How Audr Cut £242,000 in Costs and Hired Developers in an Average of 23 Days Each
UK SaaS startup Audr scaled their product team with proactive offshore developers in the Philippines. Here’s how LevelUp made it happen.
The LevelUp Solution
Audr partnered with LevelUp to build their tech team. Our model completely de-risked the process: sourcing, screening, and presenting candidates without demanding a financial commitment.
- No upfront recruitment costs
- No obligation to hire
- Transparent pricing
LevelUp completely de-risked the decision to go with them by not charging upfront recruitment fees.
Audr built a team of five offshore developers and experienced high-touch service throughout the process, including same-day support when needed.
Results That Speak for Themselves
£242,378/yr
savings vs hiring the same team in the UK (including NI and pension)
£70,000
saved in recruiter fees (0% recruitment charges)
23.4 days
average time-to-hire per developer
330 / 81
CVs screened and interviews conducted — 100+ recruiter hours saved
5 developers
embedded developers onboarded into Audr’s workflow
Seamless
HR, payroll, and compliance handled by LevelUp
Meet Audr
Why they chose LevelUp
- No-risk hiring (no upfront costs or recruitment fees)
- Transparent pricing with a detailed cost breakdown
- Straight-talking honesty that built immediate trust
- High-level of service with fast response times
People have a perception about offshoring where they don’t think the quality is there or that there’ll be some kind of cultural barrier or language barrier and timezone issues. But when you look at the Filipino culture, there’s no language barrier and the level of English is phenomenal and culturally they’re super easy to get along with.
The Challenge: Building a Team Without Breaking the Bank
Audr is a fast-scaling UK startup building an AI-powered knowledge base for CEOs with a mobile app. They aren’t new to offshore hiring — they’ve worked with teams in India, Poland, and Eastern Europe — but they were determined to find the right country and the right partner.
01
Talent quality
Developers who were proactive thinkers, not just task executors.
02
Hiring costs
UK-based salaries plus recruiter fees would send costs through the roof.
03
Speed and risk
As a startup, slow hiring or upfront commitments with vendors weren’t an option.
The Human Impact: More Than Just Savings
What Audr gained beyond savings:
Time back
As a startup, they don’t want to deal with HR and payroll. LevelUp takes care of that — a significant time saving on top of cost savings.
Peace of mind
Personal service, fast responses, and honest conversations. Our team is available for same-day meetings whenever needed.
Cultural alignment
Zero language barrier. English fluency is high, and Filipino professionals are collaborative and proactive.
Trusted partnership
Honest, straightforward, and not here to oversell — without upfront recruitment fees that de-risked the entire process.
What the Client Says
LevelUp has done a fantastic job. We would recommend them because they’ve been really honest with us. We’ve had really high quality candidates and they’re very quick to get candidates to us and they’re really helpful in terms of advice on local laws and culture.
Scott
CTO at Audr
Why LevelUp
We’re not a recruiter. We’re not an agency. And we’re not a marketplace sending you whoever’s available. We’re an Employer of Record based in Manila, Philippines. Since 2017, we’ve helped businesses build long-term offshore teams through a process built on structure, clarity, and support.
We started as a WordPress technical support team. As our clients grew, they asked us to help fill other roles — from support to marketing and operations. So we built a system that could deliver quality talent consistently across functions.