Thinking about AI or machine learning outsourcing? Instead of handing your models and data to an outside vendor, hire dedicated AI and ML engineers in Latin America who join your team and build know-how you keep. Rad Hires recruits senior machine learning engineers for US startups. Most clients hire in 2–4 weeks for 40–60% less than a comparable US engineer.
AI/ML outsourcing vs. hiring dedicated engineers
- An AI outsourcing vendor delivers a model or project. That can suit a one-off proof of concept, but your data, models and learnings sit with someone else.
- Dedicated ML engineers work only on your product, with your data and your team. They improve models over time and keep them running in production.
- Rad Hires helps you with the second option. We recruit the engineers, and they work directly with you, either as your direct hire or through our managed Talent On-Demand service, where we contract and pay them for you.
Why hire AI and ML engineers from Latin America?
- Your time zone. Latin American engineers are 0–2 hours from US Eastern time, so experiments, reviews and launches happen in real time.
- Senior AI talent at 40–60% less. AI engineers are among the most expensive hires in the US. Latin America makes experienced people affordable.
- Strong technical foundations. Python, data engineering and applied ML are widely taught and practiced across the region.
AI and ML roles you can hire
- Machine learning engineers who train, evaluate and deploy models.
- AI and LLM engineers building features with large language models, retrieval (RAG) and AI agents.
- Data scientists who turn your data into forecasts, experiments and insights.
- MLOps and data engineers who build the pipelines and infrastructure models depend on.
How hiring with Rad Hires works
- Kickoff call. We learn the AI/ML role, your stack, your team and your budget, and agree on what a great hire looks like.
- Sourcing and screening. Our recruiters search our Latin America network and screen candidates for skills, experience, communication and fit, so you only see people worth your time.
- Your shortlist and interviews. You interview the best candidates and choose who to hire. We coordinate scheduling and feedback.
- Offer and onboarding. We help you close the candidate and get them started.
- 90-day replacement guarantee. If the hire doesn’t work out in the first 90 days, we find you a replacement.
Want to hire the developer onto your own team? Use Direct Hire. Prefer a flexible, fully managed arrangement? Use Talent On-Demand.
What does a Latin American machine learning engineer cost?
Cost depends mostly on seniority and the exact skills you need. Our clients typically pay 40–60% less than for a comparable US hire. Two real examples:
- A US startup hired a senior engineer in Argentina for $8.7k a month, about half the cost of a US equivalent, working full time in the client’s time zone.
- A US digital agency staffed several senior roles for about $40 an hour on average.
On a short consultation call, we’ll give you a realistic budget for your machine learning engineer role.
What to look for in an ML engineer
- Strong Python and ML fundamentals: PyTorch or TensorFlow, scikit-learn, and solid statistics.
- LLM experience: prompt design, retrieval with vector databases, evaluation, and controlling cost and latency.
- Data skills: SQL, data cleaning, feature pipelines and tools like Spark or dbt.
- Production and MLOps: serving models, monitoring for drift, and CI/CD on AWS, GCP or Azure.
- Measurement: choosing the right metrics and running honest offline and online evaluations.
- Communication: explaining model trade-offs clearly in English to engineers and business leaders.
Interview questions to ask an ML engineer
- How would you decide whether a problem needs machine learning at all?
- Walk me through how you evaluate an LLM feature before and after launch.
- How do you detect and handle data drift in production?
- Tell me about a model that performed well offline but poorly in production. What happened?
- How do you keep the cost of an AI feature under control as usage grows?
Frequently asked questions
Most clients hire in 2–4 weeks from the kickoff call.
Yes. Latin American developers are 0–2 hours from US Eastern time for most of the year, so working your core hours is normal.
Every hire comes with a 90-day replacement guarantee.
We recruit across Latin America, including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Peru and Costa Rica.
Ready to hire an AI or ML engineer?
Tell us about the role, and we’ll show you what’s possible with a Latin American hire, including a realistic budget and timeline.