For Brussels & Belgium Companies

Brussels sits at the intersection
of European regulation and
enterprise technology mandates.

Engineering, AI, and leadership talent. Placed right.

For Brussels and Belgian companies hiring in India, the B2B SaaS and regulatory-tech cluster is real: Showpad, Teamleader, Odoo, and the EU institutions' growing technology operations have built Brussels into a B2B SaaS and regulatory technology hub. Belgian companies building India teams typically need enterprise engineering, compliance technology, or B2B product engineers, profiles that Hyderabad and Pune serve directly, with the GDPR rigour that Brussels companies require as standard. See how US companies hire in India.

Discuss a mandate View case studies
6 wk
avg. to close
0
offer drop-offs
93%
12-mo retention
4.5 h
h CET to IST

COMPANIES WE HAVE PLACED FOR

WritesonicNBALoopioketteQSAViiArya.ai
Why Brussels companies choose Talhive

The searches that failed before us
had three things in common.

Most Brussels teams that reach Talhive have already tried. Posted on LinkedIn and got applications with no signal. Used a contingent agency and got volume CVs with no technical depth. Tried to run the search without anyone who understands India's notice periods, competing offers, and motivation structures. Talhive exists for teams that need the search done once, done right, by a partner who owns the outcome end to end.

01
The sourcing thesis was generic.

Job-board posts do not reach engineers who are not actively looking but would move for the right mandate.

02
Motivation was never tested.

Offer-stage dropouts are a motivation problem, not a compensation one. The process never surfaced what matters.

03
The notice period was not managed.

60 to 90 day notice periods mean counteroffers land after your process ends. Without a retention strategy, the candidate walks.

India Team Build, US Startup
Verified placement

3 Principal AI Engineers, Writesonic

A prior agency and six months of inbound had produced zero hires. Talhive identified that the real talent pool for production LLM roles sat inside platform teams at Google and Amazon, not among self-labelled AI engineers on LinkedIn. We rebuilt the sourcing thesis around deployment evidence and closed all three within 6 weeks.

Read the full case study

6 wk
all three closed
0
offer drop-offs
What Brussels companies hire in India

Roles we place for Brussels companies.

Enterprise SaaS Engineering

B2B product engineers, API specialists, and platform engineers

Showpad, Teamleader, and Odoo-adjacent engineering mandates are well-matched to Hyderabad and Pune's enterprise SaaS alumni pools. Engineers with B2B product context and integration depth at meaningful cost efficiency. View role profile

Regulatory & Compliance Tech

EU compliance, data governance, and public sector technology engineers

Brussels's EU regulatory proximity creates specific engineering mandates for compliance automation, regulatory data reporting, and public sector digital infrastructure. India's enterprise engineering community has searchable profiles in this domain. View role profile

Engineering Leadership

India engineering lead for Belgian company GCC entry

Belgian companies entering India need a strong lead before the team scales. Retained search, leadership-first, with employer narrative designed for a market where Belgian tech brands are not widely known. View role profile

How we work

Brief to signed offer. 6 weeks.

1

Brief and calibration

Week 1

2

Search and shortlist

Weeks 2 to 4

3

Interview and close

Weeks 4 to 6

Brussels vs India salary benchmarks

India vs Brussels salary benchmarks.

Role
Brussels
India
Saving
Senior Backend Engineer
€85K to 115K
€22K to 34K
~73%
Staff / Principal Engineer
€115K to 160K
€36K to 54K
~68%
AI / ML Engineer
€105K to 145K
€28K to 46K
~70%
Engineering Manager
€105K to 145K
€30K to 45K
~70%
VP Engineering
€145K to 210K
€46K to 74K
~68%

2026 cash salary benchmarks at funded product companies across the EU. Not IT services rates. Total compensation with ESOPs adds 15 to 40%.

The India GCC Hiring Playbook: compensation, cities, and models compared →

Hiring models

Three hiring models for Brussels companies.
We help you choose the right one.

Retained Executive Search

Senior and leadership hires where a mis-hire costs 6 months

One search partner, defined timeline, technically evaluated shortlist. 4 to 8 weeks to signed offer. Fee: 20 to 25% of first-year CTC. How retained search works →

EOR (Employer of Record)

1 to 15 engineers, no entity, you manage the team

The EOR handles payroll and compliance in India. You own the work. 2 to 4 weeks after candidate identified. EOR vs entity →

Entity / GCC Setup

20+ engineers, long-term presence, full control

Register a subsidiary. Full HR, payroll, benefits. 3 to 6 months setup. Makes economic sense after the team model is proven at scale.

Ready to build your India team?

Share the role, team size, and timeline. A founder will respond within 24 hours.

Book a consultation
Service model for Brussels companies

Our services for Brussels companies.

Retained Executive SearchRetained Executive Search

Engineering leadership, enterprise SaaS engineers, compliance tech specialists. Full EU-aligned GDPR data handling.

India Team BuildIndia Team Build

B2B SaaS or regulatory tech GCC. Hyderabad for enterprise depth; Pune for cost-efficient B2B engineering.

Embedded RPOEmbedded RPO

Scale hiring for Brussels companies with multiple concurrent India roles. CET-aligned reporting.

About Talhive and the founding team →

Share Your Hiring Brief
A founder responds within 24 hours

Tell us the role, team size, and what you have tried. A founder responds directly.

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Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions.

5 questions
How long does it take to hire an engineer in India from Brussels?
4 to 8 weeks from brief to signed offer. Add 60 to 90 days for notice period. Total: 3 to 4 months from search start to engineer in seat.
What does a senior engineer in India cost compared to Brussels?
65 to 75% less in cash salary. See the benchmark table above for role-by-role Brussels versus India comparison.
Do I need to set up an Indian entity?
No. Most Brussels companies start with an EOR which handles payroll and compliance. Entity setup becomes worthwhile once the team exceeds 20 engineers.
How do I manage the timezone difference?
The 4.5 h CET offset to IST is workable with deliberate process design. Structure around a 3 to 4 hour daily overlap, run the rest async with written handoffs, and manage interview scheduling and offer parameters from Brussels. Do not require India engineers to work full local hours.
What are the biggest risks?
Timeline underestimation (60 to 90 day notice periods), salary miscalibration (benchmarking against IT services instead of product companies), and treating the India team as a vendor instead of product owners.

Brussels company.
India engineering team.

If you are a Brussels or Belgian company hiring in India, share the brief. Talhive applies genuinely privacy-first candidate data handling, built for the Brussels standard.

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