A founder usually doesn't wake up one morning and decide, “I'm going to outsource this entire department.”
It happens differently.
A customer support queue starts piling up. The finance team spends another Friday chasing invoices. A sales manager realizes their closers are spending half the day researching leads. A founder is still managing a calendar that someone else could own.
Then comes the question:
Could we hire someone internationally to handle this?
In most cases, the answer is yes, but not because the role has a particular job title.
At Somewhere, we've seen the strongest international hires succeed when the work itself travels well. The role has clear outputs, runs primarily through digital tools, can be measured objectively, and doesn't require someone to sit in the same office to make good decisions.
That distinction matters.
“Outsource your customer service” is too broad. The better question is: Which parts of customer service can another capable professional own remotely, and what infrastructure do we need to make that person successful?
This guide breaks that question down function by function.
You'll learn:
- Which roles typically work well with remote international employees
- Why some functions are easier to move offshore than others
- How to evaluate any role using a five-point handoff test
- Which work should remain local
- How to choose between markets such as the Philippines, Latin America, and South Africa
- How to structure your first international hire without turning it into a management headache
Which Roles Can Be Outsourced to Remote International Employees?
The short answer is: far more roles than most U.S. companies initially assume.
The strongest candidates tend to sit in six broad functions:
This doesn't mean every role in these functions belongs offshore.
It means these functions contain a large amount of work that can be performed remotely when you give the employee the right processes, tools, expectations, and access.
That is an important distinction.
The global outsourcing market itself has moved well beyond traditional back-office work. Deloitte's 2024 Global Outsourcing Survey found that organizations increasingly use outsourcing for front-office and core capabilities, including sales, marketing, and R&D, not just transactional support. Deloitte
In other words, international hiring is no longer simply a way to reduce administrative costs. Done properly, it can become a talent strategy.
The Five-Test Framework: Does This Role Travel Well?
Before you decide where to hire, evaluate the work.
At Somewhere, we recommend looking at five characteristics.
1. Documented
Could a capable professional perform roughly 80% of the job using a written process, examples, templates, or established guidelines?
If the answer is no, don't immediately assume the role cannot be hired internationally.
Instead, ask whether the problem is actually a documentation problem.
2. Digital
Does most of the work happen inside software your remote employee can access?
Think:
- Salesforce
- HubSpot
- QuickBooks
- Xero
- Zendesk
- Slack
- Google Workspace
- Microsoft 365
- Asana
- Jira
- GitHub
The more digital the workflow, the less geography matters.
3. Measurable
Can you tell whether the employee is doing a good job?
Strong metrics might include:
- Tickets resolved
- First-response time
- Customer satisfaction
- Reconciliations completed
- Invoices processed
- Meetings booked
- Qualified leads generated
- Code shipped
- Bugs resolved
- Articles published
- Tasks completed
If you cannot define success, you cannot manage the role effectively, whether the employee sits in Texas or Manila.
4. Asynchronous
Can the employee complete most of the work without waiting for your team to be online?
This is where international hiring becomes particularly powerful.
A finance professional can reconcile transactions while your U.S. team is offline. A developer can complete a ticket overnight. A support team can clear a queue before your U.S. customers start their day.
You don't need everyone working the exact same hours.
You need the right overlap.
5. Overlap-tolerant
Does the role only require a few hours of shared working time rather than eight hours of simultaneous availability?
For many positions, two to four hours of overlap is enough for meetings, questions, handoffs, and collaboration.
If a role passes all five tests, you have a strong candidate for international hiring.
If it fails one or two, redesign the workflow before ruling the role out.
Real-world example:
A U.S. calibration and measuring equipment company built a 27-person international team covering collections, billing, accounting, financial analysis, data entry, and customer support. According to Somewhere, the team generated more than $630,000 in first-year payroll savings.
Read the full case study: How a Calibration and Measuring Equipment Leader Saved Over $630K.
1. Customer Operations: Often the Easiest Place to Start
Customer support is one of the clearest examples of work that travels well.
Imagine a growing e-commerce company in Denver.
Every Monday morning, the support queue is full of order questions, returns, shipping updates, and product inquiries. The U.S. team spends the first few hours of every week catching up instead of working on higher-value priorities.
Now change the operating model.
A dedicated remote support professional works the queue from the Philippines or another suitable market. They follow the company's support playbook, use the same help-desk software, escalate exceptions according to defined rules, and track the same customer-service KPIs.
The geography becomes almost irrelevant.
What matters is whether the person can deliver the required customer experience.
According to the U.S. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a $44,770 median annual wage for U.S. customer service representatives in 2025.
But salary alone understates the difference in employment cost. In March 2026, wages and salaries represented 69.9% of private-industry employers' total compensation costs, with benefits accounting for the remaining 30.1%. BBureau of Labor Statistics
That means a U.S. salary of $44,770 translates to roughly $64,000 in direct compensation cost before equipment, recruiting, management time, office costs, and other overhead.
The opportunity isn't simply to pay less.
It is to build coverage without adding the full cost structure of another U.S. employee.
See how Somewhere approaches this role: Hire a Customer Support Representative
Typical handoff score: 5/5
The biggest risk isn't whether the work can be done remotely. It's maintaining quality.
Set a weekly quality review. For example, audit a sample of tickets for accuracy, tone, policy adherence, and resolution quality.
2. Finance and Accounting: Process-Driven and Easy to Review
Finance is another strong candidate for international hiring because much of the work has a defined process and an objectively verifiable output.
Consider bookkeeping.
A remote bookkeeper can reconcile accounts, categorize transactions, maintain records, prepare reports, and flag discrepancies. Your controller or finance lead can then review the work.
That creates a clean division of responsibility:
The international employee owns the process. The senior U.S. team member owns the judgment and final approval.
The U.S. median annual wage for accountants and auditors was $83,680 in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics
The opportunity becomes even clearer when you separate preparation from regulated sign-off.
A company might hire an international accounting professional to handle bookkeeping, reconciliations, AP/AR, reporting preparation, or audit support while keeping any work requiring a specific U.S. license or local authority with the appropriate professional.
That isn't a limitation of international hiring.
It's good role design.
Somewhere currently helps U.S. companies hire international accountants and bookkeepers, including talent from South Africa and other global markets. Hire an Accountant
Typical handoff score: 4–5/5
The most common challenge is time-zone overlap during month-end close.
Solve it upfront with a fixed overlap window and a documented close calendar.
3. Technology: Don't Confuse Geography With Capability
Technology roles often trigger a different objection:
“Can I really trust an offshore developer with our codebase?”
The better question is:
Can I evaluate the developer's technical ability and give them a well-managed engineering environment?
A strong software engineer doesn't need to sit in your office to write good code.
They need:
- A clear product roadmap
- Well-defined tickets
- Access to the codebase
- Version control
- Code-review standards
- Documentation
- A reliable communication rhythm
- Clear ownership
The BLS reports a $134,040 median annual wage for software developers, quality assurance analysts, and testers in 2025, with software developers themselves at $135,980. That makes technology one of the functions where international hiring can create substantial cost leverage, but only when the company has the management infrastructure to support it.
Somewhere's global recruiting model includes software engineering talent across multiple international markets. Hire a Software Engineer
Typical handoff score: 4/5
Engineering often loses one point on the overlap test.
That isn't necessarily a problem.
A Latin American engineer may provide substantial U.S.-time-zone overlap, while a team in another region may offer a different cost and coverage profile. The right market depends on your collaboration requirements, not simply the lowest salary.
4. Sales Development: Move the Process, Keep the Strategy
Sales is another function where companies sometimes make the mistake of treating the entire role as one job.
Don't.
Break it apart.
Your U.S.-based Account Executive might own:
- Discovery
- Negotiation
- Closing
- Strategic accounts
- Complex objections
An international Sales Development Representative or Lead Qualifier can own:
- Lead research
- Prospecting
- Initial outreach
- Qualification
- Follow-up sequences
- CRM updates
- Meeting booking
Now your expensive sales talent spends more time closing and less time building lists or chasing follow-ups.
That is a better use of everyone's time.
The BLS lists $76,460 as the 2025 median annual wage for wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives, although compensation varies significantly by sales role and industry.
Somewhere's sales recruiting experience reflects this division of labor. The company currently sources international Sales Representatives and Lead Qualifiers across markets including Latin America, the Philippines, and South Africa. Hire a Lead Qualifier
Typical handoff score: 4/5
Sales development works particularly well when you define the process before hiring:
- Who qualifies?
- What counts as a qualified lead?
- Which prospects should be contacted?
- Which channels should the SDR use?
- How many touches should each lead receive?
- What gets escalated?
- What counts as a booked meeting?
The more clearly you answer those questions, the easier it becomes to manage the role across borders.
5. Marketing and Creative: The Work Is Remote. The Brief Often Isn't.
Marketing roles are highly compatible with international hiring.
Content production, SEO, design, paid media, email marketing, research, and campaign execution all happen inside digital workflows.
Yet marketing roles often fail for a surprising reason:
The company never defined what “good” means.
A founder hires a content writer and says, “Write some blogs.”
Then wonders’ why the articles don't rank.
Or they hire a designer and say, “Make it look better.”
Then spend three weeks going back and forth over revisions.
The problem isn't the location.
The problem is the brief.
Before hiring internationally, define:
- Target audience
- Brand voice
- Deliverables
- Quality standards
- Examples of good work
- Approval process
- Publishing cadence
- KPIs
For example:
Produce two SEO articles per week, refresh three existing pages, and report on organic traffic and keyword movement every Friday.
Now the role has an output.
Somewhere currently sources marketing talent across SEO, content, digital marketing, paid media, and other specialties. Hire an SEO Specialist
Typical handoff score: 3/5 before documentation, 5/5 after.
That's an important pattern.
Sometimes the international hiring opportunity is sitting inside a role that simply needs better management.
6. Administration and Executive Support: The Founder Time Test
Administrative work often makes an excellent first international hire because the work is highly digital and can immediately give time back to a founder or senior executive.
Consider an executive assistant.
The work may include:
- Calendar management
- Travel coordination
- Inbox organization
- Meeting preparation
- Research
- CRM updates
- Expense administration
- Follow-ups
- Personal and professional scheduling
None of that requires the assistant to sit in the same building.
But it does require trust.
That means the onboarding process matters.
Start with low-risk administrative responsibilities. Build access gradually. Document preferences. Create recurring checklists. Establish escalation rules.
Then expand the scope as the employee demonstrates reliability.
Somewhere helps U.S. businesses hire international Executive Assistants, particularly from markets such as the Philippines, Latin America, and South Africa. Hire an Executive Assistant
Typical handoff score: 4–5/5
The biggest mistake is hiring an assistant without actually delegating.
If every task still requires the founder's approval, the company hasn't created leverage.
It has created another inbox.
Which Country Should You Hire From?
Once you've identified the right role, the next question is geography.
This is where international hiring becomes more nuanced.
There is no universal “best country” for remote talent.
The right market depends on the role.
Philippines
The Philippines can be particularly attractive for customer support, administrative support, virtual assistance, and other roles where strong English communication and process consistency matter.
Latin America
Latin America can be especially compelling when U.S. time-zone overlap matters. It can work well for sales, marketing, technology, and customer-facing positions where real-time collaboration is important.
South Africa
South Africa can be a strong market for accounting, finance, customer-facing roles, administrative support, and other professional positions where English communication and alignment with Western business practices matter.
Somewhere recruits across these markets and other international talent hubs rather than forcing every role into the same geography.
The goal isn't to find the cheapest country.
The goal is to find the best combination of skill, communication, time-zone compatibility, and cost for the role.
Which Roles Should You Keep Local?
International hiring isn't about moving every job offshore.
Some work genuinely benefits from local presence.
Keep a role local, or at least keep part of the role local, when it:
- Requires physical presence
- Requires a specific local license or credential
- Depends on frequent in-person interaction
- Requires constant real-time strategic decision-making
- Involves highly sensitive responsibilities that cannot reasonably be delegated
- Depends heavily on local relationships or networks
But don't automatically classify the entire position as “local.”
This is where experienced workforce design makes a difference.
A role might be 60% repeatable work and 40% judgment.
Keep the judgment.
Move the repeatable work.
For example, a U.S. finance leader may retain financial strategy, final approvals, and regulatory responsibility while an international accountant handles reconciliations, reporting preparation, transaction processing, and other defined workflows.
That's not outsourcing the job.
It's redesigning the job around the highest-value work.
A Simple Framework for Deciding What to Outsource
Use this five-point test for every role you're considering.
Don't use the score as a rigid rule.
Use it as a diagnostic.
If a role scores 3 because the process isn't documented, that doesn't mean you shouldn't hire internationally. It means you have work to do before the hire arrives.
What Does a Successful International Hire Actually Require?
Finding the candidate is only half the equation.
The companies that get the most value from international hiring usually build five things around the employee.
1. A clear role
Don't hire “someone to help with operations.”
Hire a Bookkeeper responsible for reconciliations and AP/AR.
Hire an SDR responsible for qualified meetings.
Hire a Customer Support Representative responsible for ticket resolution and customer satisfaction.
Specificity makes accountability possible.
2. Defined KPIs
Decide how you'll measure success before the employee starts.
3. Documented processes
Turn recurring work into SOPs, checklists, templates, and examples.
4. A communication rhythm
Set expectations for meetings, Slack communication, reporting, and escalation.
5. A contingency plan
International hiring should not depend on one person being irreplaceable.
Document the role. Cross-train where appropriate. Maintain access to the process. And, if you're using a recruiting partner, understand what replacement support they provide.
This is one reason at Somewhere we back our direct-hire placements with a six-month perfect-hire guarantee and replacement option.
Direct Hire vs. Talent on Demand: Which Model Makes Sense?
Not every company should approach international hiring the same way.
If you already have the internal infrastructure to manage payroll, compliance, onboarding, and day-to-day employment administration, a Direct Hire model may make sense.
If you're hiring internationally for the first time, testing a new role, or want someone else to handle more of the infrastructure, Talent on Demand can reduce the operational burden.
Somewhere offers both models. Direct Hire is structured around a one-time recruiting fee, while Talent on Demand includes ongoing support and infrastructure such as payroll and compliance. Compare Somewhere's Direct Hire and Talent on Demand models
That distinction matters because the cheapest candidate is not necessarily the lowest-cost hiring decision.
You should evaluate the entire operating model:
Recruiting + salary + payroll + compliance + management + equipment + turnover risk + time to hire.
That's your real cost.
The Best First International Hire Is Usually the Role You Can Explain Clearly
If you're unsure where to start, don't begin by looking at salary data.
Start with your org chart.
Pick one role and ask:
- What does this person actually do every week?
- Which tasks repeat?
- Which tasks require judgment?
- What tools do they use?
- How would I measure success?
- How much real-time collaboration does the role require?
- Could someone in another country perform the work to the same standard?
If you can answer those questions clearly, you're already much closer to a successful international hire.
And if you can't answer them, that's useful information too.
It means you need to redesign the role before you recruit for it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What roles can be outsourced to remote international employees?
Common examples include customer support, bookkeeping, accounting operations, software development, QA, sales development, lead qualification, marketing, SEO, content production, executive assistance, virtual assistance, and operations support.
The best candidates share several characteristics: digital workflows, measurable outputs, documented processes, and limited dependence on physical presence.
Somewhere currently sources more than 100 core remote roles across functions including finance, sales, marketing, customer service, technology, operations, and executive support.
What roles should not be outsourced internationally?
Roles that require physical presence, certain local licenses, or constant in-person judgment are generally less suitable.
However, don't assume the entire job needs to stay local. Often, you can separate repeatable execution from higher-value decision-making and hire internationally for the execution layer.
How do I decide which role to hire internationally first?
Start with the role that has the clearest processes, measurable outputs, and greatest potential to free up expensive U.S.-based talent.
For many companies, that means customer support, bookkeeping, sales development, executive assistance, or administrative operations.
Use the five-point handoff test before you commit.
Is salary the only cost I should compare?
No. Compare fully loaded costs. U.S. employer compensation includes wages and benefits, with benefits representing 30.1% of private-industry compensation costs in March 2026. Bureau of Labor Statistics
For an international hire, consider salary, recruiting fees, payroll, compliance, equipment, management time, and any ongoing support costs.
Do international remote employees need to work U.S. hours?
Not always. Many roles only require a defined overlap window for meetings, questions, and handoffs. Other roles, particularly customer-facing or sales positions, may require more substantial U.S.-time-zone coverage.
Choose the market based on the workflow rather than forcing every employee into the same schedule.
How much can I save by hiring internationally?
The savings depend on the role, seniority, country, and hiring model.
Somewhere's current role-specific benchmarks show potential savings of up to 65% for customer support, 69% for accountants, 75% for bookkeepers, 65% for software engineers, and 77% for executive assistants, although actual compensation varies by candidate and market. SSomewhere+4
The more important question is not “How cheap can I hire?”
It's:
What high-value U.S. work can I unlock by moving the right work to the right talent market?
Stop Asking Whether a Role Can Be Hired Offshore. Ask Whether the Work Can Be Done Remotely.
The best offshore hiring decisions don't start with a job title or location. They start with the nature of the work.
Customer support can be performed offshore when communication channels, workflows, and performance metrics are clearly defined.
Bookkeeping can be handled offshore when financial processes are structured, documentation is accessible, and outputs can be reviewed.
Software engineering can be performed offshore when code, project tickets, documentation, and collaboration happen through digital tools.
Sales development can be handled offshore when prospecting, lead qualification, and outreach follow a clear process.
Marketing can be managed offshore when objectives, responsibilities, and performance expectations are well defined.
Executive assistance can work offshore when leaders are prepared to delegate tasks, share the necessary information, and establish clear communication routines.
When responsibilities can be carried out remotely, expectations are clear, and the right systems are in place, offshore hiring can help businesses access global talent and build teams around their operational needs.
That's the pattern we've seen repeatedly at Somewhere: successful international hiring is less about sending jobs offshore and more about designing roles that can succeed anywhere.
Somewhere has helped more than 5,000 businesses hire over 11,000 remote employees across a broad range of functions and maintains a talent pool of more than 1 million candidates in our talent pool.
So if you have a role you've been considering hiring locally, don't start by asking whether you should outsource it.
Start by asking five questions:
Is it documented?
Is it digital?
Is it measurable?
Is it asynchronous?
Is it overlap-tolerant?
If the answer is yes to most of them, you may already have an international hiring opportunity sitting inside your organization.
And the next step is simple: define the role, choose the right talent market, and test the model with one great hire.
