For London & UK Companies
How UK Companies Hire
Engineers in India
Retained search. Not recruitment roulette.
Engineering, AI, and leadership talent. Placed right.
London's fintech corridor, Revolut, Monzo, Wise, Checkout.com, Starling, has built more India engineering capability than any other European cluster. The companies that built well did it with a retained, intelligence-led approach. The ones still cycling through agencies did not. This is how it works. See how US companies hire in India.
COMPANIES WE HAVE PLACED FOR
The searches that failed before us
had three things in common.
Most London 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.
Job-board posts do not reach engineers who are not actively looking but would move for the right mandate.
Offer-stage dropouts are a motivation problem, not a compensation one. The process never surfaced what matters.
60 to 90 day notice periods mean counteroffers land after your process ends. Without a retention strategy, the candidate walks.
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.
Roles we place for London companies.
Backend, payments infrastructure, and financial data engineers for London's regulated technology companies.
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Production AI engineers for London's Deepmind-adjacent, Stability AI, and applied ML ecosystem.
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VP Engineering, Engineering Directors, and first India engineering leads for UK companies.
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Brief to signed offer. 6 weeks.
India vs London salary benchmarks.
2026 cash salary benchmarks at local product and scale-up companies. Not IT services rates. Total compensation with ESOPs adds 15 to 40%.
The India GCC Hiring Playbook: compensation, cities, and models compared →
Three hiring models for London companies.
We help you choose the right one.
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 →
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 →
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 consultationOur services for London companies.
Confidential and standard leadership mandates. Board-level discretion where required. Written intelligence briefs, pre-offer referencing, motivation interview standard.
GCC or founding team from zero. Bengaluru for fintech/AI/product; Hyderabad for cloud/platform; Pune for cost-efficient scale engineering.
Scale hiring for London companies with 8+ concurrent India roles. GDPR-aware pipeline management, GMT-aligned weekly reporting.
Tell us the role, team size, and what you have tried. A founder responds directly.
Strictly confidential. Reviewed by a senior Talhive team member.
Received.
A senior team member will be in touch directly.
Frequently asked questions.
5 questionsHow long does it take to hire an engineer in India from London?
What does a senior engineer in India cost compared to London?
Do I need to set up an Indian entity?
How do I manage the timezone difference?
What are the biggest risks?
Resources for London companies hiring in India.
Executive Search
Retained vs Contingent: When Each Model Works
The data on outcomes for senior India hires.
India Team Build
Bangalore vs Pune vs Hyderabad: Where to Build
City comparison for global companies.
India Team Build
Managing India Notice Periods Without Losing the Hire
Why offers slip at 60 to 90 days.
London company.
India mandate.
If you are a London or UK company hiring in India, share the brief: the role, business context, what has been tried. Talhive will assess mandate fit and map what the India market looks like for your specific profile.
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