Podcast · Understory · 3 Jun 2026
How AI is Changing Marketing in 2026, with Alex Fine
Seb joins Alex Fine on Understory to talk about growing Cloud Employee, marketing in the AI era and what changes when a founder leans into content.
Co-Founder & CEO, Cloud Employee
Seb Hall
Building remote engineering teams that stay.
- Engineers embedded since 2014
- 1,600+
- Founded in the Philippines
- 2013
- Talent regions
- 3
- Client markets
- US · UK · AU
About Seb
The story
Seb Hall is the British co-founder and CEO of Cloud Employee, which he started with his brother Jake Hall in 2013 (registered as a company in 2014). Cloud Employee embeds full-time, vetted software and AI engineers from Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Philippines into US, UK and Australian companies, and has embedded 1,600+ engineers in client teams since 2014.
Seb could not hire developers for his e-commerce business. Freelancers were unreliable and overseas agencies disappointed. In 2013 he flew to the Philippines and built his own team, hired in-house and properly employed.
It worked, and his contacts back home had the same problem. He and his brother Jake turned the model into Cloud Employee, registered as a company in 2014. The idea was that engineers should hire engineers, and that the company should invest in keeping them: a £1,000 yearly learning budget per engineer, a dedicated Talent Success Manager and wellbeing programmes.
Today Seb runs the company from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, building Cloud Employee's US client base while the UK remains a core market. Since 2014 the company has embedded 1,600+ engineers in client teams across the US, UK and Australia, hiring from the Philippines, Latin America and Eastern Europe.
- Role
- Co-Founder & CEO, Cloud Employee
- Started
- 2013, in the Philippines (registered 2014)
- Based in
- Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Scale
- 1,600+ engineers embedded since 2014
- Talent regions
- Philippines, Latin America, Eastern Europe
Listen and watch
Podcasts & talks
Video · Cloud Employee
How Our Model Works
Seb explains how Cloud Employee embeds vetted engineers into client teams.
Shorts
0:53Boost Remote Dev Productivity with a “How to Work With Me” Guide
1:05Onboarding Global Dev Teams with Purpose
0:50Peer Forums for Remote Developers
1:17Employee Experience That Keeps Offshore Devs Engaged
1:05Faster Tech Hiring for Startups
0:44De-risked Dev Hiring for Changing Markets
0:39From 2 to 36 Engineers: How Smart Scaling Works
0:25Creating Shared Culture Across Continents
0:38Building Offshore Dev Teams That Feel In-House
Quotes
In his words
“The market is just enormous and the demand for engineers is huge. It's obviously the innovation and technology capital of the planet.”
Seb Hall
The Telegraph, 16 Aug 2026“I think Britain is sitting on a goldmine.”
Seb Hall
LinkedIn, 18 Aug 2026“If you want a full-time employee in another location, and you want them long term, you have to invest in them.”
“Especially with Gen Z and millennials, purpose is as important as pay.”
Writing
Articles from Seb Hall
Staff Augmentation
How to Evaluate Staff Augmentation Providers in LATAM: A Founder's Vetting Checklist
Read article
Nearshoring & Offshoring
Nearshore vs. offshore staff augmentation: Speed, timezone overlap, and quality trade-offs
Read article
Scaling Teams
Toptal for scaling: Why freelance model breaks at growth stage
Read article
Staff Augmentation
The future of LATAM staff augmentation: Trends, wage inflation, and 2026+ predictions
Read article
Staff Augmentation
Best Staff Augmentation Companies in Latin America 2026: A Ranked Comparison
Read article
Staff Augmentation
How Much Does It Cost to Hire Developers in Eastern Europe? (2026)
Read articleFAQ
About Seb Hall
01Who is Seb Hall?
Seb Hall is a British entrepreneur and the co-founder and CEO of Cloud Employee. He started the company with his brother Jake Hall. Cloud Employee embeds vetted software and AI engineers from Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Philippines into US, UK and Australian companies.
02What does Cloud Employee do?
Cloud Employee is an engineering-led staff augmentation partner. It finds, vets and embeds full-time software and AI engineers into client teams, and handles employment, compliance and on-the-ground support so companies can hire overseas without building their own entities. Talent comes from the Philippines, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Since 2014 the company has embedded 1,600+ engineers in client teams across the US, UK and Australia.
03How and why did Seb Hall found Cloud Employee?
Seb could not hire reliable developers for his e-commerce business. In 2013 he flew to the Philippines and built his own in-house engineering team. Contacts at home had the same problem, so he and Jake turned the model into Cloud Employee, registered as a company in 2014. The idea was that engineers should hire engineers, and that the company should invest in keeping them.
04Where is Seb Hall based?
Seb lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he leads Cloud Employee's growth in the US. The UK remains a core market for the company.
05How big is Cloud Employee?
Cloud Employee has embedded 1,600+ engineers in client teams since 2014. Engineers are hired from three talent regions: the Philippines, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Client markets are the US, UK and Australia.
06What does Seb believe about hiring engineers and soft skills?
Seb argues that engineers should hire engineers rather than recruiters guessing from CVs. On Understory with Alex Fine he said soft skills and work style make up most of a good hire, which is why Cloud Employee runs live pair-programming interviews with senior engineers. He also pushes teams to write a How to Work With Me guide so remote engineers know expectations without guesswork.
07How does Seb keep offshore engineering teams engaged?
He treats employee experience as the retention strategy: a £1,000 yearly learning budget per engineer, Talent Success Managers, peer forums across client teams, and company gatherings such as Cloud Fest. Shorts on this page cover purpose-led onboarding, peer forums and on-the-ground support.
08What does Seb say about building a business in the US vs the UK?
He calls the US the biggest market for engineering talent and innovation, but says UK sales calls convert better and UK clients stay longer. In his LinkedIn follow-up to The Telegraph piece he noted that more than half of Cloud Employee's growth last year still came from the UK, especially in fintech, SaaS and biotech.
09Where can I see or hear Seb Hall?
Hear him on Understory with Alex Fine (June 2026 on YouTube). Watch Cloud Employee Shorts on hiring, culture and onboarding, plus longer talks such as How Our Model Works on this page. Read his profile in The Telegraph (16 Aug 2026) and his LinkedIn follow-up. He also appears on stage at Cloud Employee's Cloud Fest gatherings, and posts at linkedin.com/in/seb-hall.
10How do I contact Seb Hall or book a call?
Book a discovery call via the Book a call button on this page (cloudemployee.io/book-a-call), or connect with him on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/seb-hall.
Press
In the media
The Telegraph16 Aug 2026
Americans are mocking the 'Europoor' … and they mean us
The Sunday Telegraph profiles British founders building in the US. Seb explains why he moved his family to Florida to grow Cloud Employee in America.
LinkedIn18 Aug 2026
Seb on what didn't make the Telegraph piece
UK sales calls convert better, US clients spend about double but churn faster, and more than half of last year’s growth still came from the UK.
Get in touch
Talk to Seb about building your team
Book a call, or connect on LinkedIn. No pitch deck, no lock-in.