Our new developers were able to hit the ground running, we've worked with them for over two years now, and they are truly part of our team.
Alison WhittleProduct Delivery Manager, BladeFSIn-house feel, nearshore
FastAPI Developers
FastAPI has become the default for new Python services in British teams, from product backends to the APIs in front of ML models. We embed senior FastAPI engineers as full-time colleagues on your hours, employed by us, so you get depth without a London backend salary.
- Async, typed services designed for production load
- Working your hours, in your standups
- Our employee, your team member, no contractor grey areas
Python Async ProgrammingDatabase IntegrationSecurity & AuthDocker & DeploymentTesting & Monitoring
Our Service
Backend depth, delivered as a service
We put matched candidates in front of you within seven working days and have your engineer embedded in about two weeks. You direct the work; we carry employment, payroll and retention. One monthly fee covers it all, with no placement charge and nothing to pay for interviewing.
- Interviewing within 7 working days, embedded in about two weeks
- One monthly fee, no recruitment or placement charges
- Rolling monthly contract with 30 days notice
Documented APIs as standard
Everything a modern Python backend needs
- Build scalable APIs with modular routing, validation, and OpenAPI-ready schemas.
- Python Async ProgrammingLeverage async I/O for performance across endpoints, tasks, and services.
- Database IntegrationConnect APIs to SQLAlchemy, PostgreSQL, Redis, and more for full CRUD capability.
- Security & AuthImplement OAuth, JWT, role-based access and secure endpoints with FastAPI’s tooling.
- Docker & DeploymentPackage services in containers and deploy across staging and prod easily.
- Testing & MonitoringEnsure performance and reliability with pytest, monitoring, and health checks.
The alternative
Get speed, fit and in-house feel without the hiring grind.
Cloud EmployeeIn-house hiringDev agenciesFreelancers
Speed to hire✓-✓✓
Flexibility to scale✓-✓✓
Developer fit (embedded)✓✓✓-
Full-time, only for you✓✓--
No overhead or upfront fees✓--✓
Solid lime = yes · outline lime = partial · grey dash = no
Vetting
You see two people - not 200 CVs.
Engineers vet engineers
A senior engineer runs a live technical conversation on the candidate's real stack, not a recruiter working from a keyword list.
Live coding, not take-homes
Real problems solved in front of an assessor, with anti-cheating checks. You see how they actually work, not what they submitted overnight.
A full profile, not a CV
Every candidate arrives with a CV, interview summary, coding-test breakdown and rate in pounds. You decide on evidence.
Every tab is a stage a candidate has to clear. Six of them, all run by our own internal engineers at Cloud Employee, before you see a name.
- Overview
- CV
- Tech interview
- Coding test
- Psychometric
- Soft skills
Scored by people. We use AI to cross-check our own consistency - never to decide who reaches your shortlist.
✓Luka M.
VettedSenior Software Engineer · TypeScript · Python · Cloud · 6 yrs · Zagreb, Croatia (GMT+1)
Assessment
Six years in production Python, the last three on LLM systems - retrieval pipelines, eval suites, and agent tooling for UK fintech. Owns delivery end to end.
Stack
Python · LangGraph
English
C1 fluent
Overlap
8 hrs UK
Notice
2 weeks
AI in practiceShips with Copilot and Claude Code daily, and rewrote 40% of the generated code in his observed task - the judgement is his, the tooling only makes him faster.
Career history
2023 - now
Senior AI Engineer
UK payments platform · 40-person product team
Built the retrieval assistant now resolving 30% of tier-1 tickets; owns its eval suite and guardrails.
2020 - 2023
Backend Engineer, Python
Travel booking SaaS · Zagreb
Moved fraud scoring onto a real-time feature pipeline; cut false declines by 18%.
2019 - 2020
Data Engineer
Agency · Python, Postgres, AWS
- Python
- FastAPI
- LangGraph
- pgvector
- Evals & tracing
- AWS
- Docker
Technical interview
Assessed by Marco R., Principal Engineer
12 Jun 2026
55 min · live call
"Walked me through an assistant that was quietly hallucinating refund policy, how he caught it in evals, and what he got wrong on the first fix. Hire-ready for a senior seat."
Live coding test
Repair a leaking retrieval pipeline
88
score
Tests passed
21 / 21
Time used
62 of 90 min
Anti-cheat flags
0
retrieval.py · submitted diff
- hits = index.query(q, k=50)+ hits = index.query(rewrite(q), k=50, filter=tenant)+ hits = rerank(hits, q)[:8] # recall 0.62 -> 0.91+ assert_context_budget(hits, max_tokens=6000)
Psychometric · technical thinking
How he reasons under a real deadline - not a personality quiz.
Top 9%of engineers
we test
A 45-minute reasoning test, scored against the 4,000+ engineers we have already placed. Our assessors do the marking - AI only flags where our own scoring looks inconsistent.
Soft skills · working with your team
Spoken English
C1 · assessed on call
References
2 of 2 verified
"He raised the payment edge case nobody else had spotted, in writing, two days before release."
This is what you receive - not a CV.
Ask our AI anythingWhy Cloud Employee?
The framework is easy, the architecture is not
Any competent developer can stand up a FastAPI route; fewer can design the schema, auth and data boundaries that keep a service honest at scale, and that is what our CTO-led vetting tests with live pair programming. The result costs 50 to 75% less than a comparable British hire once national insurance, pension and recruitment fees are counted.
- Vetted on architecture and data design, not syntax recall
- Live pair programming with a senior engineer before you meet them
- 50 to 75% less than the all-in cost of a UK hire
Not just a developer
HR, kit, retention and a 1,000 pound annual learning budget handled, with a UK-based client success manager.
Fully supported
We handle the rest so your engineers can focus on building.
Performance reviews
Payroll & complianceEquipment
WorkspaceIn-house, without the friction
No upfront fees. No lock-in contracts.
- No placement or upfront fees
- Rolling 30-day contract, cancel anytime
- One monthly rate, everything included
Ready to find your engineer?
Tell us exactly who you need.
In 90 seconds
Two matched engineers in 7 days. No fees, no obligation.
What role are you hiring for?
Pick one to start - you'll see matching engineers at the end.
- Founded in 2014
- 97% stay 2+ years
- Replace if it isn't working
Got questions?
The questions CTOs and founders ask.
01Can I hire developers through Cloud Employee from the UK?
Yes. Most of our clients are in the UK, the US and Australia. Your developer works your hours, and a UK-based client success manager is your point of contact throughout.
02How does this sit with IR35 and employment status?
Cloud Employee is the employer of record, so your developer is our full-time employee rather than a contractor you engage directly. We handle their payroll, benefits and HR in their own country.
03What does it cost compared with hiring in the UK?
Typically 50-75% less than a comparable UK hire once salary, employer costs and overheads are counted. Rates run from roughly £28 to £63 an hour ($35-80, depending on seniority), billed as one monthly fee with no placement charges.
04How are developers vetted?
Vetting is CTO-led and covers a technical assessment, a live pair programming session and cultural fit screening, all run by senior engineers rather than recruiters. You interview a shortlist of two matched candidates.
05How quickly can a developer start?
You are typically interviewing matched candidates within 7 working days of a requirements call, and developers are often embedded and pushing code within about two weeks.
06What happens if the developer is not the right fit?
There is a two-week money-back guarantee, and if you want to continue we replace the developer free of charge.
07How do you handle time zone alignment?
Your developer's working hours are aligned to yours, so stand-ups and pairing happen through the UK day, and we keep cover available outside standard hours for anything critical.
08How is Cloud Employee different from a recruitment agency?
There are no placement fees and you pay nothing to interview. Vetting is run by our in-house CTO with peer review from senior engineers, and after the hire we stay responsible for HR, payroll and retention rather than disappearing once the invoice clears.
09Do I communicate directly with my developer?
Yes, always. Your developer sits in your Slack, email and daily channels as a full member of your team, and can even list your company on their LinkedIn if you prefer.
10Can we visit our developers in person?
Yes, clients are welcome at our offices, which are set up for exactly that. Hire four or more developers and we cover the flights and accommodation for a visit.
11How quickly can a developer start, and how does the engagement work?
You are typically interviewing matched candidates within 7 working days of a requirements call, and developers are often embedded and pushing code within about two weeks. From there it is a rolling monthly contract with 30 days' notice, one monthly fee, and no placement charges. You can scale up or down as the work changes, and you pay nothing to interview.
Proof, not promises
Hear from our customers
In their words
What the difference feels like
Alison WhittleProduct Delivery Manager, BladeFSWhat I love about Cloud Employee is that you have taken all of that hard work off my shoulders.
Marcus KilgourCTO, Salmon SoftwareWorking with Cloud Employee developers is great, because they're not afraid to push back. They're proactive, they're positive, and they feel like part of the team.
Doran EskinaziHead of Engineering, HealthpointeWe actually hired the whole team remotely, having never met them. And we made a bunch of really good hires.
Euan CameronCEO, WilloCloud Employee provides a level of professionalism, communication and support we haven't found elsewhere.
Trevor SathorManaging Director, Square EyeWorking in tandem with Cloud Employee we have successfully released a major version of our main software product during a critical period for us.
James StringerManaging Director, CleanLink