What Is an Offshore Team?

As tech companies race to innovate faster and stay ahead of the competition, many are encountering the same roadblocks: rising salaries, a shrinking talent pool, and hiring processes that drag on for months. Building an in-house team has never been more difficult or more expensive.

That’s why an increasing number of companies are turning to a strategic alternative: offshore teams.

When built correctly, offshore teams not only solve hiring challenges but also unlock speed, savings, and long-term stability.

Continue reading this article to learn more about what an offshore team is.

Offshore Team: A Simple Definition

An offshore team is a group of professionals, such as developers, designers, QA engineers, marketers, or support staff, who work remotely from another country. Even while living abroad, they function as an integral part of your company. These team members are not external contractors, but are fully dedicated to your goals and collaborate with your in-house staff daily.

For example, at CoDev, we help U.S. companies build these offshore teams in the Philippines, a country known for its strong English skills, Western-aligned work culture, and deep pool of skilled tech professionals. The result is a seamless extension of your team, just based in a different time zone.

How Offshore Teams Work in Practice

A well-run offshore team mirrors the structure and rhythm of your local team. They join your standups, use your tools, attend your team meetings, and work toward the exact deliverables. You manage them directly, which means complete control over priorities, processes, and output.

Unlike freelancers who often work independently on fixed-scope projects, offshore team members are a part of your company. They grow with your company, adopt your culture, and deliver ongoing value.

With CoDev, this integration is seamless. We support the full lifecycle so your offshore team is set up for long-term success from day one.

Why Offshore Teams Are Growing in Popularity

While cost savings are a significant reason companies explore offshore hiring, that’s just the beginning. Offshore teams offer a combination of speed, scalability, and strategic flexibility that’s hard to achieve locally.

One key advantage is cost efficiency. Hiring a senior software engineer in the U.S. can cost upwards of $150,000 per year, not including benefits and overhead. The same skill level offshore, particularly in the Philippines, can be 60–70% less expensive, making it possible to scale your team without draining your budget.

Beyond cost, companies choose offshore teams to speed up hiring. Instead of waiting months to fill a position, CoDev clients typically onboard offshore experts in just two to four weeks. That speed helps you maintain momentum and avoid delays that can cost your business both time and opportunity.

Another significant benefit is scalability. Whether you need one developer today or five more in the next quarter, an offshore model gives you the flexibility to expand quickly, without the administrative headaches that come with international hiring.

Offshore Teams vs. Freelancers vs. Traditional Outsourcing

It’s essential to distinguish offshore teams from other global hiring models.

Freelancers are best suited for short-term or specialized tasks. While flexible, they often juggle multiple clients and rarely become deeply invested in your company’s long-term success.

Traditional outsourcing typically involves handing over an entire project to an external agency. This approach offers little control over who’s doing the work, how it’s being done, or whether the final product truly meets your standards.

By contrast, an offshore team is under your direct management and supervision. You decide who to hire, how they work, and what success looks like. You gain complete transparency, accountability, and the ability to shape the team just like your in-house staff.

What Sets CoDev Apart

Not all offshore providers operate the same way. At CoDev, we’ve spent over 15 years perfecting the art of building high-performing offshore teams in the Philippines.

We begin with a tailored recruitment process, connecting you only with candidates who match your exact technical and cultural requirements. We handle the entire back office, from HR and IT setup to compliance and payroll, so you can focus on building great products.

Our teams also work in your time zone. We align schedules so there’s meaningful overlap for meetings, collaboration, and reviews. This commitment to real-time communication helps your offshore team feel like a natural extension of your U.S. workforce.

Most importantly, we stay involved long after you've hired us. Our local HR and operations team continuously supports your offshore employees to ensure high engagement, strong retention, and consistent performance.

Offshore Teams as a Strategic Advantage

Offshore teams are more than a cost-cutting tactic—they’re a way to gain a competitive edge.

Startups use them to stretch a limited runway and move from MVP to market faster. Growing companies use them to meet increasing product demands without overburdening internal teams. Large enterprises use them to balance global operations and optimize budget allocation.

With the right partner, offshore teams can offer the same quality, accountability, and collaboration as local hires, without the overhead.

Ready to Build Your Offshore Team?

If you’ve been considering offshoring but aren’t sure how to start, CoDev can help. We’ve helped hundreds of U.S. tech companies build long-term, high-performing offshore teams—and we’re ready to do the same for you.

Book a free consultation today and learn how CoDev can help you scale smarter, save more, and build a team you can count on.