Shipwell – LatAm IT Recruitment for a Leading American Logistics Software

Tom Potanski

Last updated on January 30, 2026 | 17 min read

About the client

Shipwell is a technology-driven logistics software platform headquartered in Austin, Texas, founded in 2016 by MIT graduates Greg Price and Jason Traff. With over 200 employees and annual revenue of approximately $29.4 million, the company develops software that addresses a common challenge in logistics operations: fragmented data across carriers, shippers, and fulfillment systems.

Shipwell’s platform centralizes freight visibility, pricing, and execution into a single system, reducing reliance on manual processes, disconnected tools, and reactive communication. This enables eCommerce businesses and logistics teams to manage shipments more efficiently, respond faster to disruptions, and maintain consistent delivery performance at scale.

Shipwell employs more than 140 people across the US and international markets. Its platform processes over 100 million rows of logistics data daily, reflecting continuous updates from shipments, carrier status changes, pricing events, and delivery milestones.

Operationally, this allows logistics teams to monitor large volumes of shipments in near real time, automatically recalculate delivery estimates when conditions change, and surface exceptions that require action. Features such as Pricing Intelligence, the Compass Dashboard, and Responsive ETAs help teams prioritize issues, reduce manual tracking, and coordinate freight execution across multiple carriers through RESTful API integrations.

Shipwell’s innovation has been recognized widely in the tech and logistics industries. The company was named to the FreightTech 25 list and featured by Forbes as a “Next Billion-Dollar Startup” in 2020. Today, Shipwell serves a diverse client base of fast-scaling eCommerce businesses and logistics operators, helping them digitize and optimize their supply chains with intelligent software solutions.

The challenge

As Shipwell continued to scale its platform and introduce new product features, demand for senior engineering talent increased rapidly. The company needed to expand its development and QA teams to support initiatives in frontend architecture, automated testing, and platform stability.

Recruiting in the United States proved challenging due to a combination of extended hiring cycles and structural market constraints. Senior engineers with production SaaS experience were already heavily in demand, driving up compensation expectations and prolonging interview processes. At the same time, many candidates prioritized large, established tech employers or hybrid-only roles, narrowing the pool of engineers willing to join a fast-moving, remote-first product organization. These dynamics made it difficult to scale teams quickly without sacrificing delivery timelines.

To overcome these hurdles, Shipwell explored nearshore recruitment options in Latin America, where the talent pool offered several strategic advantages:

• Timezone alignment (UTC-3 to UTC-6) allowed for real-time collaboration with US-based teams.
• Highly skilled professionals with strong technical foundations in automation, testing, and frontend development.
• English fluency and cultural compatibility enable seamless integration into cross-functional teams.

Shipwell partnered with DevsData LLC to execute a fast-track hiring initiative focused on two high-impact areas: quality assurance and frontend development. The objective was not simply to fill open roles, but to identify senior-level engineers capable of ramping up quickly, working autonomously, and delivering value early without requiring prolonged onboarding or supervision.

The specific roles DevsData LLC was asked to fill included:

3x QA Automation Engineers

• Core requirements – Hands-on experience with Selenium, Cypress, JavaScript-based test automation, CI/CD pipeline integration, and issue tracking using Jira.
• Preferred background – Prior work with SaaS platforms, strong understanding of regression testing and reusable test libraries, API testing, and familiarity with agile methodologies and sprint workflows.

1x Senior Frontend Developer

• Core requirements – Deep proficiency in React, Redux, TypeScript, and modular component-based UI development, along with the ability to integrate with backend RESTful APIs.
• Preferred background – Proven experience in building scalable enterprise applications, performance tuning, code optimization, and contributing to production-ready frontend systems.

Shipwell made it clear from the outset that they were looking for engineers who could integrate into an existing product team, quickly understand complex systems, and deliver measurable results within weeks, not months. With limited internal bandwidth for hiring, they needed a recruitment partner who could provide high-quality candidates quickly and efficiently, without compromising on technical excellence or team alignment.

Our approach

DevsData LLC executed a targeted and fast-paced recruitment strategy tailored to Shipwell’s needs and timeline. Our process included:

Smart candidate sourcing

We focused our search on high-performance IT hubs in Brazil, specifically São Paulo, Curitiba, and Belo Horizonte, as well as in Mexico and Guadalajara. These locations offer a dense concentration of skilled engineers, mature startup ecosystems, and strong experience working with US-based product teams.

DevsData LLC applied a multi-channel sourcing strategy designed to identify senior engineers with proven, production-level experience. Our internal database of more than 65,000 vetted professionals served as the primary starting point, enabling rapid shortlisting of candidates with relevant SaaS and remote-work backgrounds.

LinkedIn Recruiter was used with advanced Boolean search logic to filter candidates by technology stack, seniority, and hands-on experience in automation testing and frontend development. GitHub was analyzed to review public repositories, contribution history, and coding consistency, providing insight into real-world problem-solving ability beyond resumes. Stack Overflow activity helped surface engineers with peer-recognized expertise and a track record of sharing practical technical solutions within the developer community.

In parallel, we engaged directly with regional developer communities such as QA Latam and React Mexico, expanding our reach into niche talent pools and connecting with engineers already embedded in Latin America’s remote-first tech ecosystem.

“Every candidate went through multi-stage technical and communication screening. We only moved forward with engineers who had already worked in sprint-based teams and were comfortable with async communication and code reviews,” said Nenad H., Senior Recruiter at DevsData LLC.

Multi-stage evaluation

To ensure Shipwell’s high standards for quality and communication were met, every candidate underwent a thorough multi-stage evaluation process.
The first step was a pre-screen call focused on assessing English fluency and readiness for remote work. This ensured that all candidates could operate effectively in a distributed environment.

Next came the technical assessments, tailored to the specific roles. QA engineers completed tasks involving automated test design, bug triaging, and API testing. For the frontend developer role, the evaluation included a live React coding exercise and a system design challenge to test both practical skills and architectural thinking.

Candidates who passed the technical stage moved on to two rounds of interviews with Shipwell’s engineering and product leads. These sessions assessed technical depth, collaboration skills, and problem-solving abilities in real-world scenarios.

Finally, a culture-fit check was conducted to evaluate remote work attitude, time zone compatibility, and the ability to communicate asynchronously – key factors for thriving in Shipwell’s fully remote setup.

Efficient timeline management

The recruitment cycle was optimized for speed without sacrificing quality:

• QA recruitment finalized in two weeks, with three offers accepted in the first round.
• Frontend developer hired in three weeks, after five interviews and two live tasks.
• All candidates signed within seven days of final approval.
• DevsData LLC managed all scheduling, feedback loops, and negotiations of offers.

The results

DevsData LLC’s focused recruitment strategy yielded strong, measurable outcomes within a tight timeframe. Within just a few weeks of launching the search, all open roles were filled with qualified, senior-level professionals from Brazil and Mexico.

Our recruitment process was structured to optimize speed without sacrificing quality, focusing on early calibration, senior-only shortlisting, and close alignment with Shipwell’s product and delivery goals. Technical expectations, role scope, and onboarding readiness were validated before final interviews, reducing late-stage mismatches and post-hire ramp-up time.

As a result, all final hires were fully onboarded within one month of initiating the project, and each began contributing to live product initiatives within their first two weeks. The table below summarizes the key recruitment metrics:

Each stage of the process was tightly managed to prevent delays and ensure high-quality candidate engagement. DevsData LLC coordinated all interview scheduling, provided detailed feedback summaries for Shipwell’s hiring managers, and handled offer negotiations to streamline the decision-making process.

All candidates accepted offers on the first pass, resulting in a 100% offer-to-acceptance rate, with zero drop-offs during onboarding. The new hires were fully integrated into Shipwell’s US-based teams, utilizing tools such as Slack, Jira, GitHub, and Zoom, with active participation in daily stand-ups, sprint planning, and code reviews.

“Within two weeks of onboarding, new hires were contributing to live features, helping reduce manual QA work and noticeably improving frontend performance.”

Importantly, these engineers were not viewed as external contractors but as full-time team members, deeply integrated into Shipwell’s agile workflows. Their early contributions included writing reusable test libraries, automating regression tests, and optimizing frontend performance, demonstrating a clear return on investment in both productivity and product quality.

Impact & contribution

The engineers sourced through DevsData LLC began contributing shortly after onboarding, integrating smoothly into Shipwell’s agile development structure. This rapid impact was a direct result of a recruitment process that prioritized seniority, prior production experience, and readiness to operate within established sprint workflows. Candidates were selected not only for technical competence, but for their ability to work independently, collaborate asynchronously, and deliver production-ready output with minimal ramp-up.

The QA automation engineers focused on enhancing test coverage and reliability across Shipwell’s CI/CD pipeline. Their prior experience designing regression frameworks and automating critical workflows enabled them to introduce structured test suites quickly, reducing manual testing demands and freeing QA and product resources for higher-priority releases. Reusable testing patterns introduced early in the engagement improved consistency and predictability across sprints.

Meanwhile, the senior frontend developer took ownership of a sprint dedicated to UI optimization and maintainability. Because DevsData LLC had screened for hands-on React optimization experience and familiarity with complex SaaS frontends, the developer was able to refactor key components and tune performance immediately. This resulted in improved page load speed and responsiveness, particularly across shipment tracking and dashboard views.

Other tangible outcomes included:

• Increased bug detection during staging due to stronger automated test coverage.
• Smoother frontend interactions and faster rendering of high-traffic user flows.
• More efficient dev-to-QA handoffs, contributing to better sprint predictability.

All engineers fully participated in scrum ceremonies, stand-ups, and async code reviews from the outset. Their ability to integrate quickly into Shipwell’s distributed teams reinforced the value of DevsData LLC’s recruitment approach, which emphasizes context fit and delivery readiness, not just skills matching.

Why this nearshore approach works

This case study demonstrates how a well-structured nearshore recruitment approach can help fast-growing technology companies secure senior engineering talent within tight timelines, without sacrificing quality or team integration.

For Shipwell, the collaboration with DevsData LLC delivered several practical advantages. The average time to hire was just 2.5 weeks, allowing the company to move forward with key product initiatives on schedule. Time zone alignment between Latin American engineers and Shipwell’s US-based teams enabled real-time collaboration and full participation in daily agile workflows, including stand-ups, sprint planning, and code reviews.

All hires demonstrated strong English communication skills, professionalism, and the autonomy required to operate effectively in a remote-first, high-growth environment. Rather than functioning as external contributors, the engineers integrated as long-term team members and contributed to product-critical work early.

For product-led technology companies operating under delivery pressure, this case illustrates that nearshore hiring in Latin America can be both operationally effective and strategically sound when executed through a focused, senior-level recruitment process.

Conclusion

Shipwell’s collaboration with DevsData LLC highlights the strategic value of nearshore recruitment for high-growth tech companies operating in fast-paced, product-driven environments. By sourcing senior Latin American engineering talent, Shipwell accelerated hiring, reduced delivery risk, and strengthened its core engineering team while maintaining quality and cultural fit.

Similar results have been delivered for other SaaS and data-driven companies. For example, DevsData LLC supported Ontopical Inc., a Canadian GovTech platform, by scaling a multi-role product team under strict compliance and delivery constraints, and partnered with Memory AS to rapidly hire senior Ruby engineers for AI initiatives tied to government grant deadlines.

Whether you’re scaling a logistics software platform, expanding a GovTech or AI-driven SaaS product, or strengthening QA automation, DevsData LLC offers a proven recruitment process and access to elite engineering talent across Latin America and beyond.

Looking to build or expand your tech team with precision and speed? Get in touch with DevsData LLC to explore how we can support your next phase of growth. To get in touch, email [email protected] or visit the website at www.devsdata.com.