Cross-border engineering · IoT & Security platforms · DACH market
An Austrian enterprise group operating across electrotechnics, security systems, and smart building technology — with a tech subsidiary developing IoT platforms and physical security information management software for critical infrastructure, smart cities, and border protection.
The product was ambitious. The technology stack was complex — deep Java expertise, IoT integration, real-time data processing. But finding engineers with this combination in the DACH market? 96,000 unfilled IT positions in Germany alone. Average cost per senior developer: €90,000. Average time to hire: 7 months. And even then — no guarantee they'd understand the product domain.
The CTO had a clear problem: the right talent didn't exist at the right price in the right timeline.
Direct meeting with the technical lead. Understood the product, the stack, and the real gaps — not just the job spec.
Assessed the challenge. Sourced candidates from our vetted talent pool. Delivered curated CVs within days.
Code challenges and architecture reviews — conducted together with the CTO. No rubber-stamping.
Selected the best. Formed a cohesive unit. Set up compliance, security clearances, and contracts.
Embedded into the client's processes, tools, and rituals. First productive output within weeks.
The CTO chose the engineers. We made sure they were the right ones to choose from.
Every managed engineering provider promises quality and cost savings. Here's what we actually do differently:
No bench players. The client's technical lead validates every hire through code challenges and architecture discussions.
The team uses the client's Git, CI/CD, Jira, Slack — not a separate environment. One team, not two.
Security clearances, NDAs, data protection — handled before the first commit. Not afterthought compliance.
4+ years with this client. Team grows and shrinks with demand. Knowledge stays. Context accumulates.
A fully integrated engineering team — Java and IoT specialists — embedded into the client's product development. Working on the same codebase, in the same sprints, with the same security clearances. The CTO leads. UNID delivers the execution capacity.
Four years in, the team has delivered core modules of the client's IoT security platform — used in critical infrastructure, smart city, and border protection projects across Europe. The partnership scales up and down based on product demand, without the overhead of DACH-market hiring.
Not a vendor relationship. A team that stayed — because the model works.
What convinced me wasn't the cost model — it was the first conversation. They didn't pitch. They asked the right questions. They understood our architecture, our constraints, and where exactly the gaps were before we had finished explaining. The team they built feels like ours — same standups, same code reviews, same releases. Four years later, I can't imagine running this product without them.