Features through release
They take a change from the conversation with product to code, tests, and the release, and they stay with it after it ships.
Hire software engineers
Hire senior software engineers who work your US hours
Arca places senior software engineers from the Philippines and Asia with US companies for $35/hr, all-in, with no recruiting fee. You will meet a shortlist within 7 working days. Your engineer works your full US business day on a month-to-month engagement, with unlimited replacements.
The role
What a senior software engineer owns on your team
A senior software engineer is the person you hand a product problem to, not a ticket that already names the files to touch.
Technical choices
They pick the straightforward design when the product is still moving, and they write down the decision when it will be expensive to undo.
The codebase around them
They review pull requests, leave the next change easier, and notice when a shortcut is about to become the architecture.
Production, during your day
They are online for deploys and incidents in your US business hours, so a question does not wait overnight.
AI as a tool, not a substitute
They use AI coding tools to move faster and still review, test, and answer for what merges.
A first hire, when that is the job
On an early product they can open the repo, set the first conventions, and ship before you have split the team into specialties.
Is it the right hire?
When a software engineer is the right hire
- The roadmap is a product, and it does not yet split cleanly into a frontend seat and a backend seat.
- You want one senior person who can talk to design, the database, and the deploy pipeline.
- Your current engineers are spending their week on glue work instead of the system they were hired to build.
- You are hiring the first engineer and need someone who has already taken a product from an empty repo to real users.
Need a specialist instead? full-stack developers or backend developers.
Stacks
Skills we match on
Tell us your stack and we will screen for engineers who have shipped production code in it.
- TypeScript
- Python
- Java
- Go
- C#
- PostgreSQL
- AWS
- Docker
How we match
Matched to the product, not a keyword list
We start with your hiring manager. For a software engineer, the screen is about judgment across a system:
- Shipped work in the languages your product actually runs, including the unglamorous parts.
- A product they can walk through: what they decided, what they refused, and what broke later.
- Experience at a similar stage, whether that is an early codebase or a system with real users and real constraints.
- Comfort using AI tools without handing them the design.
- Founding-engineer experience when the role is the first senior seat.
Our team are technologists. We screen a large number of candidates and introduce only the best. You interview them and decide.
Cost
What this hire costs
| Hiring route | Per hour |
|---|---|
| ArcaSenior, all-in | $35/hr |
| Latin American staffing firms, senior | ~$45–$72/hr |
| US in-house hire, fully loaded | ~$94–$119/hr |
US figure: median to 75th-percentile hourly wage for software developers (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: $65.38–$82.68), divided by 0.692, the wage share of total compensation for private-industry professional workers (BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026). Latin American figure: published senior staffing-firm rates, converted at 160 hours a month. BLS wage table for software developers · BLS employer cost release. Market pay in the Philippines: software engineer salaries in the Philippines.
Included in the $35/hr rate
- Your engineer's compensation and contract
- Dedicated account manager
- HR, onboarding, and performance reviews
- Training and mentoring
- Month-to-month, no recruiting fee
- Unlimited replacements
How hiring works
Three steps to a software engineer
Discovery call
The systems, the stack, and what this engineer will own in the first months.
Day 0Interview your shortlist
Candidates screened against that role. You interview and choose.
Within 7 working daysStart
They join your repo and standups and work your US hours. We handle contracts and HR.
When you chooseInterviewing
Questions to ask a senior software engineer
Use these alongside your own technical interview. You make the hiring decision.
Walk me through a system you owned across more than one release.
Listen for what they kept, what they deleted, and how the second release was easier than the first.
When do you build it yourself, and when do you hand it to a specialist?
A senior generalist knows the edges of their own depth and says so before the project depends on it.
Tell me about a requirement that turned out to be wrong.
Look for how they found that out, who they told, and what they changed in the code.
Where do you let an AI coding tool draft, and where do you throw the draft away?
Good answers name the review they still do: tests, security, and the parts of the design the tool cannot see.
Teams also hire
Roles that pair with this one
Full-stack developers
One engineer across UI, API, and database, for teams that need features shipped end to end.
Hire full-stack developersBackend developers
APIs, data models, integrations, and the performance work behind them.
Hire backend developersDevOps engineers
CI/CD, infrastructure as code, observability, and cloud cost control.
Hire DevOps engineersSoftware engineers: FAQ
How much does a senior software engineer from the Philippines cost?
Through Arca, from $35/hr, all-in. That includes compensation, contracts, HR, account management, and training, with no recruiting fee.
How quickly can I hire a software engineer?
Arca sends a shortlist in 7 working days from your discovery call. You interview the candidates and choose.
Can this person be our first engineering hire?
Often, yes. Arca places senior engineers only, including people who have been the first engineer on a product and can set the first conventions.
Will they work US business hours?
Yes. Arca engineers work your full US business day, whatever your time zone.
Where are they based?
In the Philippines and elsewhere in Asia. Wherever they are based, they work your US business hours.
Which stacks do you match?
We match to the stack you are hiring for. Tell us the languages, data stores, and cloud you actually run.
What if they are not a fit?
We replace them. Replacements are unlimited for as long as you're a client, and the engagement is month-to-month.
Hire a software engineer who works your hours.
Tell us the role. We will introduce your shortlist.