CargoFax is a five-year-old startup contemporizing the maritime logistics industry via data-driven visibility tools that help shippers, carriers, and freight forwarders move cargo more efficiently.
Co-founded by Joel Olivier Baussaun, the company spent its first years running lean, relying on short-term contractors while the founding team handled much of the early development themselves. The strategy proved the market and won customers, but as product demand and technical complexity increased, the limitations became clear.
By mid-2025, Joel and his co-founder knew it was time to transition from a patchwork of freelance contributors to a dedicated, full-time engineering team.
They wanted a developer who could establish scalable architecture, own the codebase, and drive long-term product velocity, a foundational hire who would set the tone for future growth.
To make that change, CargoFax turned to LatamCent for nearshore recruiting support that could operate like an internal HR department, sourcing, vetting, and securing top-tier LATAM talent aligned with the company’s culture and mission.
CargoFax Turned to LatamCent to Build Its First Engineering Team
Before working with LatamCent, CargoFax relied on short-term contractors to keep up with development work. The model worked early on, but it created gaps in code quality, consistency, and accountability.
As Joel Olivier Baussaun, Co-Founder of CargoFax, explained, the company reached a point where it needed more than just freelancers who could “get things done.” CargoFax needed an engineer who would take ownership of the product, understand the vision, and stay long enough to build lasting systems.
Without an internal HR team or the time to manage recruiting, Joel and his co-founder struggled to find that kind of hire. Upwork and other platforms brought in candidates quickly, but many lacked reliability or long-term commitment.
When the founders decided to hire their first full-time engineer, they knew they needed a partner who could do more than send resumes, they needed someone who could represent CargoFax’s culture, goals, and standards in the hiring process.
LatamCent Helped CargoFax Find a Developer Who Owned the Product
When Joel Olivier Baussaun and his co-founder began looking for their first full-time engineer, they had already tested nearly every route, freelance platforms, referral-based agencies, and offshore recruiters.
Each one promised results but delivered the same problems: poor vetting, weak communication, and little understanding of CargoFax’s culture or technical needs.
LatamCent changed that.
From the first call, Joel noticed a difference in how the team approached recruiting. Instead of pushing pre-vetted profiles, they started by listening, asking about CargoFax’s product goals, codebase, and long-term roadmap before presenting any candidates.
The experience went far beyond recruiting. LatamCent handled the full process: candidate sourcing, English and technical assessments, cultural alignment interviews, and contract setup, while keeping everything transparent through organized Notion boards and a dedicated Slack channel.
With recruiter Camila leading the process, CargoFax interviewed candidates who not only matched the technical brief but also fit the company’s collaborative, founder-led culture. Within weeks, they made their first full-time engineering hire: Vítor, a senior Python developer who immediately raised the bar for quality and ownership.
A Hire That Changed CargoFax’s Product Speed
For CargoFax, the first hire through LatamCent was more than a staffing win, it was a turning point. Their new engineer, Vítor, quickly became a key part of the company’s core team, bringing structure, accountability, and technical depth that had been missing.
Within weeks, code reviews improved, communication between founders and engineering became smoother, and product releases started moving faster. What used to take multiple sprints now happened in one.
For Joel, the impact went beyond technical progress. Having a senior developer who could own architecture and decision-making gave the founders the confidence to focus on growth, fundraising, and customer relationships, knowing the product was in strong hands.
With the right partner and the right hire, CargoFax replaced years of stop-and-go progress with consistent execution, and a foundation ready for scale.
Build Your Nearshore Development Team With LatamCent
For Joel Olivier Baussaun and the team at CargoFax, working with LatamCent proved that great hires aren’t about luck, they’re about process. What started as a search for one full-time developer became the foundation for a stronger, more reliable engineering culture.
LatamCent didn’t just find a candidate; they helped CargoFax build a standard for how technical hiring should be done, clear communication, cultural alignment, and trust on both sides.
CargoFax plans to continue expanding its engineering team with LatamCent as the company scales, confident that every future hire will bring the same mix of skill, ownership, and alignment that transformed their product development from patchwork to stable progress.
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