Ask HN: Anyone working remotely for a US company internationally?

#1

Post by anonymous2324 » Fri, Oct 22, 2021, 10:39 AM UTC

I've been working for small(ish) startups based in the US internationally and have had no issues. (I work as a contractor essentially)

I was wondering if anyone's got an arrangement like this going with a larger organization? I'm looking to switch jobs and try working somewhere a tad bigger.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working remotely for a US company internationally?

#2

Post by ssijak » Fri, Oct 22, 2021, 5:33 PM UTC

I’m working for a US startup remotely from Eastern Europe. From my experience it is easier to find startup remote jobs and I don’t mind to be honest.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working remotely for a US company internationally?

#3

Post by tmaly » Fri, Oct 22, 2021, 5:43 PM UTC

I have two people in India working on my team. They are both remote right now.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working remotely for a US company internationally?

#4

Post by soneca » Fri, Oct 22, 2021, 5:46 PM UTC

I am, but also on a small startup. I think any larger organization will be more worried about the risks mentioned in the comments of this Ask HN that I posted recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28898198

My experience is that the sweet spot is a small organization that embraces global remote and don’t care much about hiring contractors full time, but not actively look for outside of US candidates.

Medium to large companies neither want to establish presence in other countries nor hire contractors full time.

Very large companies do not hire contractors full time but might establish presence in a few selected countries (paying local rates mostly). Stripe seems an exception that created that “remote hub” that would hire anywhere.

Small startups that actively look for full time contractors outside the US usually pay just slightly above the local market rate (they are hoping to get the margin of the salary arbitrage for themselves).

So,small startups that explicitly hire remote, but mostly advertise they jobs to American audience, but are open to hire remote globally. “Who is hiring” thread seems a good place to find those (by filtering out all the ”Remote(US)” ones)

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working remotely for a US company internationally?

#5

Post by meheleventyone » Fri, Oct 22, 2021, 5:46 PM UTC

I work for a small(ish) US company here in Iceland as a full time employee. And sometime prior to that I worked for Autodesk also as a full time employee for a small satellite office here after a startup was aquired.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working remotely for a US company internationally?

#6

Post by vaibhavsagar » Fri, Oct 22, 2021, 5:51 PM UTC

Yup, I'm doing this. I was living in the US when I interviewed in Feb 2020 but as an Australian citizen on an E-3 visa I had to leave the country to get a new one and then the pandemic happened. So far my employer has been happy to have me work remotely but the timezone offset has been pretty brutal and I'm only doing this because I hope to move back at some point early next year.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working remotely for a US company internationally?

#7

Post by tombert » Fri, Oct 22, 2021, 5:51 PM UTC

I don't know if this counts, but I had to spend two weeks in Juarez Mexico last month for my wife's green card interview, and I spent a majority of that working for a US megacorporation. We're all remote-first anyway, so most of my coworkers didn't know/care about where I was located geographically. Only thing that was a bit irritating for me was having to work in a different time-zone.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working remotely for a US company internationally?

#8

Post by taylorhou » Fri, Oct 22, 2021, 5:52 PM UTC

my company has almost 50 full time in the US and 120+ full time internationally. x2-3 in the next 12-18 months. hiring for pretty much every possible role and willing to be creative/flexible. dm me to chat!

apmhelp.com is our core service (think bookkeeping/maintenance coordination for rental properties)

fyxed.com is a fintech product we're launching soon (think pipe but for rental properties)

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working remotely for a US company internationally?

#9

Post by mettamage » Fri, Oct 22, 2021, 5:54 PM UTC

Curious question: does that also mean you get US salaries between $100K - $120K?

Re: Ask HN: Anyone working remotely for a US company internationally?

#10

Post by xunn0026 » Fri, Oct 22, 2021, 5:59 PM UTC

The higher the org the lower the chances they would accept such an arrangement. Some allow remote work but expect you to be an employee which becomes impossible if you are from a country where they have no base so they can't legally hire you.