At a Glance: WELL3, a blockchain-powered wellness platform, needed a lead engineer in Hong Kong to anchor a cost-effective engineering team across Southeast Asia. Second Talent sourced and placed the hire, saving roughly 2 months of recruitment time and HR expense and establishing a scalable offshore hiring model for future growth.
Company Background
WELL3 is a blockchain-powered wellness platform that transforms how individuals control and use their health data. It ensures secure, transparent data management while giving users complete ownership over their health information.
As part of its expansion plan, WELL3 aimed to establish a cost-effective engineering team in Southeast Asia. The first step was hiring a lead engineer in Hong Kong to guide offshore development and communication.
Challenges Faced
1. Maximizing cost efficiency while securing top talent
WELL3 needed to reduce labour and operational costs without compromising on engineering quality. Hiring in Southeast Asia offered significant savings over U.S. rates, but only if the quality bar held.
2. Accessing regional expertise
Offshore hiring allowed WELL3 to tap into skilled employees familiar with the local market, improving team alignment and technical fit.
Solutions Delivered by Second Talent
Second Talent sourced a lead engineer who was both highly skilled and closely aligned with WELL3’s goals, giving the company a technical leader to build the offshore team around rather than a single individual contributor.
Running the search through Second Talent saved WELL3 an estimated 2 months of time and HR expense compared with managing recruitment internally, because candidates arrived pre-vetted rather than needing a full screening cycle.
Account management continued past the offer. Onboarding was handled end to end, with ongoing post-hire support so the new lead engineer was productive quickly and the working relationship between Hong Kong and the offshore team was set up properly from day one.
Results Achieved
The hire gave WELL3 a working template for offshore expansion. With a lead engineer in Hong Kong coordinating development, the company had the communication structure and technical leadership needed to add employees across Southeast Asia without rebuilding its hiring process each time.
Key Outcomes
- Fast, high-quality sourcing: A lead engineer aligned with WELL3’s goals, placed to lead future team growth.
- Time and cost savings: Roughly 2 months of recruitment time and HR expense saved versus an internal search.
- Seamless onboarding and support: Account management covered onboarding and continuous post-hire support.
- Scalable offshore model: An established hiring model for building a high-performing engineering team across Southeast Asia.
- Stronger technical capacity: Improved communication and team leadership to support future growth.
“Collaborating with Second Talent has transformed our development and operations. Their expertise in sourcing top-quality engineer talent enabled us to scale effectively while upholding our high standards. The pre-vetted candidates they provided were perfectly aligned with our requirements. This probably saved us 2 months of time and HR costs if we were to do it ourselves. Their account management and customer service ensured a seamless onboarding process and continuous support. With Second Talent, we’ve built a strong, cost-efficient team that fuels our growth.”
Terry Chan, COO, WELL3
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