Case Study: Hire a 100-Member DevOps Cloud Team in Mumbai via Employer of Record (EOR)

When you’re trying to scale a cloud or DevOps team in a competitive market like India, the biggest struggle isn’t just finding talent. What really slows companies down is the endless compliance work, local HR complexities, long onboarding cycles, and the pressure of building everything from scratch. I’ve seen many global companies start with excitement only to feel stuck when they realize how time-consuming it is to hire fast, remain compliant, and still maintain control over quality.

The problem becomes even bigger when you're expanding into a new market, opening your first office in India, or building a remote engineering team across cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, Noida, Gurugram, and Chennai. You want to hire skilled cloud engineers, DevOps professionals, SRE specialists, Kubernetes experts, and AWS or Azure architects but you don’t want the delays and cost of setting up an entity.

That’s exactly where the Employer of Record (EOR) model shifts everything. And in this detailed case study, I want to walk you through how a global technology company partnered with AnjuSmriti Global Employer of Record (EOR) Service to hire a 100-member DevOps Cloud team in Mumbai fully compliant, fully operational, and fully integrated into their global operations without setting up a legal entity in India.

If you are building a fresh team, expanding your new India office, hiring remote teams, scaling your Global Capability Center (GCC), or planning bulk hiring for cloud transformation projects, this real-world example will help you understand how easily you can do it.

Why This Company Needed a 100-Member DevOps & Cloud Team in India

Many global companies are under pressure to modernize their infrastructure, shift to the cloud, improve CI/CD, and strengthen their Kubernetes environment. This company was no different. They were growing fast in Europe and North America, but their existing DevOps team was overloaded.

They needed: Faster deployments

• A more reliable SRE and monitoring setup

• A stronger cloud security posture

• Dedicated teams for AWS, Azure, GCP, Terraform, and microservices

• 24/7 operational coverage

• A cost-effective but high-quality talent base

  
  

They evaluated hiring in their home country, outsourcing to vendors, and building internal teams. But each option had limitations.

The real trigger was the lack of time. Their leadership team wanted at least:

• 20 DevOps engineers in the first 60 days

• 40 more engineers within 90 days

• Fully scaled to 100 within a few months

This timeline is almost impossible without the right hiring infrastructure.

But with an Employer of Record (EOR) model, it became achievable.

Why They Chose Mumbai as the Central Hub

Before finalizing the hiring location, the company explored multiple Tier-1 Indian cities Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Gurugram and Noida. But Mumbai stood out because:

• Mumbai’s cloud and DevOps talent pool has grown massively

• Strong presence of major cloud service companies, SaaS firms, and GCCs

• Large numbers of AWS, Azure, Terraform, Kubernetes and Docker experts

• Better stability in employee retention

• Availability of senior SRE engineers with financial-tech domain experience

Also, Mumbai’s workforce is known for reliability, ownership, and long-term commitment exactly what global firms need when scaling foundational tech teams.

The Hiring Challenge They Were Facing

When they reached out to us, their biggest roadblocks were:

• They had no legal entity in India, but wanted to hire fast

• They didn’t want compliance risks related to payroll, taxes, PF, ESIC, shops establishment, etc.

• Their internal HR team had no bandwidth for bulk hiring

• They needed niche DevOps profiles Kubernetes, Helm, Terraform, GitOps, AWS Lambda, CloudFormation, SRE, Jenkins

• They wanted people who could work in shifts for international time zones

• Local talent sourcing partners were slow

• Outsourcing vendors were expensive

• They wanted full control over the engineers and didn’t want project outsourcing

  
  

Their only practical option was a trusted EOR partner who could manage:

• End-to-end recruitment

• Bulk & fast hiring

• Global payroll outsourcing

• Fully compliant employment

• Staff leasing / Employee leasing

• IT leadership hiring

• Ongoing HR management

This is where AnjuSmriti Global Employer of Record (EOR) Service became their core hiring engine.

How We Helped Them With Our EOR + Staffing Model

When I onboarded them, the biggest priority was speed without compromising quality.

I used our combined strengths of:

• IT Recruitment

• IT Staffing

• Cloud & DevOps hiring experience

• Global Payroll & Employment Outsourcing

• Employee Leasing / Staff Leasing

• PEO & International Staff-on-Payroll model

• Leadership & GCC hiring expertise

Using this integrated approach, I helped them build a powerful operational model.

We started with a simple process:

• Understood their complete infrastructure (AWS, Azure, GCP)

• Defined skill clusters for hiring

• Created 12 DevOps role categories

• Designed a scalable recruitment pipeline

• Allocated a dedicated team of 8 senior recruiters

• Implemented a weekly hiring forecast

And within 45 days, the results were visible.

But before I share the final output, here’s something important: If you also want to hire DevOps Engineers, SRE engineers or Cloud Architects without an entity, you can connect with us now using this form: Click Here

Roles We Hired for Their DevOps & Cloud Team

Their requirement was large, but focused. They wanted a modern DevOps setup that supports:

• AWS / Azure Infrastructure as Code

• Kubernetes & container orchestration

• Microservices monitoring

• Cloud automation

• Incident management & 24/7 SRE

• Zero-downtime deployment workflows

  
  

Here are the exact roles we hired under our EOR framework:

• DevOps Engineers (AWS, Azure, GCP)

• Cloud Engineers

• Kubernetes Specialists (K8s, Helm, ArgoCD)

• Terraform & Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Engineers

• SRE Site Reliability Engineers

• CI/CD Pipeline Engineers (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab)

• Docker & Microservices Engineers

• Cloud Security Engineers

• Linux & Network Reliability Engineers

• Infrastructure Monitoring Engineers (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK, Datadog)

• Automation Engineers (Python, Go, Bash)

• Platform Engineers

We also hired DevOps Leads, Cloud Architects and Engineering Managers through our IT leadership hiring team.

Timeline: How Fast We Built Their 100-Member Team

Most companies assume that massive team-building takes a year or more. But because we combined EOR + Recruitment + Staff Leasing, this is how the timeline looked:

First 30 Days

• 200+ CV shortlists

• 80+ interviews scheduled

• 25 DevOps engineers hired

• EOR onboarding completed

• Payroll & compliance activated

  
  

Day 31 to 90

• 50 additional engineers hired

• A dedicated SRE team created

• Kubernetes & Terraform teams staffed

• Night-shift team built for global operations

  
  

90 to 150 Days

• Remaining 25 engineers hired

• Leadership roles filled

• A complete DevOps & Cloud Center of Excellence (CoE) formed

  
  

Within 5 Months

The company had a fully functional, 100-member cloud & DevOps team in Mumbai.

How EOR Made This Entire Operation Smooth and Risk-Free

Every expansion into India begins with uncertainty. I’ve seen companies worry about all the things like compliance, taxation, audits, notices, payroll errors, record-keeping, local laws, and employee benefits. When you work with a trusted Employer of Record in India, all of this becomes effortless.

Here’s what we handled for them under our AnjuSmriti Global Employer of Record (EOR) Services for India:

• Running monthly payroll

• Statutory compliance (PF, ESIC, TDS, Shops Act)

• Employee contracts compliant with Indian laws

• Probation & confirmation management

• Leave & attendance workflows

• Offer letters & onboarding

• Local HR support

• Exit & FnF management

• Yearly statutory filings

• Complete global payroll outsourcing

• Zero legal liability for the client

  
  

We also provided:

• IT equipment procurement support

• Health insurance & employee benefits

• Employee engagement HR activities

• Monthly performance review assistance

For the client, this meant one thing: They focused only on engineering, and we handled everything else.

Real Challenges We Solved During This Project

Here are some real situations during this project and how we solved them:

High competition for Kubernetes and Terraform talent

• We tapped talent from Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru simultaneously

• Used our existing database of cloud engineers

• Approached candidates from fintech GCCs with similar skillsets

  
  

Client wanted engineers ready for night shift

• Pre-screened candidates with shift flexibility

• Ensured compensation alignment

• Built two rotational shift DevOps pods

  
  

They needed employees to start within 10–14 days

• Created express hiring pipeline

• Prioritized immediate joiners

• Negotiated notice-period buyouts

  
  

Salary benchmarking confusion

• We shared in-depth salary trend reports specific to DevOps hiring

• Finalized standardized pay bands across levels

  
  

They wanted zero-risk compliance

• Everything handled through our Employer of Record India structure

• Client operated without an Indian entity

• We took full HR, payroll, and compliance responsibility

  
  

Key Outcomes of This 100-Member DevOps Cloud Hiring Project

At the end of the project, the company achieved:

• Fully functioning DevOps center in Mumbai

• Zero compliance or legal risks

• 100% transparent payroll management

• Seamless onboarding for all 100 employees

• Improved deployment speed by over 40 percent

• Reduced cloud downtime & incidents

• Enhanced monitoring using Prometheus, Grafana, ELK

• Standardized Kubernetes deployments

• Faster automation with Python & Terraform

• 24/7 availability across time zones

• Reduction in operational cost by nearly half

This DevOps setup became the backbone of their global delivery operations.

Why EOR India Is Now the Preferred Hiring Model for GCCs & MNCs

More companies are hiring in India without an entity because:

• They want faster market entry

• They don’t want to spend months on company registration

• They want to test Indian talent before setting up a subsidiary

• They want to hire teams in Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Noida, Bengaluru

• They want to scale DevOps, Cloud, SRE, and engineering roles quickly

  
  

Using Employer of Record (EOR India) is now a smarter choice for:

• Companies hiring their first 50–100 engineers

• GCCs establishing India operations

• Companies expanding across multiple Indian cities

• IT companies doing massive digital transformation

• Global firms hiring remote developers in India

  
  

If you also want to hire DevOps, Cloud, or engineering teams fast you can talk to us directly:

Connect with our team and hire in India without an entity: Click here to know more

What You Can Learn From This Case Study

Here are key takeaways for any company planning bulk hiring or team expansion in India:

• Always use a combined Recruitment + EOR + Staff Leasing model

• Focus on Tier-1 cities for specialized tech hiring

• If you’re scaling fast, don’t waste time creating a subsidiary

• Use data-driven salary benchmarking

• Always hire DevOps in clusters, not individually

• Ensure shift flexibility for global operations

• Use an EOR India partner for risk-free onboarding

  
  

If You Want to Build a Team Like This in India I Can Help You Personally

If you are:

• An IT business scaling fast

• A hiring manager in the middle of cloud modernization

• A GCC establishing your India presence

• A global company expanding or opening an office in India

• A leader building operations from scratch

• A company doing bulk hiring

• A company hiring remote DevOps engineers

• A firm looking for employee leasing, staff leasing or PEO in India

…then this is the right time to build your DevOps team.

Fill this short form and my team will reach out within 12 hours: Click here to connect with us

FAQ: DevOps Cloud Hiring, Employer of Record (EOR) Services & Scaling Tech Teams in Mumbai

How does an Employer of Record (EOR) help build a large DevOps team in India?

An Employer of Record (EOR) like AnjuSmriti Global Employer of Record (EOR) Service manages all legal, compliance, HR, payroll, and onboarding responsibilities so companies can hire DevOps engineers quickly without setting up a local entity. This makes it easy to scale to 50, 100, or even 500 cloud engineers in Mumbai with zero administrative burden.

Why do global companies prefer outsourcing DevOps hiring to recruitment agencies?

Outsourcing DevOps hiring ensures faster candidate sourcing, access to niche cloud talent, and reduced hiring costs. Agencies like AnjuSmriti Global Recruitment Solution already have pre-vetted DevOps engineers, saving companies weeks of sourcing and technical screening time.

Is it cost-effective to hire DevOps cloud teams in Mumbai through an EOR?

Yes. Building a DevOps team through an EOR eliminates the need for office setup, local HR teams, legal registrations, and compliance management. Companies save 30–40% on operational costs while maintaining full control over work quality and team performance.

How quickly can a 100-member DevOps team be built using an EOR service?

With a strong recruitment and staffing network, AnjuSmriti Global Employer of Record (EOR) Service can help companies onboard DevOps talent rapidly often completing the first 30–40 hires within weeks and scaling to 100 members in under 4–6 months, depending on skill complexity.

What roles can be hired when building a large DevOps Cloud team in India?

Companies can hire DevOps Engineers, Cloud Architects, SRE Engineers, Kubernetes Specialists, CI/CD Experts, Infrastructure Engineers, and Automation Engineers. AnjuSmriti Global Recruitment Solution specializes in sourcing mid-level, senior, and leadership DevOps talent.

Is compliance and payroll handled by the EOR provider in India?

Yes. A trusted EOR provider like AnjuSmriti Global Employer of Record (EOR) Service manages contracts, PF/ESI, tax deductions, payroll processing, employee documentation, and ongoing compliance. This ensures that global companies remain 100% compliant with Indian employment laws.

Can startups and mid-sized companies also build DevOps teams via EOR?

Absolutely. EOR is not just for large enterprises it’s ideal for startups, SaaS companies, and mid-sized tech firms that want to scale cloud teams quickly without administrative overhead. It allows them to compete with big tech firms for top DevOps talent in Mumbai.

What are the benefits of using a recruitment agency for DevOps hiring in India?

Recruitment agencies like AnjuSmriti Global Recruitment Solution provide faster access to skilled engineers, reduce hiring cycles, ensure better technical screening, and help companies avoid costly hiring mistakes. This is especially valuable when building large cloud teams under tight deadlines.

How does EOR improve retention when scaling a large DevOps team?

EOR firms offer smooth onboarding, timely payroll, HR support, dispute handling, and employee engagement all of which increase retention. With AnjuSmriti Global Employer of Record (EOR) Service, companies maintain engineering stability while focusing on product development.

What makes Mumbai a strong location for hiring DevOps cloud talent?

Mumbai is home to a rapidly growing DevOps ecosystem, strong cloud engineering talent, multiple tech universities, and established BFSI, fintech, and SaaS hubs. Companies can build high-performing DevOps teams with lower costs compared to the US, UK, or EU markets.