inclusive nearshore LATAM engineering rates range from $3,460/month ($20/hr) for L1 Proficient engineers to $8,650/month ($50/hr) for L4 Expert architects. These rates are fully loaded — covering salary, benefits, EOR, device management (MDM), SSO/SAML/SCIM compliance, and platform access. No hidden fees, no surprise invoices.

How does the total cost of nearshore compare to offshore development?

Offshore development appears cheaper on a rate card ($56-$81/hr effective) but carries massive hidden costs: $30,600/month in PR latency overhead, $5,500/month in management overhead, and $183/month in compliance value lost. The true TCO for offshore is $47,810/month per engineer. Nearshore IT Co-Pilot (TeamStation AI) delivers a true TCO of $5,234/month — the lowest of any model — because it eliminates latency tax and management overhead entirely.

What is the ROI of switching from offshore to nearshore?

Switching from offshore to nearshore typically delivers: (1) $30,600/month savings in PR latency costs per engineer, (2) $5,500/month savings in management overhead, (3) 9-day vs. 60-90 day hiring cycles reducing vacancy tax, (4) 90%+ vs. variable retention reducing rehiring costs. For a 5-person team, annual savings often exceed $400,000 in combined latency, overhead, and retention costs.

What is the all-inclusive rate structure for TeamStation AI engineers?

L1 Proficient (Guided Contributor): $20/hr, $3,460/month, $41,520/year. L2 Mid-Level (Independent Feature Owner): $30/hr, $5,190/month, $62,280/year. L3 Senior (Leads Complex Projects): $40/hr, $6,920/month, $83,040/year. L4 Expert (Org-Level Architect): $50/hr, $8,650/month, $103,800/year. All rates include EOR, benefits, device management, and compliance. Rates calculated on 173 workable hours/month.

What hidden costs should I budget for when comparing nearshore to US onshore?

When comparing true cost, factor in: (1) PR latency overhead — offshore adds ~$30,600/month per engineer, onshore $10,200/month; (2) management overhead — offshore $5,500/month, legacy nearshore $3,300/month, TeamStation AI $0; (3) compliance value — TeamStation AI saves $2,292/month in audit hours; (4) vacancy tax — 60-90 day US hiring cycles vs. 9-day TeamStation AI cycles at $100-200K/year in lost productivity per open role.

Cost Intelligence

Nearshore Engineering Cost Guide

Complete pricing data, TCO analysis, and ROI models for LATAM nearshore engineers. Built for CTOs who want the real numbers — not a sales pitch.

TeamStation AI Pricing: L1 to L4

All-inclusive rates. Covers salary, benefits, EOR, device management, SSO/SAML/SCIM, compliance. 173 hrs/month basis.

L1 Proficient

$20/hr

Guided Contributor

Executes component-level tasks within defined specs. Validated core competencies via Axiom Cortex™ correctness and fluency scoring.

$3,460/mo

$41,520/yr

L2 Mid-Level

$30/hr

Independent Feature Owner

Ships features independently, handles ambiguity. Mental model accuracy assessed via composite scores and role-level normalization.

$5,190/mo

$62,280/yr

L3 Senior

$40/hr

Leads Complex Projects

Leads cross-component projects, mentors junior engineers. Axiom Cortex™ measures system design skills and architectural instinct.

$6,920/mo

$83,040/yr

L4 Expert

$50/hr

Org-Level Architect

Sets architecture and technical strategy across teams. Validated via utility-optimized decision gates and multi-objective trade-off analysis.

$8,650/mo

$103,800/yr

± $5-10 USD variance per seniority band. Contact us for volume pricing.

True TCO: What Engineering Actually Costs

Includes EOR · Devices/MDM · SSO/SAML/SCIM · Compliance · PR latency · Management overhead

Metric	Build In-House	Onshore US	Offshore	Nearshore (Legacy)	TeamStation AI
Fully-loaded seat cost (monthly)	$19,500	$24,912–$31,140	$9,731–$14,056	$8,564–$12,370	$6,920–$8,131
Effective hourly rate	$113	$144–$180	$56–$81	$50–$72	$40–$47
Time-zone overlap (hrs/day)	8+	8+	0-2	4-8	4-8
PR review median (hrs)	2	2	4	2	1
PR latency cost vs 1h (monthly)	$10,200	$10,200	$30,600	$10,200	$0
Management overhead tax (monthly)	$2,750	$3,300	$5,500	$3,300	$0
Compliance readiness (audit hrs saved/mo)	$733	$733	$183	$1,100	$2,292
Total TCO / month	$31,717	$40,793	$47,810	$22,867	$5,234

Basis: 173 hrs/month | Blended Dev Rate: $85 | Onshore Overhead: 20% | Offshore Overhead: 25% | Legacy Nearshore Overhead: 10%

The Real Cost of Offshore Development

The offshore rate card is a lie. At a published $56-$81/hr effective rate, offshore looks like the cheapest option. But when you count the PR latency tax ($30,600/month per engineer in lost productivity), the management overhead ($5,500/month), and the minimal compliance value ($183/month), the true TCO balloons to $47,810/month — making offshore the most expensive model on the market. Read the full analysis in our nearshore vs. offshore CTO decision framework.

Nearshore software development through TeamStation AI eliminates both the latency tax and the management overhead. Our integrated platform handles DevOps, compliance, device management, and EOR — reducing your true TCO to $5,234/month. That's not a typo. The platform absorbs what you currently pay in overhead and converts it into engineering velocity.

Beyond monthly rates, the vacancy tax is the most underestimated cost in engineering. Every day an open role sits unfilled, you pay in delayed roadmap items, burned senior engineers covering the gap, and missed market windows. Traditional US hiring takes 60-90 days. TeamStation AI's average time-to-offer is 9 days — eliminating the vacancy tax almost entirely for roles like React developers, Python engineers, and Kubernetes specialists.

ROI: When Does Nearshore Pay Off?

For a 5-engineer team switching from offshore to TeamStation AI nearshore, annual savings typically include: $1.83M in PR latency overhead eliminated, $330K in management overhead recovered, and $45-90K per role in reduced vacancy tax. The break-even on any platform migration occurs within the first 30-60 days. See our comparison against BairesDev and other legacy vendors for a head-to-head breakdown.

What's Included in Every TeamStation AI Rate

Engineer salary + benefits (fully loaded)

Employer of Record (EOR) in LATAM market

Device management (MDM) + endpoint security

SSO/SAML/SCIM identity integration

Local labor law compliance coverage

Axiom Cortex™ cognitive vetting report

Dedicated account management

Platform access + sprint observability

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Related Resources

The Physics of Distributed Software Delivery Nearshore Platform Overview Nearshore vs. Offshore Playbook TeamStation AI vs. BairesDev LATAM Engineering Hub CTO Team Topology Guide

Nearshore ROI Calculator LATAM Salary Benchmarks Nearshore vs. Offshore TCO Study

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