Second Talent

What Second Talent does

Second Talent is a San Francisco-headquartered, private management consulting and staffing firm that operates an AI-native IT staffing platform connecting companies with pre-vetted software engineers across nine Asian markets, including Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, India, and Australia, with a regional headquarters in Singapore and an Australian market office in Sydney. The company was co-founded by Elton Chan, who serves as co-founder and CEO, and Matt Li, who serves as co-founder and Director, and employs 51-100 people. Its core product matches companies to developers within 24 hours, drawing on a curated network of more than 100,000 engineers, and supports the engagement with full Employer of Record services covering payroll, compliance, and benefits administration. Supporting the platform are two adjacent offerings: managed Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) annotation teams deployed across the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, and India, and the Engineering ROI Score, a composite index ranking 18 countries across cost efficiency, talent supply, English proficiency, time-zone alignment, and hiring depth, published as part of the 2026 Global AI Engineer Rate Report.

The company generates revenue through recurring monthly subscription fees for each developer placed, pricing senior developers at $3,000 to $6,000 per month — a 40 to 60 percent discount versus comparable U.S. salaries of $8,000 to $18,000 per month and versus a U.S. median AI engineer compensation of $140,910 annually. Its go-to-market is enterprise field sales targeting mid-to-large companies in the Technology and AI sectors that need AI/ML engineers, full-stack developers, and data specialists, with reported customer outcomes of 92 percent talent retention, 98 percent client satisfaction, and 200+ clients served. Operationally, Second Talent pursues geographic expansion as a core growth lever, having entered Australia in late 2025 to address a projected 286,000-worker domestic tech shortfall, while building a compliance-focused managed alternative to crowdsourced AI training-data annotation.

The underlying AI capability is concentrated in matching and data products rather than model development: there is no public evidence of proprietary models, patents, or AI research hires. Revenue scale is not disclosed, but the combination of 200+ clients, mid-range pricing, and 51-100 employees is consistent with a staffing operation in the low-to-mid tens of millions in annualized revenue. Ownership, founding date, and funding history are not disclosed in the available sources, representing material data gaps for prospective investors and acquirers.

Name

Second Talent

Website

https://secondtalent.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Second Talent operates an AI-native IT staffing platform that connects mid-to-large enterprises with pre-vetted Asian developers across nine markets, providing 24-hour matching and full Employer of Record services on a recurring monthly subscription model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

IT Staffing & Recruitment Services

NAICS

Employment Placement Agencies (561311), Temporary Help Services (561320), Professional Employer Organizations (561330)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361), Services-Help Supply Services (7363)

akta.pro primary industry

IT & Software Engineering Staffing (BPACADAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Data, AI/ML & Analytics Staffing (BPACADAB), Remote & Global/Multilingual Direct Hire (BPACAFAO), International Payroll & Contractor Payments (FSAMAIAC), Contingent Workforce / Contractor RPO (Contractor Recruiting) (BPACABAK)

Keywords

• IT staffing services
• Offshore developer hiring
• AI talent matching
• Employer of record
• Tech recruitment platform

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Staffing/Placement Services: Second Talent charges clients $3,000 to $6,000 per month per senior developer placed. The company acts as Employer of Record, handling payroll, compliance, and benefits, generating revenue through recurring monthly fees for each developer engagement.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Core offering

Second Talent operates an AI-native IT staffing platform that connects companies with pre-vetted Asian developers within 24 hours, charging $3,000–$6,000 per month per senior developer placed at 40–60% below comparable U.S. salaries. The company acts as Employer of Record across nine Asian markets, handling payroll, compliance, and benefits administration on behalf of clients. Supporting offerings include managed RLHF annotation teams for AI training data and the Engineering ROI Score framework for global hiring decisions.

Product overview

Second Talent operates as an AI-native IT staffing platform that connects companies with pre-vetted Asian developers. The core offering is the AI-Native IT Staffing Platform, which provides 24-hour talent matching and Employer of Record services. Supporting this platform, the company offers RLHF Annotation Teams for AI training data needs and the Engineering ROI Score tool for evaluating global hiring decisions. The company serves 200+ clients with a reported 92% talent retention rate and operates across nine Asian markets.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• AI-Native IT Staffing Platform AI-powered platform that matches companies with pre-vetted Asian developers within 24 hours, charging $3,000 to $6,000 per month per senior developer at 40–60% below comparable U.S. salaries. Includes Employer of Record services covering payroll, compliance, and benefits across nine Asian markets. Target buyers are enterprise and mid-market companies hiring senior developers, AI/ML engineers, full-stack developers, and data specialists.
• Australian Market Talent Services Australia-focused staffing offering that delivers pre-vetted Asian tech talent to Australian companies with full Employer of Record services, addressing the projected 286,000 tech-worker shortfall in Australia and serving 20+ Australian companies.
• RLHF Annotation Teams Managed RLHF annotation teams deployed across Asia (Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India) providing compliance-focused training data annotation services for AI model development as an alternative to crowdsourcing platforms. Targeted at AI labs and foundation model developers.
• Employer of Record Services Full Employer of Record services enabling businesses to hire Asian tech talent with Second Talent handling payroll, compliance, and benefits administration across Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and other markets. Bundled with the AI-Native IT Staffing Platform and Australian Market Talent Services.

Quantifiable outcome

• 40-60% cost savings compared to U.S. developer salaries
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Deel: Deel is a global payroll and EOR platform with strong presence in contractor hiring and employer-of-record services worldwide. It is comparable in EOR, cross-border compliance, and contractor management functions, with overlapping enterprise buyer segments.
• Toptal: Toptal operates a network of pre-vetted freelance developers, designers, and finance experts, marketing the top 3% of applicants. It overlaps with Second Talent in senior IT/AI talent matching, with similar premium positioning and recurring engagement models.
• Andela: Andela connects enterprises with vetted engineers from Africa and other emerging markets for staff augmentation and managed teams. It is comparable as a global IT talent marketplace with EOR-style payroll handling, though its geographic focus differs from Second Talent's Asian footprint.
• Arc.dev: Arc.dev is a developer matching platform focused on connecting companies with vetted remote engineers globally, including from Asia. It is comparable in the AI/IT staffing marketplace model and target buyer (companies hiring senior developers).
• BairesDev: BairesDev provides nearshore software development teams sourced primarily from Latin America. It is comparable as a managed developer staffing provider with similar cost arbitrage proposition, though its talent pool geography is Latin America rather than Asia.
• Remote: Remote.com provides Employer of Record services, global payroll, and contractor management with growing focus on tech talent. It directly overlaps with Second Talent's EOR infrastructure across multiple countries and increasingly competes for the same enterprise IT hiring budget.
• Turing: Turing is an AI-native platform that matches companies with pre-vetted remote developers, primarily sourced from India. It directly competes with Second Talent in AI/ML engineer and senior developer staffing with similar global, async delivery and recurring monthly billing models.

Emerging players

• Globalization Partners: Globalization Partners is a pure-play EOR provider enabling companies to hire internationally without entity setup. It is comparable in cross-border employer-of-record infrastructure across Asia and Australia, overlapping on compliance and payroll rather than talent sourcing.

Broad incumbents

• Upwork: Upwork is the largest freelance marketplace for IT talent with broad global reach and enterprise offerings. It is comparable as a channel for hiring remote developers, though it operates a marketplace model rather than a curated, EOR-staffed engagement like Second Talent.
• Cognizant: Cognizant is a global IT services and consulting major with large-scale offshore delivery centers, including in the Philippines, India, and Singapore. It is comparable as an enterprise provider of global tech talent, though at significantly larger scale and with a services rather than platform model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/second_talent
• Facebookfacebook.com/secondtalent
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/second-talent

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Second Talent