8 hrs
to first analyst onboarded
12
engineers hired in 6 weeks
~60%
lower fully loaded cost vs. US hires
0
compliance incidents to date
Client Details
Company
Manifest Global
Headquarters
Melbourne, Australia
2008
Manifest Global
Industry
SaaS - Enterprise Workflow & Productivity Software
Company Size
Series B, ~180 employees globally
Service and Duration
Employer of Record (EOR), Ongoing since 11.5+ yrs
What Do They Do?
Our client builds workflow-automation software used by mid-market enterprise operations teams.
After closing a Series B round, the company committed to an aggressive product roadmap that required more than doubling its engineering headcount within two quarters without a proportional increase in US payroll costs.
The Challenge
Leadership had already ruled out opening an Indian private limited entity: for a team under twenty people, entity setup and ongoing compliance overhead typically cost more than they save, and the process would have pushed the first India hire out by three months or more a timeline the roadmap could not absorb. The engineering leadership team identified three blockers standing between them and a functioning India pod:
- No fast, compliant way to get senior engineers under contract without standing up a legal entity
- Source code, IP, and confidentiality needed to be locked down in state-specific, India-compliant contracts before day one not retrofitted after hiring
- A three-person People team with zero in-house expertise in Indian statutory compliance (PF, ESI, TDS, professional tax, and state-level labour law)
- Pressure to show working software from the India pod within the current sprint cycle, not the next fiscal year
How Husys Resolved The Challenge
The company engaged Husys as its Employer of Record for India engineering hires. Husys became the legal employer on record for each engineer while the client retained full day-to-day management of the team’s work.
- First engineer a senior full-stack hire was under a compliant offer and onboarded within 8 working hours of sign-off, with no entity required
- Every hire received a state-specific employment contract with IP assignment and confidentiality clauses built in before their start date
- The 12-person pod (senior architects, full-stack engineers, and one engineering manager) was staggered in over six weeks as interviews cleared, rather than hired in one block
- PF, ESI, TDS, and professional tax filings across the relevant state were managed end-to-end by Husys’ in-house legal and compliance team
- Payroll status, contracts, and compliance filings were visible to the client’s finance and People teams in real time through the Husys ESS platform, without chasing spreadsheets
The Results
Twelve months in, the India pod is now the client’s second-largest engineering location and owns two full product surfaces end-to-end.
- First engineer onboarded in 8 working hours versus a 90-day-plus timeline the team had budgeted for entity setup
- Fully loaded cost per senior engineer came in at roughly 55–65% below the equivalent San Francisco hire, in line with current market benchmarks for Bengaluru-based senior talent
- Zero missed statutory filings and zero compliance incidents since the engagement began
- The three-person People team added an entire engineering location without adding India-specific HR headcount
- Roadmap commitments tied to the India pod have shipped on the same cadence as the client’s US-based teams
"Husys is the exact reason India stopped being a 'someday' plan for us and became a core, highly productive engineering location in under two months.
How Husys Can Help Your SaaS Company
Husys has supported SaaS companies hiring engineering and R&D talent in India for over 20 years.
If your roadmap depends on senior engineers you can’t yet justify hiring at US cost, we can get your first India engineer under contract in 8 working hours no entity, no legal back-and-forth.
“Our goal with every SaaS partner is simple: eliminate legal and compliance friction so India transforms from a distant plan into a working location in weeks.”
– Suresh Kumar, Head of Growth, Husys
For more info write to us at reach@husys.com
