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Building a 90-person Global Capability Center in 18 Months in Costa Rica

In 18 months we built a GCC for a US company in Costa Rica, successfully scaling their engineering capacity and establishing a high-performance technical hub.

‍Client Profile: A multi-disciplinary engineering consulting firm.

The Challenge: The organization faced a critical shortage of specialized engineering talent in the United States, which threatened their ability to support national-scale infrastructure projects. 

They required a scalable, high-quality solution to supplement their domestic workload while maintaining strict engineering standards. The client decided to move beyond traditional staffing to build a long-term, high-retention technical hub abroad to combat "talent debt" and accelerate their roadmap.

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The Solution: GCC-as-a-Service 

Rather than the client navigating the risks of international expansion alone, we provided a managed GCC model. We took end-to-end ownership of the workforce outcome, from initial market mapping to day-to-day HR operations and facility management. 

This allowed the client’s leadership to focus purely on engineering deliverables while we managed the operational complexity of the Costa Rican hub.

We leveraged our GCC-as-a-Service framework to plan, design, and operate a dedicated Engineering Center of Excellence in San José, Costa Rica. This model provided the client with:

  • End-to-End infrastructure: Procurement of a secure, enterprise-grade office facility and IT setup.
  • Operational governance: Full legal entity establishment and compliance management according to local labor codes.
  • Recruitment factory: A specialized hiring engine that mapped the local market to source Civil and Electrical Engineers, Power Designers, and AutoCAD Technicians.

Key Results:

  • Rapid scale: Successfully hired and integrated 91 specialized engineers within 18 months.
  • Talent acquisition: Reduced standard time-to-hire by 40% through established local university partnerships and a "local-first" sourcing strategy.
  • Operational stability: Reached steady-state operations within 12 months, with a clear roadmap for eventual total ownership transfer.
  • TCO reduction: Decreased the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for engineering services by 50% relative to domestic US hiring.‍
  • Retention: Maintained a 93%–100% retention rate through a people-centric culture and structured onboarding.