Dakota Doukas took SpendHound’s customer success and procurement expert org from four or five people to nearly 30 across the US, Colombia, and Brazil. The harder part: she barely lost anyone along the way.
“When I started, my team was around four or five people. It’s almost 30 now. That’s in large part due to the work LatamCent has done for us.”
Dakota Doukas, Director of Customer Success and Procurement, SpendHound
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At a glance
- Company: SpendHound (a product of YipitData)
- Industry: SaaS spend management
- Partner: LatamCent
- Functions placed: Customer Success and Procurement Expert teams, based primarily in Colombia
- Team growth: From roughly 4-5 people to nearly 30
- Retention: Very little, if any, attrition
- US-equivalent cost: Comparable US customer success and procurement talent runs roughly 2 to 3x the cost of the same hire through LatamCent
The challenge: scale fast, and never hire twice
Dakota runs the two teams at SpendHound that sit closest to the customer. Customer success drives time to value and keeps accounts renewing. The procurement expert team sits inside customers’ vendor spend and finds them incremental savings. Both jobs are relationship jobs. Neither works with someone who needs six months to find their footing.
When YipitData went remote during COVID, the hiring map opened up, first beyond New York, then beyond the US. That was the good news. The bad news was the US market for experienced CS talent at that moment. Hiring fast was a grind, and the people who were available were not always the people who had done the job before.
Dakota knew exactly what she needed: people who had already done similar work, who genuinely wanted to work for a US company, and who would stay. She had lived the alternative in earlier roles. Hire, onboard, watch it not work, start over from zero. In a customer-facing team, every one of those loops shows up as a customer who had to meet someone new.
The doubt was hers, and she says so
Dakota does not pretend she walked in sold on Latin America.
“I honestly had some bias up front, mostly due to my own lack of familiarity with what it would be like.”
That is the most common hesitation we hear from US leaders, and it is almost never about the talent. It is about the unknown. For Dakota, it lasted exactly as long as it took to start interviewing.
Why the third agency was different
SpendHound had already worked with two other recruiting agencies. LatamCent became the one Dakota kept coming back to, and she is specific about why. The work started before any candidate showed up.
“The folks at LatamCent take a ton of time up front to really understand each role you’re hiring for, and to cut some of that vetting time out of the equation. Every time I go into an interview, I know it’s with a great candidate who has already been brought up to speed on the role.”
That changes a hiring manager’s week. Instead of screening, Dakota was choosing. And the work did not stop at the shortlist.
“LatamCent has been a great partner for us, not only vetting candidates up front but being champions for us to help candidates actually sign those offers once we extend them. It’s been a full end-to-end partner.”
The other difference was continuity. One dedicated partner carried the context of every hire, every team reshuffle, and every lesson from the recruiting relationships that came before.
“You’re familiar with a lot of the iterations our team has made along the way, and the challenges we had in previous recruiting relationships. It was really nice to have a dedicated partner who understood all of that context and used it to give us better outcomes than the ones we had in the past.”
Eventually the line between vendor and team stopped mattering.
“We really see y’all as part of our team, an extension of our team.”
The payoff: time back, and a team that stays
Headcount is the easy number. Five to thirty is a big one. But ask Dakota what changed, and she talks about what she does with her time now.
“We have fantastic retention on our teams. In previous roles I spent a lot of time managing team members in and out. Now I can spend that time investing in people and helping them grow. We’ve seen very little, if any, attrition.”
That is the real return. A director who used to spend her energy backfilling now spends it developing people. And in customer success, a team that stays is a team that builds relationships deep enough to hold enterprise accounts, which is what SpendHound’s expansion runs on.
It also changed the job for Dakota personally.
“I truly love my team so much, and a good majority of my team now is global. It’s added so much fulfillment to my role.”
By the numbers
- Team size: roughly 4-5 at the start to nearly 30 today
- Functions: Customer Success and Procurement Expert, primarily Colombia-based, part of a broader team spanning the US, Colombia, and Brazil
- Recruiting partners tried before LatamCent: two
- Retention: very little, if any, attrition (more on nearshore hire retention)
- Cost: comparable US customer success and procurement comp runs roughly 2 to 3x the LATAM cost for the same experience level (see our nearshore hiring cost savings data)
In their words
“It’s the people at LatamCent, and the upfront attention you pay to understanding the roles we’re hiring for and our broader business goals, that sets you apart.”
“Every time I go into an interview, I know it’s with a great candidate who has already been brought up to speed on the role we’re hiring for.”
Advice to leaders on the fence
Dakota’s advice starts with two words.
“Do it. I had some bias up front, mostly from my own lack of familiarity. I can’t speak highly enough about the quality of the candidates we’ve brought in, and how fantastic they are not just as team members but as people. Being able to diversify my team and work with different cultures and working styles has added so much to my role. I couldn’t recommend it more.”
If the hesitation is familiarity, the fix is one hire. Start with the role that hurts most, see who shows up, and let the team make the case.
Part of a bigger build: see how SpendHound built a frontline customer success team it can’t run without, how SpendHound staffs its procurement expert team, how SpendHound built its enterprise procurement team, and how YipitData keeps hiring product, engineering, and GTM talent in Latin America.
Work with LatamCent
LatamCent places pre-vetted Latin American talent with US B2B SaaS teams in 21 days or less. English tested, interviewed, and guided through your full process. Payroll, compliance, and contracts handled, with a replacement guarantee.
See how it works at latamcent.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you scale customer success and procurement teams in Latin America at the same time?
Yes. SpendHound grew its customer success and procurement expert teams together, from four or five people to nearly 30, with most of the growth based in Colombia.
How do you keep attrition low on a fast-growing nearshore team?
Start with the right hire. Dakota prioritized people who had already done similar work and genuinely wanted to work for a US company, and LatamCent vetted for both before she saw a candidate. The result was very little, if any, attrition. See our nearshore retention data.
What if previous recruiting agencies didn’t work out?
SpendHound had worked with two other agencies before LatamCent. The difference Dakota points to is a dedicated partner who kept the context of every past hire and every lesson from earlier recruiting relationships, and used it to get better outcomes.
What does customer success talent in Latin America cost versus the US?
Comparable US customer success and procurement comp runs roughly 2 to 3x the cost of the same hire through LatamCent, for the same experience level.
How fast can you fill a customer success role?
LatamCent places pre-vetted talent in 21 days or less, with candidates English tested and guided through the client’s full interview process. Our customer success manager interview plan shows the process.
