The Cognitive
Your First Hire Abroad
Titles, cities, notice periods and pay, before you open the role.
- 01Same job, different title
- 02The cities that hold the talent
- 03Notice periods change your timeline
- 04Pay in their terms
- 05The first message in their norms
- 0610 questions before you open it
The worked examples: a US SaaS company's first Senior Backend Engineer in Germany, Poland or Mexico, and a Customer Success Manager in Mexico. Every section ends with what to type in The Cognitive.
Same job, different title
Your req says "Senior Backend Engineer". Local profiles may say it in English, in the local language, or with a seniority word that does not map to yours. Search all three.
Step 1. Collect the local titles
Open ten local job ads for the same work on the country's main job boards. Copy every title. Starting lists:
Germany. Many tech ads use English titles. Add the German ones:
Poland. Many tech ads use English titles. Add the Polish ones, in both gender forms:
Mexico. Ads mix English and Spanish, often in the same title:
Step 2. Map the seniority words
| Country | Words to watch | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Poland | "Regular" is the middle level, between Junior and Senior. Ads often read "Regular/Senior". Polish ads also use "Specjalista (mid)" and "Starszy specjalista (senior)". | Include Regular profiles with the right years and depth. Many are your senior. |
| Germany | "Softwareentwickler" is not a protected title. People with a degree, an apprenticeship (Fachinformatiker) or self-taught careers all use it. | Judge by the work and the years, not the word. |
| Mexico | "Sr" and "Senior" appear in both languages; "Ingeniero" can be a degree, not a level. | Read the last two jobs before you decide the level. |
Step 3. Write the ad title the local way
In Germany, job ads add (m/w/d) after the title (male, female, diverse). It follows the 2017 Federal Constitutional Court ruling on a third gender and the equal-treatment law. Leave it off and the ad can be read as discriminatory.
Customer Success Manager, Mexico
Many SaaS ads keep "Customer Success Manager" in English. Add the work words people use in Spanish: gestión de cuentas, atención a clientes, onboarding, renovaciones. Ask the hiring manager whether the role is post-sale only or also carries renewals and upsell, and write that into the brief.
Trap. A local title can be broader than yours. "Informatiker" and "Programador" cover support and in-house IT too. Keep the work words (APIs, distributed systems, Go or Java, Postgres) next to any broad local title.
In The Cognitive
- Type the role with the city, the country and the local titles:
Senior backend engineer in Kraków, Poland: Java or Go, APIs, Postgres. Also goes by Programista Java Backend or Regular/Senior Java Developer.
- Open the strong matches first. Each one says why it fits. Pass on anyone doing in-house IT support.
The cities that hold the talent
The capital is rarely the whole market. Tech talent clusters around technical universities and around cities where large employers run engineering offices.
Step 1. Start with the known hubs
| Country | Main hubs | Next ring |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | Berlin, Munich, Hamburg | Darmstadt, Karlsruhe, Aachen, Erlangen (technical-university towns), Frankfurt |
| Poland | Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław | Tricity (Gdańsk, Gdynia, Sopot), Poznań, Łódź, Katowice |
| Mexico | Mexico City, Guadalajara, Monterrey | Querétaro, Tijuana, Puebla, Mérida |
Step 2. Find the clusters yourself
- University towns. List the country's strongest computer science and engineering universities. Check where their graduates work now. Germany: TU Munich, RWTH Aachen, KIT in Karlsruhe, TU Darmstadt.
- Large employers' offices. Search the careers pages of three or four big software and engineering firms in your space. Note every city where they hire backend engineers. Those cities hold people with the skills you want.
- Your competitors. Note where companies like yours already hire in the country. Their people are your most direct match.
- Remote rules. If the role is fully remote, any city works. Then the limit is the time zone (section 06), not the commute.
Trap. Search only the capital and you compete with every other foreign company opening its first hire there. The next ring is often where the quieter, stayable people sit.
In The Cognitive
- Start with one city:
Senior backend engineer in Munich, Germany: Go or Java, APIs, distributed systems.
- Widen with one typed change and search again:
also include Karlsruhe, Darmstadt, Aachen and Berlin.
- Shortlist the strong matches from each city, then ask for more people for the same role.
Notice periods change your timeline
A US hire can start in two weeks. A European hire often cannot. Ask for the notice period on the first call and plan the start date from it.
What the law sets
| Country | Employee resigning | Probation |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | By law, 4 weeks, ending on the 15th or the last day of a month. Contracts can set longer notice, as long as the employee's notice is not longer than the employer's. | Up to 6 months, 2 weeks' notice on either side. |
| Poland (employment contract) | By length of service: 2 weeks (under 6 months), 1 month (6 months to 3 years), 3 months (3 years or more). Month-based notice ends on the last day of a month. | Ask what their contract says. |
| Mexico | The federal labour law sets no notice period for resigning. Contracts or employers may still ask for one. | Up to 30 days; up to 180 days for management or specialised technical and professional roles. |
Step 1. Ask the real date, not the rule
Then count it on a calendar. If a contract says 3 months to the end of a month, resigning on 3 March gives a last day of 30 June, not 3 June.
Step 2. Ask about contractor terms in Poland
Many Polish senior developers work on B2B contracts (they invoice as their own business). Notice then comes from the B2B contract, not the Labour Code. Ask for the exact clause.
Step 3. Plan for the counter-offer
- A long notice period gives the current employer weeks to make a counter-offer. Assume one will come.
- Before the offer, ask: "If your manager offers you more to stay, what would you do?" Note the answer.
- Stay in touch every week of the notice period: a call with the future team, an equipment order, an onboarding plan.
- Ask if early release is possible. Some employers agree to a shorter notice by mutual consent. Never ask the candidate to break their contract.
Trap. Telling the hiring manager "start in a month" before you know the notice. Give the date only after the first call.
In The Cognitive
- Shortlist people while the role is still being approved. A 3-month notice means the search has to start early.
- Get the email and phone of the people you pick and ask the notice question on the first call.
Pay in their terms
Quote pay the way local people compare it. Get the unit wrong and a fair offer looks low. No numbers here: use current local pay surveys and job ads for the band.
How each country frames pay
| Country | How people talk about pay | Extras to ask about |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | Gross per year (Bruttojahresgehalt). Candidates state expectations as an annual gross figure. | Christmas pay (Weihnachtsgeld) is not set by law. It comes from the contract, a collective agreement, a works agreement or repeated past practice. Ask if the candidate's current figure already includes them. |
| Poland | Two kinds of figure: employment contract (UoP) shown gross, B2B shown as the net invoice amount without VAT. The two are not directly comparable. | The legal 13th salary covers the public budget sector only. Private employers can pay one by their own rules. |
| Mexico | Ask whether a figure is monthly or yearly, gross or net. Ads list "prestaciones de ley" (legal benefits) or "prestaciones superiores a las de ley" (above the legal minimum). | By law: aguinaldo of at least 15 days' pay before 20 December; vacation premium of at least 25% of vacation pay; profit sharing (PTU), capped at 3 months' pay or the 3-year average. Common extras in ads: grocery vouchers (vales de despensa), savings fund, life insurance. |
Step 1. Ask for the full package, in their unit
Step 2. Match the offer to the frame
- Write the offer in the unit they gave you, then show the extras line by line.
- Poland: decide B2B or employment contract before you quote. Get local advice: Polish law treats a B2B job with fixed hours, place and supervision as employment.
- Mexico: an offer with only the legal benefits can lose to one listing private medical cover. Ask what the candidate has now.
- Germany: if the employer has a works council or a collective agreement, ask whether the band is already set.
In The Cognitive
- Read the reason on each strong match to see where they work now. Group them by employer type before you set the band.
- Shortlist, then get email and phone, and ask the pay question on the first call.
The first message in their norms
Step 1. Choose the language
- If the job runs in English, write in English and say so in the first line. It answers the first question they will have.
- If the job needs the local language with customers (often true for Customer Success), write in that language, or say it is required.
Step 2. Set the formality
- Germany: business German starts formal (Sie, surname) until the other person offers first names. In English, open with their name and stay plain.
- Mexico: professional titles matter in business. If the profile shows one, use it.
- Everywhere: mirror the reply. If they answer with your first name, switch.
Step 3. Put these five things in
- Who the company is, in one line, and that this is its first hire in the country.
- The work: product, stack or customers.
- Employment set-up: local employer of record, contract type, remote or office.
- Working hours and overlap with the US team.
- One easy reply option.
Trap. Hiding the employment set-up. "Contract" means different things in each country. Say employment contract, B2B, or employer of record in the first message.
In The Cognitive
- Get the email and phone of the people you shortlisted and send the message that fits the country.
- Invite the people who reply to an AI interview. They book their own time in their own time zone. You get the recording, transcript and scores.
10 questions before you open it
Get a written answer to each before the first message goes out. Tick them off as you go.
0 of 10 answered
In The Cognitive
- Paste the answers as the brief:
Senior backend engineer, remote in Poland, employment contract or B2B, English, 3 hours' overlap with New York, Kraków, Wrocław or Warsaw first.
- Open the strong matches first. Shortlist or pass on each one.
- Send picked people to your ATS if it is connected.
- Run first interviews as AI interviews so time zones never block a slot: the candidate books, you get the recording, transcript and scores.
Open your first role abroad
Type the role with the city, the country and the local titles. Every person comes back as "Why this match", "Possible match" or "Not a match", with the reason.
Free trial: 7 days, 100 credits, no card. 1 credit per person shown.