Hire AWS Nearshore Developers in Latin America

Hiring top-tier AWS nearshore developers isn’t just a trend; it’s a strategic play for companies that need to scale their cloud operations without getting bogged down by the astronomical costs and fierce competition in the U.S. talent market. The idea is simple: partner with highly skilled cloud engineers in Latin America to get the perfect mix of time-zone alignment, cultural similarity, and serious cost savings.

Why Smart Companies Are Looking South for AWS Talent

Let’s be honest—the demand for certified AWS professionals has created a massive talent bottleneck for most U.S. companies. Trying to find a senior AWS architect or a seasoned DevOps engineer locally isn’t just hard; it’s incredibly expensive. This scarcity is pushing engineering leaders to find smarter, more sustainable ways to build and manage their cloud infrastructure.

This is exactly where the nearshore model shines. It’s far more than a simple cost-cutting measure. It’s a deliberate strategy to build a more resilient and globally integrated engineering team.

It’s Not Just About the Money

While the financial upside is undeniable, the smartest companies I’ve worked with lean into nearshoring for the operational wins. The biggest one? Seamless collaboration.

When your nearshore team is in a similar time zone, you instantly kill the communication lag that plagues offshore models. Daily stand-ups, spontaneous brainstorming sessions, and pair programming all happen in real time. This isn’t a small thing; it dramatically speeds up project timelines and keeps everyone on the same page.

That time-zone alignment directly fuels agility. Your teams can iterate faster, jump on critical issues immediately, and maintain a consistent, cohesive development rhythm.

Tapping into a Booming Tech Hub

Latin America has quietly become a powerhouse for tech talent, with a fast-growing community of engineers specializing in cloud platforms like AWS. By widening your search radius, you suddenly have access to a much larger and more diverse pool of qualified candidates. This is a game-changer for businesses that need to scale their AWS teams quickly to hit ambitious project deadlines.

Take a look at this quick comparison to see how the two models stack up.

Onshore vs Nearshore AWS Teams At a Glance

Here’s a snapshot of the key differences between hiring locally in the U.S. and building a nearshore team in Latin America. It helps clarify why so many companies are making the switch.

As you can see, the nearshore model offers a compelling balance of cost, talent, and collaboration that’s hard to beat.

The numbers back this up. By 2026, over 80% of North American companies are expected to be using nearshore teams in some sense to accelerate their AWS projects. Why? Because developers in Latin America often command salaries up to 50-70% lower than their U.S. peers, all while delivering the same collaborative efficiency you get from shared time zones.

This strategic shift allows you to build a world-class team without ever having to compromise on quality or speed.

Where to Find Elite AWS Developers in Latin America

So, where do you actually find these folks? Knowing where to look is half the battle. Latin America isn’t a single, uniform talent pool—it’s a dynamic mix of tech ecosystems, each with its own flavor and strengths. Figuring out which country and which hiring model makes sense for you is the first real step toward building your AWS nearshore team.

You generally have three ways to go about this, and the best choice really comes down to your company’s resources, timeline, and how hands-on you want to be.

• Specialized Nearshore Agencies: Think of these as your dedicated talent scouts on the ground. They handle all the heavy lifting—sourcing, vetting, compliance, payroll—and hand you a shortlist of qualified AWS engineers. For most companies, this is the quickest and safest path because these agencies already have deep networks and know the local market inside and out.
• Freelance Platforms: Sites like Upwork or Toptal give you direct access to a huge number of independent developers. This route offers incredible flexibility, but be prepared to do all the work yourself. You’re the one sifting through profiles, running technical interviews, and managing the project directly.
• Direct Hiring: This is the most involved approach. You’re either setting up your own local entity or using an Employer of Record (EOR) to hire full-time employees. It gives you maximum control, but it’s also the most complex and expensive option. You’ll be navigating local labor laws, tax codes, and benefits packages, which is no small feat.

Key Tech Hubs and Their Specializations

You can save a lot of time by targeting your search. Some countries have simply become magnets for specific kinds of tech talent. The demand for cloud skills is absolutely exploding, driven by how central AWS is to just about everything. Amazon’s cloud investment is expected to race past $100 billion by 2025, which means the hunt for specialized AWS talent is only going to get more competitive.

This surge has created some amazing pockets of expertise across the region.

• Brazil: This is the heavyweight. Brazil has a massive talent pool with deep experience in enterprise-grade AWS solutions. If you need a senior architect for a complex cloud migration or a FinOps expert to get your costs under control, this is a great place to start.
• Mexico: Thanks to its close proximity and strong business ties to the U.S., Mexico is a powerhouse for DevOps and cloud-native development. You’ll find a ton of engineers here who are brilliant with CI/CD pipelines, containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and serverless architectures.
• Colombia: A real rising star, especially in cities like Medellín and Bogotá. Colombia has carved out a niche in data engineering and machine learning on AWS. When you need someone with deep knowledge of services like SageMaker, Redshift, or Kinesis, Colombian talent should be on your radar.

When you’re talking to a potential nearshore agency, don’t just ask about certifications. Ask them to walk you through a case study where they solved a tricky scaling problem for a client using AWS. Their answer will tell you far more about their real-world skills than any piece of paper.

Vetting Your Sourcing Partner

If you decide an agency is the right move, your vetting process is everything. You need a partner, not just a recruiter.

Look for complete transparency around their sourcing methods, pricing models, and—critically—their developer retention rates. Ask tough questions. How do they test for technical chops? What about the soft skills, like communication and creative problem-solving?

A truly great partner isn’t just filling a vacancy. They’re finding an engineer who will integrate seamlessly and become a genuine, long-term asset to your team. Their goal should be to build an extension of your engineering culture, not just a contract.

A Vetting Process That Actually Works

Sourcing talented AWS nearshore developers is one thing. Figuring out if they actually know their stuff is a whole different ballgame. Let’s be honest, those brain-teaser questions and abstract whiteboard problems rarely tell you how someone will perform on a real project.

You need a process that gets past the buzzwords and shows you how a candidate thinks, solves problems, and collaborates. A good vetting process should feel less like an exam and more like a simulation of the actual work. It’s the only way to get a clear picture of their technical depth and the soft skills that are absolutely essential for a remote team.

The Initial Screen for Communication

Forget the deep technical grilling for the first conversation. This initial chat is all about communication, how they articulate ideas, and their general approach to solving problems. A great opening is to ask them to walk you through a recent AWS project they found challenging.

What you’re listening for is how they talk about it. Do they just list services, or do they explain the business problem, the solution they built, and—most importantly—the why behind their architectural choices? A great engineer can make complex ideas easy to understand and explain the trade-offs they considered. This first step is perfect for filtering out candidates who might have technical knowledge on paper but can’t communicate effectively.

The Hands-On Coding Challenge

Alright, this is where the rubber meets the road. Ditch the theoretical questions and give them a practical, real-world task. This is, without a doubt, the best way to see their hands-on skills with AWS in action.

The challenge shouldn’t be a week-long project. Scope it to take just a few hours and make it something your team might actually encounter.

For example, you could try:

• A Serverless API: Ask them to build a simple REST API using API Gateway, AWS Lambda, and DynamoDB. Give them clear requirements for the endpoints and data structure.
• Infrastructure as Code: Hand them a simple application and ask them to define the AWS infrastructure it needs—think VPC, subnets, EC2 instances, and security groups—using Terraform or AWS CloudFormation.

When you review their work, you’ll see so much more than just a right or wrong answer. You’ll get a window into their coding style, their grasp of security best practices, and their ability to follow directions to deliver a working solution.

Your goal isn’t to find someone who knows every single AWS service. It’s to find someone who demonstrates strong engineering fundamentals and knows how to use the right AWS tools to solve a specific business problem efficiently and securely.

The System Design Interview

For any senior role, the system design interview is non-negotiable. This is your chance to move beyond code and assess their architectural vision. It’s about evaluating how they design scalable, resilient, and cost-effective systems on the AWS platform.

Start with a high-level problem. Something like, “We need to design a system to process and analyze real-time streaming data from thousands of IoT devices.”

Then, step back and let them drive the conversation. You’re looking for a few key things:

1. Clarify Requirements: Do they jump straight to a solution, or do they ask smart questions about scale, latency needs, and budget?
2. Propose Solutions: Can they sketch out a high-level architecture using the right tools for the job, like Kinesis, Lambda, and Redshift?
3. Discuss Trade-offs: Are they thinking about the pros and cons of different approaches? You want to hear them talk about cost optimization, security, and operational headaches.

This is what separates the technicians from the true architects. Companies that master this find the right people fast. For example, some platforms that use AI-powered matching for AWS nearshore developers are seeing a 91% developer-to-project match rate. They also claim to shorten hiring cycles by a massive 75% compared to traditional methods. It just goes to show how a well-structured vetting process pays off. This is how you build a high-performing cloud team without the usual months-long hiring grind.

Getting the Contract and Compensation Right

You’ve found a fantastic candidate. Now it’s time to talk business—the legal and financial details that form the foundation of your working relationship. This isn’t just paperwork; it’s where you set the expectations for a strong, transparent partnership from day one.

The first big decision is how you’ll structure the engagement. There’s no single right answer here. The best model really depends on your project’s scope, how long you’ll need them, and how deeply you want them embedded with your existing team.

Picking an Engagement Model That Fits

From my experience, a few common models work exceptionally well for nearshore teams.

• Project-Based: This is your go-to for short-term, clearly defined tasks. Think of migrating a specific application to AWS or building out a single serverless function. It’s clean, transactional, and focused entirely on a single outcome.
• Dedicated Team: Need to seriously boost your engineering power for the long run? This is the model for you. You get a hand-picked team of developers working exclusively on your projects. They quickly become a natural extension of your in-house crew, perfect for ongoing product development and managing a complex AWS infrastructure.
• Contract-to-Hire: I’m a big fan of this one. It gives you the best of both worlds—flexibility and long-term potential. You can bring a developer on for a trial period, usually 3-6 months, to see how they work with your team and tackle real-world problems. It’s the ultimate “try before you buy” to ensure a perfect fit before making a permanent offer.

Building a Competitive Offer

Fair compensation is about more than just salary. It’s about signaling that you respect the sophisticated skills these AWS developers bring to the table. While you’ll find rates are more favorable than in the US, you absolutely have to be competitive to attract and keep the best people.

A huge mistake I see companies make is lowballing candidates based on old ideas about Latin American markets. The tech scene there is white-hot, and top AWS engineers know exactly what they’re worth. A strong offer shows you’re looking for a genuine partner, not just a cheap code-monkey.

To give you a realistic idea, here’s what the market looks like right now for AWS talent in the region:

Of course, these numbers can shift depending on the country, specific AWS certifications (like the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional), and deep experience with high-demand services like Lambda or Kubernetes. Always do a quick check on the local market you’re hiring from.

Key Clauses Your Contract Can’t Do Without

Think of your contract as your rulebook. It needs to be crystal clear to protect both you and your new hire. Beyond just the scope of work and payment terms, make sure you have solid language covering these areas:

• Intellectual Property (IP) Rights: It should be unambiguous that all code, documentation, and anything else created for you belongs to your company. Period.
• Confidentiality (NDA): A rock-solid non-disclosure agreement is essential. This is non-negotiable for protecting your company’s internal data and trade secrets.
• Service Level Agreements (SLAs): If the role involves any kind of operations or support, you need to define expectations for availability, response times, and key performance metrics.

Another critical consideration is how you hire—directly or through an Employer of Record (EOR). This choice has major implications for your contracts and legal obligations. To get a better handle on this, you can learn more about the differences between an EOR and setting up a local entity in Latin America on nearshorebusinesssolutions.com. Nailing these details at the start will save you from massive headaches later.

Integrating Your New AWS Team for Long-Term Success

Finding and hiring the right person feels like crossing the finish line, but it’s really just the start. The real work—and the real payoff—begins with integration. Long-term success with AWS nearshore developers hinges on a thoughtful, deliberate onboarding that makes them feel like a genuine part of the team from day one.

This is about so much more than shipping a laptop and sending over some logins. You’re building a foundation of trust, clarity, and connection. When you nail this part of the process, your new hires can start adding real value right away, instead of spending weeks just trying to figure things out.

Setting Up a Secure and Productive Environment

Your first order of business on the technical side is getting access sorted out. This means providing secure, role-based access to your AWS environment using IAM (Identity and Access Management). The golden rule here is the principle of least privilege. Only grant the specific permissions they need to do their job—nothing more. It’s a simple step that protects your infrastructure and immediately establishes a professional, security-first mindset.

But access goes beyond AWS. Think about their entire daily toolkit. Get them set up in Slack, Jira, Confluence, and whatever else your team relies on. Their first few days shouldn’t be a frustrating scavenger hunt for access requests; they should be about meeting the team and digging into the codebase.

Your onboarding process is your first, best chance to demonstrate your company culture. A smooth, welcoming, and well-organized experience shows a new engineer they’ve joined a team that values their time and sets them up for success.

A little structure goes a long way here. To make sure nothing falls through the cracks, it helps to have a playbook. Our comprehensive remote onboarding checklist is a great starting point for creating a consistent and positive experience for every new team member.

To give you a clearer picture, here’s a structured checklist that covers the essential steps for a successful remote onboarding.

Onboarding Checklist for Nearshore AWS Developers

This checklist breaks down the onboarding process into key phases, ensuring a smooth and effective transition for your new remote team members.

Following a structured plan like this not only helps the new hire but also makes the process more efficient for everyone involved.

Fostering a Unified and Inclusive Team Culture

When your team is distributed, you have to be intentional about building culture. You can’t rely on those spontaneous “water cooler” moments that happen in an office. This is where small, consistent efforts make all the difference.

Here are a few practical ideas that I’ve seen work wonders:

• Virtual Coffee Chats: Schedule short, informal video calls with no work agenda. Pair the new hire with different people across the team to help them build personal connections.
• Inclusive Decision-Making: When you’re talking about architecture or planning the next sprint, actively ask for your nearshore developers’ input. Make it clear their expertise is respected and needed.
• Knowledge Sharing Sessions: Invite them to lead a “lunch and learn” on a new AWS service or a side project they’re passionate about. It builds their confidence and upskills the entire team.

It’s also crucial to ensure your tools and workflows are tightly integrated. Look into different AWS platform integrations that can connect the tools your team uses daily, which helps boost productivity and smooth out collaboration.

Establishing Clear Communication and Feedback Loops

Finally, eliminate ambiguity by being crystal clear about expectations. Document your team’s communication norms. When should they use Slack versus email? What does a well-written Jira ticket look like? What’s the schedule for stand-ups and one-on-ones? Answering these questions upfront helps your new AWS nearshore developers quickly find their rhythm.

Regular, constructive feedback is the engine of professional growth. Set up weekly check-ins to talk about progress, clear any roadblocks, and offer coaching. This steady dialogue builds incredible trust and keeps everyone aligned, turning that promising new hire into a high-performing, long-term cornerstone of your team.

Answering Your Lingering Questions About Hiring Nearshore AWS Talent

Even with the best-laid plans, a few nagging questions can hold you back from pulling the trigger on a new hiring strategy. Let’s tackle some of the most common concerns I hear from leaders before they dive into building a team of AWS nearshore developers. Getting these answers straight should give you the confidence to move forward.

How Do We Keep Our Data and IP Safe?

This is, without a doubt, the number one concern—and for good reason. The reality is, securing your environment with a remote nearshore team involves the exact same best practices you’d use for a remote team member down the street. It’s all about having airtight processes and the right tools in place.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

• Lock Down Access: Start with AWS IAM and live by the principle of least privilege. No one should have access to anything they don’t absolutely need to do their job.
• Control the Hardware: A solid device management policy is non-negotiable. This means company-issued laptops with encrypted drives, managed centrally.
• Ironclad Agreements: Your contracts need crystal-clear language on intellectual property ownership. A comprehensive Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) is also a must.

These aren’t “nearshoring” security measures; they’re the fundamentals of modern, distributed work. If you build a security-first culture from day one, your assets are protected no matter where your team logs in from.

What About Cultural and Language Barriers?

I get it. The thought of communication breakdowns can be daunting. But this concern is often overblown, especially when you’re working with talent from Latin America. There’s a strong cultural alignment with North American business practices that makes collaboration feel surprisingly natural.

Plus, English proficiency among tech professionals is incredibly high, particularly in major tech hubs like Mexico City, São Paulo, and Bogotá.

The real secret to great communication isn’t about finding someone with a perfect accent. It’s about finding someone who can articulate complex technical ideas clearly and who understands the project’s goals. This is something you can easily screen for in your interviews.

To smooth over any minor differences, be deliberate about creating one unified team culture. Document how you communicate (when to use Slack vs. email, for example) and make space for those informal “water cooler” moments with virtual coffee chats.

How Do We Actually Manage the Different Time Zones?

This is where the nearshore model truly shines. Unlike working with offshore teams in Asia or Eastern Europe, Latin America shares significant time-zone overlap with the entire United States. A developer in Colombia works on Eastern Standard Time, and someone in Mexico is likely on Central or Mountain Time.

This alignment is a game-changer.

No more waiting 12 hours for an answer to a simple question or waking up at 5 a.m. for a status update. Daily stand-ups, pair programming sessions, and urgent troubleshooting all happen in real-time, within your normal workday. This seamless collaboration is a massive productivity booster and a core reason why so many companies turn to AWS nearshore developers to hit their deadlines.