Hire remote talent in Eastern Europe

Hire in eastern Europe

main trends of hiring in eastern europe

Hiring experienced professionals in the US, UK, Canada and Western Europe has become an increasingly expensive part of business growth. For companies looking to expand their teams without continuously increasing payroll costs, Eastern Europe offers an interesting alternative.

The region combines a strong educational background, established technology and business services sectors, multilingual professionals and experience working with international companies. More importantly, it offers access to specialists who can take ownership of business functions rather than simply execute basic tasks.

For employers, this creates an opportunity to build experienced remote teams at a lower cost than hiring locally in many Western markets.

However, Eastern Europe is not one uniform recruitment market. Salary expectations, talent availability and competition differ considerably between Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Ukraine, Hungary, the Czech Republic and other countries in the region.
Understanding these differences is essential to making the right hiring decision.

1. How Much Can You Save by Hiring in Eastern Europe?
The financial advantage is one of the main reasons international companies consider Eastern European recruitment.
The difference can be particularly noticeable in marketing, performance advertising, finance, accounting, e-commerce operations and business support positions.
To illustrate the potential, below are selected salary benchmarks from the 2026 Polish recruitment market.
These figures are monthly gross employment salaries, excluding bonuses and additional benefits. USD equivalents are rounded using an illustrative exchange rate of approximately PLN 3.7 per USD.

Position	Monthly salary in Poland (PLN)	Approx. monthly salary (USD)
Performance Marketing Manager	20,000–28,000	$5,400–$7,600
Digital Marketing Manager	20,000–25,000	$5,400–$6,800
SEO Manager	14,000–18,000	$3,800–$4,900
E-commerce Manager	25,000–32,000	$6,800–$8,600
Head of E-commerce	30,000–45,000	$8,100–$12,200
Senior GL Accountant	11,000–14,000	$3,000–$3,800
Financial Reporting / FP&A Analyst	13,000–19,000	$3,500–$5,100
Demand Planning Specialist	11,000–14,000	$3,000–$3,800

Sources: Michael Page Poland Salary Guide 2026. Actual offers depend on location, experience, company size, employment model and role responsibilities.

To put these numbers into perspective, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the following median annual salaries for May 2025:

Marketing Managers: $166,790 annually, or approximately $13,900 monthly.
Accountants and Auditors: $83,680 annually, or approximately $6,970 monthly.
Financial Analysts: $103,570 annually, or approximately $8,630 monthly.

Comparing these benchmarks with Polish salary ranges suggests that companies may achieve approximately:

45–61% lower base salary costs for performance marketing management positions compared with the US marketing management benchmark.
45–57% lower base salary costs for senior accounting positions.
41–56% lower base salary costs for financial reporting and FP&A analyst positions.

These are illustrative comparisons, not guaranteed savings or perfectly equivalent job descriptions. The US figures are national occupational medians, while the Polish figures are recruitment-market salary ranges.

The figures also exclude employer contributions, benefits, recruitment fees and other employment costs.

Nevertheless, they demonstrate why international recruitment has become an important cost-management strategy for growing businesses.

And Poland is only one part of the picture. Other Eastern European markets offer different combinations of salary expectations, experience and specialist availability.
The opportunity is not necessarily to hire the cheapest candidate. It is to find someone with the right level of expertise at a more competitive total cost.

2. Which Positions Can You Recruit in Eastern Europe?

One of the biggest misconceptions about Eastern European recruitment is that the region is primarily a destination for software developers and IT outsourcing.

In reality, companies can recruit across a much broader range of professional functions.
Marketing and Digital Marketing

Eastern Europe has an established pool of marketing professionals with experience working for international brands, agencies, e-commerce companies and B2B businesses.

Companies can recruit:

Marketing Managers and Marketing Directors
Head of Marketing
Brand Managers and Brand Strategists
Performance Marketing Managers
Paid Media Managers
PPC Specialists
SEO Managers and SEO Specialists
Social Media Managers
Growth Marketing Managers
Content Marketing Managers
CRM and Email Marketing Specialists

For companies working in the US or Western European markets, international experience is particularly valuable.

A strong candidate should understand more than the technical side of marketing. Depending on the position, they may need experience with budget allocation, campaign profitability, customer acquisition costs, attribution, conversion optimisation and revenue growth.
For example, when recruiting a Paid Media Manager, it is important to assess whether the person can work with Google Ads and Meta Ads, understand GA4 and tracking infrastructure, evaluate lead quality and connect campaign performance with actual business results.
The ability to generate clicks or leads is not the same as the ability to build a profitable advertising strategy.

PPC and Performance Marketing
PPC recruitment deserves particular attention because it is a specialised area where the difference between candidates can be substantial.

Eastern Europe offers access to professionals who have managed advertising budgets for e-commerce businesses, lead-generation companies, SaaS businesses and international agencies.
Relevant positions include:

Senior PPC Specialist
Google Ads Specialist
Paid Social Specialist
Performance Marketing Manager
Head of Paid Media
Growth Marketing Lead

When assessing candidates, companies should look beyond certifications and advertising platforms.

A proper evaluation should include actual monthly advertising budgets managed, industries served, campaign structures, attribution knowledge, ROAS, CAC, conversion rates and examples of measurable improvements.

E-commerce and Amazon Recruitment

E-commerce is another particularly interesting area for international employers.
The region has professionals experienced in marketplace management, online retail operations, catalogue management and multi-channel e-commerce.

Companies can recruit:

Head of E-commerce
E-commerce Operations Manager
Amazon Brand Manager
Amazon PPC Manager
Marketplace Manager
Catalog Specialist
Demand Planner
Inventory Planner
E-commerce Marketing Manager
Marketplace Operations Specialist

For Amazon businesses, the right candidate needs to understand the platform beyond listing optimisation.

Depending on the position, relevant experience may include Seller Central, Vendor Central, Amazon PPC, inventory planning, FBA operations, catalogue management, pricing, profitability, product launches and marketplace expansion.

For more senior positions, experience managing multiple brands, large SKU portfolios and several international marketplaces can be particularly important.

A Head of E-commerce who has actually managed a multi-million-dollar portfolio is very different from someone whose experience is limited to running a small Amazon account.
This is why recruitment should be based on the scale and complexity of the business, not simply the candidate's job title.

Finance and Accounting
Finance is another function where international recruitment can create substantial cost advantages.

Companies can find professionals with experience in international reporting, budgeting, financial planning, financial analysis and business controlling.

Typical positions include:

Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Finance Director
Financial Controller
Finance Manager
FP&A Manager
Senior Financial Analyst
Financial Reporting Analyst
Senior Accountant
Management Accountant
Accounts Payable and Receivable Specialists

For US companies, it is important to distinguish between general accounting experience and knowledge of US accounting practices.

Depending on the position, candidates may need experience with US GAAP, IFRS, financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting, month-end closing and financial modelling.
Experience with tools such as QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, SAP and other ERP systems can also be relevant.

A financial analyst who can build forecasts, understand cash flow and explain business performance can bring considerably more value than someone who only prepares reports.
Operations, Supply Chain and Business Management.

Growing companies also need professionals who can manage the processes behind everyday operations.

Eastern European recruitment can cover:

Operations Managers
E-commerce Operations Managers
Supply Chain Managers
Demand Planners
Inventory Planners
Procurement Specialists
Project Managers
Business Analysts
Logistics Managers

These roles are particularly relevant for e-commerce businesses, retail companies, distributors and growing international organisations.

The most valuable candidates are those who can work independently, improve processes and coordinate several departments rather than simply follow established procedures.