Thinking about how to open a tech hub in Poland? By choosing Poland, you are making the best possible decision to grow your technical teams. When you compare the cost of software developers across Central and Eastern European countries (such as Poland, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria), the financial expectations of top specialists across the entire region are highly similar. It is not cheaper in other countries, but in Poland, you gain direct access to the largest talent pool in the region.
At Next Technology Professionals, beyond standard IT recruitment, we specialize in helping global companies build their Polish branches from the ground up. To successfully open a branch in Poland, you must strategically address office location, legal compliance, and recruitment workflows in a single, unified process.
1. Strategic location and office choices
Choosing your target office location correctly right from the start is critical. This strategic approach avoids a difficult situation where, after a successful initial testing phase, employees start resigning because you move the physical office to the other side of the city.
| Expected Office Presence | Location Strategy & Requirement |
| 100% Remote Model | Office location is completely irrelevant. |
| Hybrid Framework (1–2 days in office per month) | Your headquarters must be excellently connected by train networks and major highways to successfully access talent from all over the country. For instance, choosing Warsaw grants easy transit access for individuals living in Kraków, Katowice, Łódź, the Tri-City, or Lublin. |
| Low-Frequency Hybrid (At least twice a month) | The location decision becomes absolutely crucial. |
| High-Frequency On-site (Regular office presence) | The more often employees are expected to be physically there, the more important even a specific district of the city becomes. |
| Targeted Physical Office Setup (Talent Sourcing) | You must choose a location that is highly attractive to your ideal candidates. If you are targeting software talent from specific corporations, you can tactically choose a coworking space close to them. |
An experienced recruitment agency like Next Technology Professionals can actively help you analyze the market and map out these optimal office locations. We help companies resolve tough dilemmas like “Warsaw or Kraków?” while analyzing developer availability, market costs, and the direct actions of your competition. Poland stands as a perfect landscape for a safe market test because there are no cultural barriers, specialists possess excellent English, and overlapping time zones allow for seamless collaboration with the UK, US, and the rest of Europe.
Market Insight: Software developer rates in Poland are mostly influenced by the level of English and the flexibility of the work model. A programmer from a smaller city who is required to work regularly on-site may have higher financial expectations than their excellent English-speaking colleague from Warsaw or Wrocław who works fully remotely.
Read also: Setting up an IT branch in Poland: Recruiting Tech Teams – The 2026 Guide
2. Understanding employment models and legal compliance
To successfully open a tech hub in Poland and capture the interest of top software engineers, foreign entities must understand local contract preferences. In the Polish IT market, two primary working models dominate: an employment contract (UoP / CoE) and a business-to-business (B2B) contract.
| Feature / Aspect | Business-to-Business (B2B) Contract | Employment Contract (CoE / UoP) |
| Market Popularity | Extremely popular across the local tech industry. | Traditional model, but insufficient on its own to capture the full market. |
| Nature of Cooperation | Serves as the absolute standard for permanent, multi-year cooperation (though globally associated with temporary project work). | Standard, traditional framework for permanent employment. |
| Loyalty & Values | Absolutely does not exclude long-term loyalty or an employee’s close identification with the company’s core values. | Standard alignment with corporate values and structure. |
| Senior Talent Preference | Overwhelmingly preferred by the most experienced senior software engineers. | Mostly preferred by less experienced profiles; strictly limiting yourself to this model closes the door to top seniors. |
Before signing your very first B2B contract, it is highly important to consult its legal template with a good Polish lawyer to fully protect your business against local legal and tax risks.
3. Defining your local value proposition (EVP)
If your brand is completely unknown in Poland, don’t worry because you just need to know how to win the local battle for talent.
- Supplementary benefits like ESOPs or complex bonus systems, which are so popular in the West, matter significantly less to developers in Poland.
- Here, a guaranteed base salary on the contract is what counts most to specialists.
- Polish specialists are heavily attracted by greenfield projects, a modern tech stack, the opportunity to work directly with international teams from the US or Western Europe, and a real dimension of remote work flexibility.
If you don’t know how to properly package your local offer, you can consult with an experienced recruitment agency, such as Next Technology Professionals, which intimately knows the exact offer of your direct competition.
4. Executing a Swift and Agile Recruitment Process
When you look to open a branch in Poland , you must act in an agile manner. On the Polish market, the ultimate key to success is the speed of making decisions.
- Your formal technical recruitment process should ideally close in a maximum of two interview stages.
- Every single additional step drastically reduces your chances of hiring the best tech professionals due to unnecessary time delays.
- Competition for top talent is fierce, and qualified candidates may be participating in other interview meetings with competing companies at the exact same time.
- Since competing offers frequently differ only by minor nuances, the candidate will naturally choose the employer who acts more efficiently.
5. The safe test: Launching via the Employer of Record (EOR) Model
Many foreign companies freeze their initial expansion projects because they feel intimidated by the complex vision of setting up a local entity, renting a commercial office, and analyzing local laws in a brand-new country. You do not have to dive into the deep end right away. You can run a perfectly safe test: hire 5–10 developers for a year and see how this specific model works for your business.
This tactical market test can be approached through two paths:
| Market Testing Path | Operational & Legal Framework | Currency & Team Transfer |
| Remote Through Foreign Entity | You hire and work with Polish developers directly through your existing foreign entity. Polish developers are highly used to working with entities from the US, UK, or Western Europe. | Specialists are happy to invoice their services directly in USD or EUR, making this approach much easier than it seems. |
| Employer of Record (EOR) Model | You hire a trusted local partner, such as Next Technology Professionals, to handle all local administration and employ people in Poland according to Polish law on your behalf. You fully manage the team on a day-to-day basis. | At any point – when you are ready to formally set up your own corporate entity, you transfer the team to your company under pre-agreed terms with no hidden costs. We ensure 100% security for your IP as code rights go directly to you from day one. |
From your first introductory conversation to the day the first developer starts writing code for your company, this agile market test usually takes a maximum of 3 months : month one covers preparation and strategy, month two encompasses the recruitment process, and month three manages the selected candidate’s notice period.
Read more on Dominik Jurek’s LinkedIn: What’s the easiest way to find out if an IT Hub in Poland is a good idea? Run a test.
How we help: Next Technology Professionals & Dominik Jurek
If you are planning to open a branch in Poland or want to open a tech hub in Poland, Next Technology Professionals is here to help you manage the entire planning, legal compliance, and hiring process from scratch.
By choosing us as your trusted local recruitment and outsourcing partner in Poland, you gain significant business advantages:
- You eliminate location risk: A well-chosen partner knows exactly where the heart of a given technology beats in Poland. As Next Technology Professionals, we have been operating directly in this market for 10 years.
- You create an offer that actually recruits: We help you fine-tune your Value Proposition to meet the real needs of Polish senior tech professionals.
- You get honest, transparent feedback: Our recruiters are completely open and direct with candidates, meaning we know exactly how the market perceives your offer and what to change to convince the best.
- Zero legal risk: Local labor law, taxes, and contract specificities hold no secrets from us, allowing you to focus entirely on your technology and core business.
We are your trusted agency for IT Hubs and Tech Recruitment.
We have established Shared Service Centers (SSCs) for a leader in global IT consulting and the 6th largest insurance company in the world. At the same time, we have helped numerous startups by recruiting agile, high-performing teams of 5 to 15 people.
Thinking about testing the Polish talent market? Write to us to discuss the details of your project.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Why do foreign companies prefer a single partner over multiple vendors for Polish tech expansion?
Working with one trusted partner eliminates location risks, removes legal or tax compliance friction, and ensures 100% intellectual property security from day one. It also allows you to move seamlessly from initial planning to active code deployment in a tight, 3-month timeline.
What does a “softlanding” package for tech companies include, and when do you need it?
A softlanding is a low-risk market entry framework designed for foreign entities that want to expand into Poland without immediately setting up a local legal entity. It includes utilizing an Employer of Record (EOR) model where a local partner employs developers on your behalf and manages all HR, tax, and legal administration
How can a foreign business effectively minimize operational risks when entering the Polish tech market?
You can completely minimize risk by running a safe market test, hiring 5–10 developers for a single year through an EOR partner. This eliminates upfront entity setup costs and office commitment risks, while providing a transparent framework to transfer the established team directly to your own company whenever you are ready.
What is the preferred contract model for senior software developers in Poland?
Two main contract models dominate the local market: standard employment contracts (CoE / UoP) and B2B contracts.
About the Author
Hi, I’m Dominik Jurek, CEO of IT recruitment and Outsourcing Agency Next Technology Professionals. For over a decade, I’ve helped international and Polish companies build high-performing leadership and specialist teams in Poland’s demanding Tech & AI sectors. I specialize in headhunting the top 1% of talent through three core pillars: Executive Search (Tech & AI), Expert & Team Building, and Polish Market Entry Support.