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For US Companies Hiring in India

Hire Engineers in India
for US Companies.

Engineering, AI, and leadership talent. Placed right.

We place senior engineers, AI specialists, and engineering leaders for US companies looking to hire engineers from India. Every mandate is retained, every shortlist is technically evaluated, and every search is managed through to signed offer. 6-week average close. Zero offer drop-offs on the last five mandates. Also serving UK companies.

Discuss a mandate → View case studies
Why US companies choose Talhive

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

Most US founders that reach Talhive have already tried. Posted on LinkedIn, got 200 applications and no signal. Used a contingent agency, got volume CVs with no technical depth. Tried to run the search from San Francisco without anyone who understands the India market's notice periods, competing offers, and motivation structures. Talhive exists for founders who need the search done once, done right, by a partner who owns the outcome end to end.

01
The sourcing thesis was generic.

Posting on job boards does 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  |  VP Engineering, UK Series B

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

Roles we place for US companies hiring in India.

AI / ML Engineering

Production LLM, RAG, and applied ML engineers. Not researchers. Engineers who have shipped AI at user scale.

View role profile

Full-Stack / Backend

Cloud-native backend and full-stack engineers for US product companies. Modern stacks, product ownership mindset.

View role profile

Founding Engineers

The first 3 to 5 India hires that set the engineering culture. Founding-team quality, not body-shop staffing.

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

US vs India salary benchmarks

India vs US salary benchmarks.

Role
US
India
Saving
Senior Backend Engineer
$160K to 200K
$30K to 45K
~75%
Staff / Principal Engineer
$200K to 280K
$48K to 70K
~70%
AI / ML Engineer
$180K to 260K
$38K to 60K
~72%
Engineering Manager
$180K to 240K
$40K to 58K
~72%
VP Engineering
$250K to 350K
$60K to 95K
~72%

2026 cash salary benchmarks at funded product companies. 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 US 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. $200 to $500/month per employee plus salary.

EOR vs entity comparison →

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 hire in India?

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

Book a consultation
Service model for US companies

Our services for US companies.

Retained Executive Search Retained Executive Search

VP Engineering, Staff+, and founding engineer mandates. Full candidate intelligence briefs. EST-compatible calibration and interview windows.

India Team Build India Team Build

GCC or founding team from zero. City strategy, compensation calibration, employer brand design. Bengaluru for AI/product; Pune for backend/DevOps.

Embedded RPO Embedded RPO

Scale hiring for US companies with 8+ concurrent India roles. EST-aligned weekly reporting, pipeline management, and assessed shortlists.

About Talhive and the founding team →

Share Your Hiring Brief

Whether you need to hire talent in India for a single leadership role or an entire founding team, tell us the role, team size, and what you have tried. A founder responds directly.

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Strictly confidential. Reviewed by a senior Talhive team member.

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Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions.

5 questions
How do I hire engineers from India as a US startup?+
Start with the role definition and hiring model. If you have no India entity, an Employer of Record lets you hire compliantly in two to four weeks. If you plan to build a team of five or more, standing up a subsidiary or GCC gives you long-term control. Talhive handles the search in both cases: we source, assess, and shortlist senior engineers against your specific technical bar, then calibrate the offer against live India compensation data so it lands in the candidate's real decision range. Brief to signed offer typically takes six weeks.
How much does it cost to hire engineers in India vs the US?+
A senior backend or full-stack engineer in India typically costs 30 to 70 LPA (roughly $36K to $84K), compared to $150K to $250K total compensation in the US for equivalent experience. AI and ML engineers sit at the higher end of the India range (50 to 90 LPA) but still represent a 60 to 70 percent saving. These figures reflect candidates sourced through retained search, not job-board averages, and vary by city: Bengaluru commands the highest band, Hyderabad and Pune sit 15 to 25 percent lower.
What are the hiring models for US companies in India?+
Three principal models: Employer of Record (EOR) lets you hire without an entity, with payroll and compliance handled by the EOR provider, typically $200 to $500 per month per employee. India subsidiary or GCC gives you full control and is cost-effective at five or more employees. Retained executive search is how you find the right people regardless of which entity model you choose. Talhive operates across all three.
How long does it take to hire engineers in India?+
A retained search moves from brief to signed offer in six weeks. Week one is mandate design and sourcing thesis. Weeks two to four cover active sourcing and technical shortlisting. Weeks four to six handle interviews and close. The timeline holds because the search is designed before outreach begins, not built on the fly.
Which companies help US businesses hire engineers in India?+
Several models exist: contingent recruitment agencies, RPO providers, EOR platforms, and retained executive search firms. Contingent agencies work on a no-hire-no-fee basis but typically deliver volume over quality. Retained search firms like Talhive design the search before sourcing begins, technically assess every shortlisted candidate, and guarantee the placement for ninety days. The right choice depends on the seniority of the role and how critical the hire is to your product.
Related reading

India hiring guide for US companies.

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 US companies.

Engineering Hiring

The 7 Hiring Metrics Every VP Engineering Should Track

From time-to-fill to offer acceptance rate.

View all posts →

Start your India
search today.

Share your hiring brief: the role, team size, and timeline. A Talhive founder reviews every enquiry and responds within 24 hours.

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