01Same starting line
You choose the engineer.
Both models use the same specialist search, technical evaluation, and client selection process.
Talent bar: identical
Choose the operating model
The hire is one decision.Everything after is another.
Placement finds the engineer. EOR adds the local employment system that keeps the hire operating.
Placement typically adds 10–20% to first-year employer spend. Amplify's managed EOR model adds $0 in placement fees.
Employment architecture
The same hire. Different operating owner.
Vetted technical professional
Selected by your team
Placement
Handoff at hire
Search
Introduction
EmploymentYou
Ongoing opsYou
EOR
Continues after hire
Search
Employment
Payroll
Lifecycle
Decision rule
If the local employment system does not already exist, EOR prevents the hire from becoming an infrastructure project.
Follow the hire
The models divergeafter the candidate says yes.
Employment architecture
The same hire. Different operating owner.
Vetted technical professional
Selected by your team
Placement
Handoff at hire
Search
Introduction
EmploymentYou
Ongoing opsYou
EOR
Continues after hire
Search
Employment
Payroll
Lifecycle
Decision rule
If the local employment system does not already exist, EOR prevents the hire from becoming an infrastructure project.
02Direct placement
Amplify hands off at hire.
Your local entity becomes the employer and owns payroll, benefits, HR documentation, and offboarding.
10–20% placement fee
03Managed employment
Amplify stays in the system.
We run the local employment layer while your team keeps control of priorities, delivery, and culture.
$0 placement fee
04The practical decision
Do you already own local employment infrastructure?
If not, EOR is usually the cleaner starting point. If yes, placement may be the simpler long-term structure.
Infrastructure decides
Inspect complete definitions and trade-offs
EOR / managed employment
Advantages
- No separate 10–20% placement fee, reducing upfront acquisition cost and first-year employer spend.
- Can enter a new hiring market faster than forming and operating an entity in many cases.
- One accountable partner operationalizes payroll, contributions, benefits, and employment documentation.
- Lower upfront infrastructure commitment for an initial or variable international team.
- Reduces misclassification exposure compared with contractor arrangements that function like employment.
- Supports amendments, leave, payroll questions, retention, and locally appropriate offboarding.
- Lets a company validate a country or role before committing to an entity.
- Combines technical recruiting and local talent context with employment operations.
Limitations
- A recurring fee or margin continues while the professional remains employed.
- The client is not the legal employer, which can affect perception and internal policy.
- Some formal decisions require coordination and may take longer than purely internal action.
- Benefit and policy customization can be constrained by the employing structure.
- Provider entity structure, service levels, data handling, and fee transparency require diligence.
- EOR does not automatically remove tax, joint-employment, IP, privacy, immigration, or regulated-work risk.
- An owned entity may become more economical at stable scale.
Placement / direct hire
Advantages
- One-time recruitment economics rather than an ongoing service fee.
- A direct employer relationship and complete ownership of the employee experience.
- Maximum flexibility over compensation, equity, benefits, policies, and career framework.
- A straightforward long-term structure when mature local operations already exist.
- The professional is directly represented as part of the client company from day one.
Limitations
- Adds approximately 10–20% of the agreed annual compensation basis to first-year employer spend.
- The client must already have or build a lawful local employment structure.
- Payroll, benefits, contributions, HR operations, documentation, and offboarding remain client-owned.
- Recruiter responsibility normally narrows after hire or the guarantee period.
- International labor, tax, privacy, IP, and taxable-presence analysis remain with the client.
- The placement fee may create a larger upfront cash requirement.
- Guarantees are limited by their scope, duration, exclusions, and contract terms.
- Experimental headcount can leave the client operating infrastructure for too few employees.
- EOR vs contractor
- An EOR supports an employee relationship. A contractor should be genuinely independent in practice; the contract label alone does not decide worker status.
- EOR vs placement
- Placement ends with a direct client hire. EOR continues as an employment operation after selection and onboarding.
- EOR vs PEO
- A PEO commonly co-employs workers with a client entity. An EOR generally supplies the local employing structure where the client does not employ directly.
- EOR vs local entity
- An owned entity offers maximum direct control but requires setup, governance, payroll, benefits, accounting, filings, and ongoing local administration.
Decision console
Model your operating reality.
Three signals produce a directional recommendation. No information is saved.
Directional recommendation
Start with managed employment
- 01A suitable local employing structure does not exist yet.
- 02The hiring timeline favors using an operating layer that is already in place.
- 03Variable or exploratory headcount benefits from lower infrastructure commitment.
Operating ownership
Amplify employment layer
Employment contractAmplify
PayrollAmplify
Statutory obligationsAmplify
BenefitsAmplify
People operationsAmplify
You lead the work
Amplify runs employment ops
This is an operational heuristic, not legal or tax advice. Country, role, authority, and employment facts can change the answer.
Illustrative cost planner
Model the complete first year.
See compensation, employment costs, acquisition fees, service costs, and operating burden as separate layers—not one blended headline.
Planning comparison
Enter your assumptions and update the comparison.
Illustrative baseline: approximately $100,000 annual compensation and a 15% placement fee. Enter the disclosed EOR service cost and your operating assumptions before treating the totals as comparable.
First-year employer spend
Every cost remains visible.
EOR / managed
$99,996
Compensation + employment costs$99,996
EOR service$0
Internal coordination$0
Direct placement
$114,995
Compensation + employment costs$99,996
Placement fee$14,999
Client operations + entity$0
Common employment costService or placement feeClient-owned operations
EOR / managed
- Upfront
- $0
- Placement fee
- $0
- Monthly run rate
- $8,333
- Vendor fee / month
- $0
- Internal / entity burden
- $0
Placement / direct
- Upfront
- $14,999
- Placement fee
- $14,999
- Monthly run rate
- $8,333
- Vendor fee / month
- $0
- Internal / entity burden
- $0
HorizonEOR totalPlacement total
12 months$99,996$114,995
24 months$199,992$214,991
36 months$199,992$214,991
Common employment costs at the 12-month horizon: $99,996. Salary, benefits, and statutory costs are shown inside both totals and are never labeled as an EOR vendor fee.
Operating detail
Inspect every handoff.
For diligence teams: the complete responsibility map across hiring, payroll, benefits, performance support, changes, and exit.
Change the operating owner
The product work stays with you. The employment layer moves.
Operating ownership
Amplify employment layer
Employment contractAmplify
PayrollAmplify
Statutory obligationsAmplify
BenefitsAmplify
People operationsAmplify
You lead the work
Amplify runs employment ops
Open the full responsibility matrix
13 operating responsibilities · desktop table and mobile detail view
Open the full responsibility matrix
13 operating responsibilities · desktop table and mobile detail view
| Responsibility | EOR / managed | Placement / direct hire |
|---|---|---|
| Candidate sourcing and technical evaluation | Amplify | Amplify |
| Final selection | Client | Client |
| Day-to-day priorities and product direction | Client | Client |
| Legal employer | Amplify / disclosed local employing entity | Client / client local entity |
| Local employment agreement | Amplify administers | Client administers |
| Payroll and payslips | Amplify administers | Client administers |
| Statutory taxes and contributions | Amplify administers | Client administers |
| Benefits administration | Amplify administers | Client administers |
| Local HR guidance and documentation | Amplify-led, with shared inputs | Client-owned |
| Performance management | Shared: client leads work; Amplify supports employment process | Client-owned |
| Employment changes and offboarding | Coordinated with Amplify under local rules | Client under local rules |
| Ongoing workforce support | Included as defined in the service | Normally ends after the guarantee period |
| Commercial model | Compensation + employment costs + recurring payroll/employment service; $0 placement fee | Compensation + client employment costs + 10–20% placement fee |
01
Candidate sourcing and technical evaluation
- EOR
- Amplify
- Placement
- Amplify
02
Final selection
- EOR
- Client
- Placement
- Client
03
Day-to-day priorities and product direction
- EOR
- Client
- Placement
- Client
04
Legal employer
The organization named in the locally applicable employment agreement.
- EOR
- Amplify / disclosed local employing entity
- Placement
- Client / client local entity
05
Local employment agreement
- EOR
- Amplify administers
- Placement
- Client administers
06
Payroll and payslips
- EOR
- Amplify administers
- Placement
- Client administers
07
Statutory taxes and contributions
- EOR
- Amplify administers
- Placement
- Client administers
08
Benefits administration
- EOR
- Amplify administers
- Placement
- Client administers
09
Local HR guidance and documentation
- EOR
- Amplify-led, with shared inputs
- Placement
- Client-owned
10
Performance management
The client manages delivery expectations. Formal employment steps must follow the applicable process.
- EOR
- Shared: client leads work; Amplify supports employment process
- Placement
- Client-owned
11
Employment changes and offboarding
- EOR
- Coordinated with Amplify under local rules
- Placement
- Client under local rules
12
Ongoing workforce support
- EOR
- Included as defined in the service
- Placement
- Normally ends after the guarantee period
13
Commercial model
- EOR
- Compensation + employment costs + recurring payroll/employment service; $0 placement fee
- Placement
- Compensation + client employment costs + 10–20% placement fee
Verify the operating layer
Confidence comes from inspectable operations.
A credible EOR should show how employment works—not hide behind a compliance slogan.
Request written answers. Make sure the proposal, service agreement, and employing structure tell the same story.
Amplify operating stack
One accountable commercial interface
Specialist search
Technical judgment and selection context
Local employment
Agreement, documentation, and employing structure
Payroll operations
Payroll, contributions, and agreed benefits
Talent success
Lifecycle support connected to recruiting context
Your team still leads priorities, delivery, culture, and day-to-day performance.
Six diligence checks
Exact legal employing entity and contracting chain
Direct entity versus third-party employment partner
Countries and worker categories actually supported
Employment agreement, IP, and confidentiality structure
Payroll calendar, funding deadlines, FX method, and payslip process
Statutory and supplemental benefits
Why Amplify
Technical talent judgment
Brazilian and LatAm sourcing, technical screening, and role-fit assessment.
Employment operations
Defined local-employer administration connected to the recruiting process.
Collaboration readiness
English, communication, and timezone expectations evaluated before selection.
Human escalation
A clear operating contact for both the client and the professional.
Exact employing entity, service scope, benefits, pricing, support levels, and country availability must be confirmed in the proposal.
Four common starting points
Find the scenario closest to yours.
EOR
First engineer in Brazil
Why
Avoid creating a complete employment operation for one initial hire.
Watch-out
Validate the employing entity, total fee schedule, IP chain, and role-specific tax analysis.
Pressure-test the model
Ask the uncomfortable questions.
Select the concern blocking the decision. Keep the rest out of the way.
01 / 06
EOR looks more expensive than a one-time placement fee.
Placement is not only compensation. It adds a one-time fee—typically 10–20% of the agreed annual compensation basis—to the company’s first-year hiring spend.
Amplify’s managed EOR model has no separate placement fee. Its recurring charge pays for the payroll and employment layer: local agreement, payroll, benefits administration, documentation, and lifecycle support.
At $100,000 in annual compensation, a 10–20% placement fee adds $10,000–$20,000 to employer spend without increasing what the professional earns. EOR adds $0 in placement fees.
EOR is cheaper in year one when the disclosed annual EOR service cost is lower than the applicable placement fee. Direct hire can still win over a longer horizon or at stable scale when the client already owns the employment system.
Use the planner below with your real 24-month assumptions, then ask us to validate what is included and excluded.
Reference deskPractical answers before the proposal
Legal, tax, pricing, benefit, transfer, and termination specifics belong in the country-level agreement.
Reference desk
Practical answers before the proposal
Legal, tax, pricing, benefit, transfer, and termination specifics belong in the country-level agreement.
01What is an Employer of Record?
An Employer of Record is the local legal employer for a professional working with a client team. It administers defined employment responsibilities such as the local agreement, payroll, statutory contributions, benefits, and lifecycle documentation. Arrangements vary by jurisdiction and contract.
02What is a direct-hire placement?
Amplify sources and evaluates a professional, and the client hires that person directly through its own lawful employing setup. The client then owns payroll, benefits, HR, and employment administration.
03Who manages the engineer day to day?
The client leads priorities, delivery, team rituals, technical direction, and performance feedback in both models. Under EOR, Amplify coordinates the formal employment processes connected to that feedback.
04Who owns intellectual property?
The applicable agreements should create a clear IP and confidentiality chain among the professional, legal employer, and client. Exact terms depend on the jurisdiction, role, and contract and must be reviewed in the proposal.
05Can we convert an EOR employee to direct employment?
A transfer may be possible, but notice, conversion, accrued obligations, and any fee depend on the signed agreement and local process. Review that exit path before launch.
06Can an EOR prevent permanent establishment?
No provider can promise that categorically. Taxable-presence risk depends on facts such as authority, sales activity, contract signing, role, duration, and company operations. Obtain country-specific tax advice.
07When is a local entity better than an EOR?
When headcount is sufficiently stable, local operations are strategic, and the total cost and control benefits justify setup and ongoing administration. There is no universal break-even headcount.
Choose with confidence
Leave with a model and the assumptions behind it.
Bring the role, country, headcount plan, and timing. We’ll compare EOR, direct placement, and entity readiness.
01Direct recommendation: EOR, placement, or entity-readiness review
02Transparent assumptions and questions still requiring legal or tax advice
03No salary, contact information, or free text sent to analytics
This comparison provides general operational information, not legal or tax advice. Requirements and risk vary by country, role, authority, working arrangement, and company facts.