Build a Top Dedicated Development Team in Poland

The demand for software developers in the United States is projected to grow by 17% from 2023 to 2030. And without the right talent, your tech business growth is at risk. Enter Poland: home to 650K tech experts, ranking #1 in technology skills and #2 in English proficiency in the CEE, a perfect match for US tech companies seeking to build dedicated teams of developers.

I’m Maryna Panchuk, Head of IT Recruitment at Alcor, a tech R&D center accelerator. We help product tech companies build fully integrated teams of top 10% tech talent in Eastern Europe and Latin America, without buy-out fees or the need for a legal entity.

In this article, you’ll find not just 1 or 2 but 10 compelling reasons why your tech business should expand into Poland. And as a bonus, you’ll also discover best practices and the most effective cooperation model for setting up a dedicated development team in this vibrant CEE powerhouse. 

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Key Takeaways

• The value of the Polish ICT market is projected to reach $31.6 billion in 2025, making it one of the innovation heavyweights in the CEE region.
• Poland boasts 650,000 tech talents, who rank #1 for technology skills, #4 for data science, and #2 for English proficiency in the CEE, while also having a Western mindset—ideal for US hi-tech companies.
• Building a dedicated development team in Poland is about 32% cheaper, salary-wise, than in the US.
• When assembling a dedicated development team in Poland, you need to devise an expansion and recruitment strategy, create an appealing EVP, launch an employer branding campaign, handle admin tasks, or delegate all this to a trusted R&D center partner.

Top 10 Reasons to Build a Dedicated Development Team in Poland

1. Thriving Tech Industry 

The Polish IT market has emerged as one of the leading in the CEE region, currently valued at $26.5 billion and expected to grow to an impressive $31.6 billion in 2025. Some of the key factors fueling this growth? 

• Stable economy: Poland is the sixth-largest economy in the EU with an estimated GDP of $688 billion.
• Governmental initiatives: Programs like Digital Decade Strategy, National Recovery, and Resilience Plan, and Poland Digital 2025 focused on boosting digital transformation;
• R&D tax relief: Innovative companies can deduct 200% of their R&D costs;
• Digitalization: 90% Internet penetration and 70% adoption of 5G technology;
• Data compliance: Adherence to GDPR and international IP protection standards.

Global demand for Poland’s ICT services has been increasing worldwide, with exports reaching $16.9 billion in 2023. All thanks to the local tech companies, the number of which has grown by an average of 3,0% over the 2019-2024 period, totaling over 67,000. Altogether, the ICT sector contributes 4% to Poland’s GDP, positioning it as a potent engine of national economic growth.

2. Powerhouse of talent

Poland boasts the largest tech talent pool in the entire CEE region. Just think about it: this country has more developers than Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Czechia combined—650,000 experts. And it’s not only about numbers. The Future of IT Report 2024 ranks Polish tech experts as second in CEE in the talent category! Well-educated and highly competitive, it’s no wonder that foreign tech companies are drawn to Poland like bees to honey. But what about their tech savviness?

3. High-tech gurus 

“Silicon Valley-caliber like,” replies Coursera, placing Polish talent at number 1 in CEE for technical skills and number 4 for data science. These professionals have no problem with mastering the newest programming languages and implementing cutting-edge solutions. Take a look at what they have in their skill arsenal:

• Tech specialization: Backend development, mobile app development, game development, data science & ML, cybersecurity 
• Programming languages: SQL, JavaScript, Python, TypeScript, HTML/СSS, and Java

Poles’ outstanding tech expertise is proven by different rankings, i.e., Meta Hacker Cup, Google Code Jam, and TopCoder, where these specialists frequently take leading positions.

Intrigued by such technological excellence, AI company Mako (formerly A2Labs) chose Poland as its ideal location for software development. But their challenge was to find rare talent with GPU optimization skills. While other companies came up short, Alcor sourced several perfectly fitting senior-level ML specialists within just a few weeks. The result? Wowed client with a top-tier ML team.

4. Top STEM education

Did you know that a whopping 76% of Polish software developers hold a higher education degree, and nearly half have a Master’s? They get a well-rounded higher education at 40 state-owned universities and 20 public institutes of technology, 22 featured in the QS World University Ranking 2025 list. Some of the renowned ones include the Warsaw University of Technology, Wroclaw University of Science & Technology, and AGH University of Science & Technology. 

Computer science is a common field of study among young Poles. With nearly 74,000 students enrolled in STEM programs for the 2023/2024 academic year alone, Poland continues to strengthen its already extensive tech workforce. This means your software will be in capable, well-educated hands!

5. No Silicon Valley price tag

You might assume that such high proficiency in tech comes with an astronomical price. Not at all! Let’s say you want to build a mobile application. A senior Mobile App Developer (Android or iOS Developer) in your home country costs an average of about $114,000, while the price for a UI/UX Designer reaches $102,000 per year. Meanwhile, in Poland, the annual cost of the same talent is only $84,000 and $78,000, respectively. And what about a Product Manager or Mobile Team Lead salary rates? Their price tags in Poland are $66,000 and $96,000 per year.

That’s around 32% of savings, another good reason to choose a dedicated development team in Poland.

Position	Annual Senior Developer Compensation, USD
	Poland	USA
Mobile App Developer	84,000	$114,000
UI/UX Designer	$78,000	$102,000
Backend Developer	$80,000	$140,000
QA Engineer	$72,000	$85,000
DevOps Engineer	$87,000	$138,000
Product Manager	$66,000	$120,000

6. High English proficiency

Smooth communication is key to productive cooperation. That’s why, when it comes to offshoring, many tech entrepreneurs get concerned about language barriers. But when hiring a dedicated development team in Poland, you won’t have to worry about it, as the majority of software developers here have strong English skills. In fact, Poland ranks 2nd in CEE and 13th in Europe on the EF English Proficiency Index, another benefit of hiring a dedicated development team in Poland.

Want to know more about the advantages of building engineering teams in Poland? Check out our other article about Polish software developers!

7. Western mentality

Polish engineers are highly adaptable and flexible when it comes to working in foreign tech companies. The very moment you build a Poland’s dedicated development team, these guys will swiftly dive into your programming process, offering the best technologies and practices to improve the quality of your product. Moreover, they will demonstrate exceptional dedication, communication skills, problem-solving, and thinking out of the box, as well as a passion for nonstop learning and knowledge sharing.

8. Booming startup ecosystem 

3,000 startups and 13 unicorns—Poland is a real hotbed of innovation-first and a geographically diverse startup ecosystem. Polish entrepreneurs are not afraid to start innovative tech businesses, as they can always count on both national and foreign investments. Here are just a few quick figures: Polish startups secured $540 million across 147 funding rounds in 2023, while its AI startups received over $193 million in 2024—the highest funding in the entire CEE region. No wonder Poland is 4th in the CEE region for the startup ecosystem.

• Prominent startups: ElevenLabs, The Witcher, DocPlanner, LiveChat.
• Industry specialization: marketing and sales, energy and environment, healthtech, e-commerce and retail, Edtech, Fintech, AI, hardware, and IoT.

9. Vibrant tech hubs

What else attracts the US and Western European companies to assemble dedicated development teams in Poland is its diversity of ripe tech centers. Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław, Katowice, Tri-City, Poznań, and Łódź together host almost 75% of all tech talent in the country. Here’s a sneak peek into some of their tech strengths: 

• Warsaw ranked 4th in the EU for the Gaming industry.
• Krakow ranked 8th in the EU for Digital Marketing.
• Wroclaw ranked 5th in the EU for the Medtech industry.
• Poznan ranked 20th in the EU for the Proptech industry.

10. Convenient location & time zone

Situated in the heart of Europe, the country serves as a bridge between Western and Eastern European countries. It makes Poland a strategically convenient place for doing business. In addition to that, there is no time difference between Poland and Western European countries, which is extremely convenient for instant communication between development teams.

The reason to hire a dedicated development team in Poland for US tech companies is round-the-clock productivity. 6–7-hour difference with the East Coast and 10-hour with the West Coast—your Polish team can work while you sleep. Just picture this: you leave feedback at the end of the working day, and by the time you’re back in the office, all the troubleshooting is done. Sounds great, doesn’t it?

How to Hire a Software Team in Poland

Basically, there are two prevalent ways to get a dedicated development team in Poland: lease it from an IT outsatffing vendor or build your own development team via a tech R&D center accelerator. Let’s look at them in greater detail.

IT outstraffing

It’s a cooperation model that equips you with a preassembled team of developers dedicated to your project for a set period. The outstaffing vendor assumes all responsibilities related to team scaling, wages, technical training, hardware and software procurement, and office space, while you, as the client, retain control over project execution.

IT outstaffing suits well for non-tech companies that need to create a mobile app or website without spending a fortune on building an in-house team of programmers. Another case—a temporary fix for tech companies facing seasonal workflow spikes, skill gaps, or lacking niche developers for one-off projects.

Pros

• Team flexibility: Easily scale up or down the development team size based on changing project needs.
• Access to rare talent: Tap into a niche talent pool that is unavailable locally.
• Speed to market: Ideal for launching MVP’s or new digital products for non-tech companies.
• No admin burden: The outstaffing vendor handles all HR and operational functions.

Cons

• Lower quality talent: Junior and middle programmers are often sold as senior-level experts, leading to overspending and a subpar end product.
• Loose integration: External developers treat you as their “second” employee and are less invested in your product’s long-term success.
• Hefty buy-out fees: If you want to retain external developers, be prepared to pay buy-out fees—on average, 20% of the annual compensation per developer.
• Data security concerns: Some vendors may lack strong cybersecurity and encryption, making data theft more likely, especially in countries with vulnerable cyber systems.

Software R&D center

At Alcor, we’ve developed an all-inclusive model designed for tech companies seeking to expand seamlessly. Our R&D center solution grants you your own software development team fully integrated into your culture and practices from day one. Thus, no buy-out costs, no markups, no setup fees.

Here’s what our 360-degree R&D center includes: 

– A to Z tech recruitment: Our team of 40 tech headhunters specializes in the end-to-end hiring of elite senior developers with diverse skill sets. With an 80% CV pass rate and a 2-6 weeks vacancy closing period, we hire a team of 30 programmers in 3 months and can scale it to 100 within a year.

– Employer of Record for Tech: We use our legal entities in LATAM and Eastern European hubs, so you can avoid the bureaucratic hassle of business incorporation and save up to 3.5 months. Plus, we ensure full compliance with local labor and employment laws, taxes, payroll, and benefits.

– Operational support: We can lease an office or coworking space, procure necessary hardware, set up IT infrastructure, and launch an employer branding initiative. In-country assistance? Yes, provided by our proactive Dedicated Customer Success Managers 24/7.

Pros

• Silicon Valley-caliber talent: Access the top 10% of the market developers, who match your tech requirements and culture.
• 40% savings: Get equivalent talent cheaper or get 1-2 tiers higher developers for the same budget as with outstaffing.
• Zero buyouts: Development team is yours from day one, operating under your brand, culture, and practices.
• 100% compliance: Stay shielded by our team of lawyers with IT law expertise.

Cons

• Only for tech: Best suited for companies that have their own software product and are looking to expand their development teams, not for one-off projects.

• More client involvement: Building your own team of developers means you’ll be fully in charge of the developers. This model is designed for committed tech companies, ready to invest their time rather than settle for a temporary fix. 

• Initial investment: The budget for building a development team varies depending on the team size and tech skills. The good news? We offer volume discounts; the more you hire, the less you pay per developer. Plus, no pre-payment, as you pay for what you actually use.

Best Practices to Hire a Dedicated Team in Poland

You can streamline the process of offshoring to Poland via the list of best practices to hire a dedicated development team in Poland. Here are some cream of the crop:

• Devise a well-thought-out tech recruitment strategy

The first and foremost thing any tech company needs to do is to compose an effective IT recruitment strategy, as it’s the backbone of successful offshoring of software development in Poland. Your talent acquisition strategy should include the number of software engineers, the type of tech expertise that you need, defined KPIs, budgetary limits, an ideal candidate profile, as well as recruitment approaches and hiring tools to enable a swift scale-up. In case it feels overwhelming, you can always partner with a professional staffing company.

• Set an appealing employee value proposition 

Another approach to focus on is creating an attractive employee value proposition (EVP). Why? Because it helps to attract the best talent in the market, allowing you to fulfill your stuffing goals in no time. An appealing EVP in Poland usually includes:

Competitive developer salary, with an average amounting to $75,300 per year;

Paid time off (may differ depending on the employment contract): 

• 20 working days if work experience is less than 10 years, 
• 33 days of paid sick leave covered at 80% of salary, 
• 140 days of maternity and 14 days of paternity leave,
• 14 public holidays, and more.

Benefits package (a total of about $6,350 developer/annually): 

• Medical insurance — $1,200
• Learning & development — $900
• Corporate merchandise — $150
• Work equipment — $3,300
• Wellness & mental health support — $800.

Yet, it’s not necessary to navigate this process alone, especially when entering a new market. Many tech companies, such as ThreadUP, simplify this by partnering with a reliable provider like Alcor, offering local tech guidance. We assist with benefits management for your development team as a part of our tech-focused EOR services. 

• Launch a powerful employer branding campaign

In Poland, IT recruitment can become extremely challenging if you ignore employer branding. The truth is that if local developers have never heard about your tech company, the process of building your development team is likely to be delayed. So, don’t hesitate to promote your business in the new market, providing information about your product, team, mission, values, and achievements. 

That’s what we helped Sift with, when they were entering Polish market. A catchy employer branding campaign helped them broaden their applicant base and achieve a 15% higher response and offer acceptance rates. As a result, Sift got an elite team of 30+ developers within just a year.

• Delegate admin operations to a service provider

What can be worse than a malfunctioning offshoring software team that turned into a burden instead of being a source of cost-effective product development? That’s something that tends to happen when tech companies build offshoring dedicated teams without properly handling operational functions. To avoid it, you should partner with a reliable vendor who can liberate you from time-consuming accounting, help you pay all the necessary taxes, provide your developers with timely paychecks, and make your business fully compliant with local legislation.

Hire Your Own Software Team in Poland with Alcor

Just like an American product company, Dotmatics  did. The company sought to shift its approach from traditional IT outsourcing to a more cost-effective and reliable option: a tech R&D center. With our full-cycle tech hiring and dedicated account management, Dotmatics built a strong team of 30+ seasoned engineers in just a year, including Full Stack, React, QA Automation, and Node.js Developers. With our EOR in Poland & EE, we also handled payroll, compliance, benefits, as well as covered procurement to ensure smooth offshoring from day one.

With a 93% customer satisfaction rate in 2024 and a 5/5 rating on Clutch, you can be sure of our top-tier R&D center services. Fill the form below and let’s start your tech expansion journey!