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Offshore development center

Your own engineering team in Vietnam, running in 2 to 4 months

Dev Station recruits, houses and runs your dedicated centre in Ho Chi Minh City. You set the roadmap and you own the IP. When you want the entity in your own name, we hand it over.

Book a 30-minute planning call See the 60-engineer peak

You interview every candidate before they join. Nobody is assigned to your team without your yes.

Core team, month 3. Nine of twelve seats live. Desks and laptops ready from week 1.
Technical lead .NET, AWS, 9 yearsStarted
Full-stack engineers x4 Node, ReactStarted
QA engineers x2 Manual and SeleniumStarted
Business analyst English C1, works with your POOffer out
DevOps engineer AWS, CI/CDYour interview
IP assigned to you from the first commit.
  • German cloud-native firmScaled to 60+ engineers with us at peak
  • Norwegian EdTechOPAL 2.0 migration, zero data loss
  • Ho Chi Minh CityCentre Point Building, Phu Nhuan
  • 10+ yearsWorking with US, UK and EU teams
Projects delivered
50+
Client satisfaction rate
95%
Industries served
5+

Where our teams come from

Both of our largest teams started as rescue jobs

A German software firm came to us after another vendor delivered poor code and missed the dates. A Norwegian EdTech company came to us after a vendor failed to ship OPAL 2.0 on time or on budget, with a contractual deadline already agreed with schools.

We start by reading the code, not by hiring
Before a single job advert goes out, our tech lead reviews what exists and writes down what is salvageable. That report is yours whether or not you hire us.
The first team is small and senior
Rescue work needs judgement more than hands. We staff a lead plus a few senior engineers, stabilise the build, then scale once the direction is proven.
Your product owner keeps the wheel
For the German client we ran cultural integration training on German business practice and communication so their product owners could work with our team directly, in English.
Scale comes after trust
That same engagement peaked at more than 60 developers across a dedicated core team and an on-call SWAT group for urgent work.

Three ways to run it

Pick the model by how much you want to own

The three differ in who employs the people and who holds the entity. The work and the standards are the same in all three.

  • Dedicated team

    You need engineers, not an entity
    • We employ the team, you direct it
    • Monthly fee per person, no setup cost
    • Scale up or down with 30 days notice
    • Live in weeks rather than months
    Choose this ifYou want capacity quickly and have no plan to open a legal entity in Vietnam.

  • Managed ODC

    A centre that runs itself
    • Dedicated space, your branding, your tooling
    • We handle recruitment, HR, payroll and IT
    • Your own onboarding and engineering standards
    • Core team of 10 to 20 within 2 to 4 months
    Choose this ifThis is a long-term second engineering site, not a project.

  • Build, operate, transfer

    You end up owning it
    • Everything in the managed ODC
    • Agreed transfer price and date from day one
    • We run it while your entity is being set up
    • Staff move across on their existing terms
    Choose this ifYou want a Vietnamese subsidiary but do not want to spend a year building one first.

Who you can hire

The roles we staff, with the stacks we have shipped on

Every stack below comes from work already delivered, not from a list of things we could learn.

Technical leads and project managers
Run your sprints in your process, report to your engineering manager. Both of our largest engagements started here.
Backend engineers
Node.js and .NET, with GraphQL and REST API work across both case studies below.
Frontend engineers
React and Angular. The Norwegian platform front end is Angular, the German product is React.
Mobile engineers
React Native and Xamarin, shipped on both Android and iOS.
QA engineers
Manual and automation. Selenium suites, plus regression packs handed over with documentation.
DevOps and cloud engineers
AWS, pipelines, monitoring. We took over deployment for a client whose previous vendor left none.
Business analysts
English at working level, sitting between your product owner and the team. Often the first hire after the lead.
Data and analytics
Power BI reporting and data migration, including a full migration with no data loss.

Tell us the roles you need

Three fields. An engineering manager reads it, not a sales rep. You get a staffing plan and a monthly cost within two working days.

  • We map the roles, seniority and English level you need
  • You get a written plan with dates and a cost per month
  • No obligation, and no phone number needed to start

Our work

Two teams we built and still run

Case study / Germany

A failed vendor project, rebuilt and then scaled to a peak of 60+ engineers

A German cloud-native technology company serving retail, manufacturing, finance and life sciences came to us with a project another vendor had left in poor shape: weak code quality and missed deadlines. They needed a team that could recover the work and then keep growing with them, and every engineer had to work in English with German product owners.

We built a hybrid model, a dedicated core team plus an on-call SWAT group for urgent work, staffed with a project manager, technical lead, full-stack developers, QA engineers and a business analyst. We ran cultural integration training on German business practice so the two sides could work directly rather than through account managers.

  • Node.js
  • .NET
  • React
  • React Native
  • AWS
  • GraphQL
  • Selenium
Engineers at peak across the core team and SWAT group
60+
The client's own headcount over the engagement
80 to 300+
Technology staff worldwide in the client group
500+

Case study / Norway

Migrating a school data platform with nothing lost

A Norwegian EdTech company ran OPAL 1.0, a system that could no longer handle its data volumes or meet current security standards. A previous vendor had failed to deliver the replacement on schedule or on budget, and the deadline with schools was already contractual.

Our dedicated team rebuilt the platform module by module and put a separate group on the data migration alone, so years of sensitive student records moved without interrupting the schools using them. Security work covered SPT, SSAT and NVA, and we stayed on for 60 days of warranty support after go-live.

  • .NET
  • Angular
  • Xamarin
  • AWS
  • Power BI
Records lost migrating OPAL 1.0 to 2.0
Zero
Warranty support after go-live
60 days
Delivered inside the revised schedule and budget
Recovered

Plain definitions

Two questions worth settling before you shortlist anything

These come up on almost every first call, and getting them clear saves a wasted procurement round.

What is an offshore development centre?

A permanent engineering site in another country that works only for you. It is not a project and not a pool of contractors. The people are hired against your roles, sit in dedicated space, follow your engineering standards, and stay long enough to learn your product properly.

What separates it from a dedicated team is the operation around the people: recruitment, HR, payroll, equipment, office and the reporting that goes with running a site rather than staffing a project.

How is it different from BOT, and from a dedicated team?

A dedicated team is the lightest option. We employ the people, you direct the work, and either side can stop with 30 days notice. No entity, no office commitment.

A centre adds the operation: your own space, tooling and standards, with us running the employment side. Build, operate, transfer adds an ending: a price and date agreed at the start for moving the whole thing into your own Vietnamese entity, with staff transferring on their existing terms.

Where we have done this

Four sectors, each with a build behind it

We list four because we have shipped in four. A longer list would be a list of industries we would like to work in.

Cloud and enterprise software
A German firm serving retail, manufacturing, finance and life sciences, where the engagement began as a recovery and grew into a core team plus an on-call group.
Education technology
A Norwegian platform holding records about children, where national data protection rules and a migration with nothing lost decided the project.
Safety testing equipment
Manufacturers of pull testers and torque equipment, where software reads the instrument instead of an engineer copying a number.
Industrial IoT
Device fleets reporting over MQTT into time series storage, with alarm rules and over-the-air firmware delivery on top.

Build, operate, transfer

What actually happens in each phase

BOT is often described in the abstract. Here is the work, phase by phase, and who does it.

  1. Month 1 to 4

    Build

    We agree the roles and salary bands, write the job specs against your standards, and run hiring. You interview every candidate. In parallel we set up desks, laptops, network access and security policy. The core team is working by the end of this phase.

  2. Month 5 onwards

    Operate

    We run payroll, HR, contracts, appraisals, equipment and the office, and we handle leavers and replacements. Your engineering manager runs the work itself. Reporting covers headcount, attrition, cost and delivery, on your cadence.

  3. On your date

    Transfer

    The price and the trigger are written into the first contract, not negotiated later. Staff move to your Vietnamese entity on their existing terms and seniority. We stay on for an agreed handover period so nothing stops on the day.

Operations and legal

The questions your legal team will ask

Who owns the code
You do. Our agreements assign all intellectual property in the work to your company, and every engineer signs an NDA before touching a repository.
Who employs the people
Dev Station Technology Development Co., Ltd, a Vietnamese company, until a BOT transfer moves them to your entity.
Where they sit
Our office at Centre Point Building, 106 Nguyen Van Troi Street, Phu Nhuan Ward, Ho Chi Minh City. Dedicated space and your own access policy if you want it.
How the data is protected
Network segregation, controlled repository access and device policy. We work to your security requirements, including customer rules that are stricter than ours.
What happens if someone leaves
We carry the recruitment cost of the replacement and run a handover overlap. Attrition and open seats appear in your monthly report.
How you get out
Notice periods are in the contract. On exit you receive the repositories, the documentation, the pipelines and the credentials. No knowledge stays behind on purpose.

Technology and integration

What your centre can be staffed to build on

Every item here comes from something already shipped, not from a list of things we could learn.

Back end
.NET and Node.js, with REST and GraphQL interfaces.
Front end
Angular and React, for portals, dashboards and admin systems.
Mobile
Xamarin and React Native, on Android and iOS, including offline capture and Bluetooth communication with equipment.
Cloud and delivery
Azure and AWS in your own tenant, Docker and Kubernetes, pipelines in Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions or GitLab.
Data
SQL Server and PostgreSQL, TimescaleDB for continuous readings, Kafka for streaming, Power BI and Grafana for reporting.
Quality
Manual and Selenium coverage inside the team rather than as a gate at the end, with ISTQB certified testers.

Who does the work

Twenty engineers, eight of them senior

That is our own permanent team. A centre we run for you is staffed on top of it, hired against your standards, with your interview on every person.

Engineers in Ho Chi Minh City
20
Senior engineers
8
Average experience
5+ yrs
Working with US, UK and EU teams
10+ yrs
Your centre is hired for you
The people in your centre are recruited against your roles and your standards. Our own team provides the leads, the recruitment and the operational support around them.
No account manager layer
You talk to the engineer who wrote the code. For one German client we ran cultural integration training so their product owners could work with the team directly.
Certified where it matters
Microsoft Certified Azure Fundamentals, PMI-ACP and Professional Scrum Master II sit within the team, alongside ISTQB on the QA side.

How we work

Five engagement models, and you pick how much you keep

The models differ in one thing: how much of the management you hand over. Everything else, including who owns the code, is the same in all five.

Changing model later is normal. Augmentation into a dedicated team is the common direction, and the people stay.

01

Staff Augmentation

Engineers join your team and work inside your process, your board and your code review.

Team control
You manage the day to day
Pricing
Monthly per person, by role and seniority
Minimum
1 month

02

Dedicated Team

A team that works only on your product, with a lead on our side running delivery.

Team control
Shared. Our lead runs delivery, you set priorities
Pricing
Monthly per role, lead included
Minimum
3 months

03

You are hereOffshore Development Centre

A long-term engineering site under your standards, where we carry recruitment, HR, payroll and equipment.

Team control
You direct the work, we run operations
Pricing
Monthly per role plus site costs
Minimum
6 months

04

Fixed Price

One price for a scope that is genuinely settled, with the overrun carried by us.

Team control
We deliver, you accept against written criteria
Pricing
Fixed bid, paid against milestones
Minimum
Project based, usually 10 to 14 weeks

05

Build, Operate, Transfer (BOT Model)

Everything in the centre model, with the whole team moving into your own Vietnamese entity on an agreed date.

Team control
Transfers from us to you
Pricing
Monthly per role, transfer price agreed up front
Minimum
2 to 6 years

FAQs

Questions we get on the first call

How long does it take to set up an ODC with Dev Station?

It depends on team size and how specialised the roles are, but a core team is usually established and working within 2 to 4 months from kickoff. Leads and generalist engineers fill faster than niche roles. We give you a role-by-role plan with dates before you sign anything.

What cost savings should we expect?

Most clients see 40 to 60 percent or more on talent and operating costs against equivalent teams in the US, UK or Australia. The saving comes from salary levels and overheads, not from putting junior people on your work.

Do we interview the candidates?

Yes, and we recommend you do. We screen, test and shortlist, then you take the final interview. Nobody joins your team without your approval.

How much control do we keep?

You keep strategic and operational control. The team follows your roadmap, your development process and your management. We provide the infrastructure, the employment and the local support around them.

What happens if an engineer leaves?

We carry the cost of recruiting the replacement and arrange an overlap for handover wherever notice periods allow. Attrition and time to backfill are reported to you monthly rather than raised only when you ask.

Who owns the intellectual property?

Your company owns all of it. This is written into the service agreement, alongside NDAs signed by every person on the team.

Is there a minimum commitment?

Yes, and it depends on the model. A dedicated team runs on rolling terms with 30 days notice. A managed ODC or a BOT needs a longer commitment because we are hiring permanent staff and taking on office and equipment cost for you.

What is an offshore development centre?

A permanent engineering site in another country working only for you. The people are hired against your roles, sit in dedicated space, follow your standards, and stay long enough to learn your product. What separates it from a dedicated team is the operation around the people: recruitment, HR, payroll, equipment and office.

How many people do we need for a centre to make sense?

Around ten. Below that the operational overhead of a site is not earning its keep, and a dedicated team gives you the same engineers with less structure and less commitment.

What does it cost to run compared with hiring locally?

Most clients see 40 to 60 percent or more against equivalent teams in the US, UK or Australia. The saving comes from salary levels and overheads, not from putting junior people on your work.

Why Vietnam rather than India or Poland?

Cost sits below Poland and close to India, while the engineering pool is younger and turnover in our experience is lower than the large Indian delivery centres. The honest downside is time zone: Vietnam is 6 to 7 hours ahead of the UK, so we overlap your morning rather than your whole day.

Can we start small and grow?

That is how both of the teams above started. A lead plus a few engineers, then scale once the working relationship is proven. One of them peaked past 60 people.

Send us the roles, we will send you the plan

Tell us what you need staffed and by when. You get a role-by-role plan with dates and a monthly cost, before anyone asks you to sign anything.

Book a 30-minute planning call Compare the three models
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