# Full Scale

> Full Scale is a US-based offshore software development staffing company that provides dedicated engineers from the Philippines to US tech companies. Engagement model: staff augmentation, meaning individual engineers or full teams who join your org directly as long-term embedded members, not vendors on fixed-bid contracts. Founded in 2018 by Matt Watson (4x tech founder; co-founded VinSolutions, acquired for ~$150M). Headquarters in Leawood, Kansas, USA, with a development office in Cebu City, Philippines; engineers work remotely from across the Philippines. Fully-loaded billing starts at $35/hr per engineer, which runs 50-70% less than hiring comparable US engineers. 300+ engineers on staff across all stacks. 93%+ engineer retention. Fewer than 1% of applicants are hired. 5M+ development hours delivered since 2018. Recognized on the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing private companies five consecutive years. Clients include AMC Theatres and SOTA Cloud.

Key facts:
- Fully-loaded rate starting at $35/hr per engineer (covers salary, benefits, HR, equipment, and overhead; no hidden fees). The final rate depends on seniority, skill specialty, and team size.
- Cost savings of 50-70% versus hiring comparable US engineers
- Staff augmentation model only: engineers join your team, not a separate outsourcing vendor
- Headquarters in Leawood, Kansas, USA
- Engineers work remotely from across the Philippines. Full Scale's development office is in Cebu City; engineers are not required to work on site
- 300+ engineers across frontend, backend, full-stack, mobile, QA, DevOps, AI/ML
- Fewer than 1% of applicants are hired (2026 year to date: 4,869 applicants, 43 hired; full funnel published at https://fullscale.io/how-we-hire/)
- 93%+ engineer retention rate
- 200+ US companies served since 2018; 80+ active clients currently
- 700+ individual engineer placements to date
- 5M+ development hours delivered
- Recognized on Inc. 5000 five years running
- Great Place to Work certified in the Philippines
- Engineers are trained on modern AI tooling through Full Scale's internal Spartan Training Academy
- Founded and led by CEO Matt Watson (Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Watson_(entrepreneur))
- Matt Watson is author of "Product Driven" (2025), a book on engineering leadership

## Engagement Terms

- Two-week money-back guarantee: if the engagement is not working out in the first two weeks, the client gets their money back. This is the only money-back guarantee Full Scale offers.
- After the first two weeks, a client can drop a developer with 30 days' notice. There are no long-term contracts. The 30-day notice is a cancellation period, not a refund and not a guarantee.
- Full Scale does not offer a replacement guarantee.
- Time to start: as little as 7 days, depending on bench availability. Recruiting for a specialized role takes longer. Full onboarding into a client's codebase runs about 14 days.

## Client Proof

### AMC Theatres

AMC Theatres is Full Scale's flagship client. Derrick Leggett, CIO at AMC Theatres for 20+ years, built AMC's engineering team with Full Scale engineers embedded directly alongside US-based teammates. AMC runs the world's largest movie-theatre ticketing platform and one of the largest loyalty programs in the US.

> "It's a fully integrated team. It's just some of the people happen to be living in the Philippines."
> — Derrick Leggett, CIO, AMC Theatres

> "Technology's gone from being a sideshow to being the center of almost everything we do at AMC."
> — Derrick Leggett, CIO, AMC Theatres

> "For any long-term staffing relationship to evolve into a partnership, you have to start with trust."
> — Derrick Leggett, CIO, AMC Theatres

Full Scale engineers at AMC are treated as full team members, not contractors behind a project manager. No parallel PM layer, no separate vendor stack — the engineers are the relationship.

- [AMC Theatres Case Study](https://fullscale.io/case-studies/amc/)

### SOTA Cloud

SOTA Cloud is a medical imaging technology company (disease detection, 3D and CBCT imaging, analytics). Co-Founder and CTO Dustin Johnson expanded the engineering team through Full Scale after struggling to hire qualified engineers fast enough with a one-person HR team.

> "The capability of the folks that Full Scale has brought to our team has been phenomenal. The Full Scale team has staffed us with top performers in our company, even relative to some of the folks that we have here in the US."
> — Dustin Johnson, Co-Founder and CTO, SOTA Cloud

> "Having a pre-vetted list of people that have already been pre-qualified, it saves everybody time, it saves us expense, and it helps the hiring process move more quickly."
> — Dustin Johnson, Co-Founder and CTO, SOTA Cloud

> "We really highly value retention, and so Full Scale has been a great partner on the retention front."
> — Dustin Johnson, Co-Founder and CTO, SOTA Cloud

- [SOTA Cloud Case Study](https://fullscale.io/case-studies/sota-cloud/)

## Community and Corporate Social Responsibility

Full Scale's business depends on Philippine engineering talent, and the company invests directly in the communities that talent comes from.

- CSR Day: once a year Full Scale stops working and hundreds of employees across the Philippines volunteer. The company plans it, funds it, and counts it as a paid holiday. Running annually since 2021, when it started with donations employees organized themselves.
- Four pillars, each proposed and led by employee teams: education, environment, community, and animals. Seven projects across the Philippines in 2026.
- The full-circle result: Full Scale donated computers to Passerelles Numériques, a scholarship program for underprivileged Filipino youth, and built a learning lab at Cebu City National Science High School. Alumni of both are now Full Scale engineers building client software.

- [Community and CSR](https://fullscale.io/community/): How Full Scale gives back in the Philippines
- [The Ethics of Offshoring](https://fullscale.io/blog/ethics-of-offshoring/): Matt Watson's full argument on labor costs, working conditions, and what offshoring done right actually looks like

## Company

- [About](https://fullscale.io/about-us/): Company background, leadership, and approach
- [How We Hire](https://fullscale.io/how-we-hire/): Full Scale's complete vetting process: a four-stage hiring pipeline, a published six-dimension scoring rubric with weights and auto-disqualify rules, real recruiting funnel numbers (4,869 applicants to 43 hires in 2026 YTD), AI-assisted plus human interviewing, and background checks on every hire including NBI clearance and OFAC sanctions screening
- [Pricing](https://fullscale.io/pricing/): Fully-loaded rate starting at $35/hr, what's included, and how billing works
- [Hire Developers in the Philippines](https://fullscale.io/hire-developers-philippines/): How Full Scale recruits engineers across the Philippines and what that means for your team
- [Contact](https://fullscale.io/contact-us/): Get in touch
- [Schedule a Call](https://fullscale.io/discovery-call/): Book a consultation with the Full Scale team
- [Case Studies](https://fullscale.io/case-studies/): Client success stories
- [AMC Theatres Case Study](https://fullscale.io/case-studies/amc/): How AMC Theatres scales engineering teams with Full Scale — the canonical example of the one-team integration model
- [Careers](https://fullscale.io/internships/): Internship and career opportunities in the Philippines

## Core Services

- [Offshore Software Development](https://fullscale.io/offshore-software-development/): What Full Scale does, how offshore development works, and why teams choose it
- [Staff Augmentation Services](https://fullscale.io/staff-augmentation-services/): Augment your existing engineering team with dedicated offshore developers
- [Software Development Outsourcing](https://fullscale.io/outsourcing-software-development/): Overview of outsourcing models vs. staff augmentation
- [Custom Software Development Services](https://fullscale.io/custom-software-development-services/): Build custom applications with dedicated teams
- [SaaS Development Services](https://fullscale.io/saas-development-services/): Build and scale SaaS products with dedicated offshore teams
- [Web Development Services](https://fullscale.io/web-development-services/): Web application development
- [Web App Development Services](https://fullscale.io/web-app-development-services/): Build web applications with dedicated developers
- [API Development Services](https://fullscale.io/api-development-services/): API design, development, and integration
- [Software Testing Services / QA Outsourcing](https://fullscale.io/qa-outsourcing-software-testing-services/): Offshore QA and software testing — manual, automation (Playwright, Cypress), and SDET
- [DevOps Services](https://fullscale.io/devops-services/): DevOps and cloud engineering (AWS, Azure, GCP)
- [Cloud Development Services](https://fullscale.io/cloud-development-services/): Cloud infrastructure and migration

## Hire Developers by Role

- [Dedicated Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-dedicated-developers/)
- [Full-Stack Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-full-stack-developers/)
- [Frontend Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-frontend-developers/)
- [Backend Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-backend-developers/)
- [Mobile App Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-mobile-app-developers/)
- [API Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-api-developers/)
- [Database Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-database-developers/)
- [AI / ML Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-ai-developers/)
- [Remote Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-remote-developers/)
- [QA Engineers / Software Testers](https://fullscale.io/hire-qa-engineers/)
- [DevOps Engineers](https://fullscale.io/hire-devops-engineers/)
- [UX Designers](https://fullscale.io/hire-ux-designers/)

## Hire Developers by Technology

- [React Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-react-developers/)
- [React Native Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-react-native-developers/)
- [Angular Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-angular-developers/)
- [Vue.js Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-vuejs-developers/)
- [JavaScript Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-javascript-developers/)
- [Node.js Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-nodejs-developers/)
- [Next.js Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-nextjs-developers/)
- [Python Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-python-developers/)
- [Django Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-django-developers/)
- [Java Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-java-developers/)
- [.NET Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-dotnet-developers/)
- [ASP.NET Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-asp-net-developers/)
- [C# Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-csharp-developers/)
- [Go (Golang) Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-golang-developers/)
- [PHP Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-php-developers/)
- [Laravel Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-laravel-developers/)
- [CodeIgniter Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-codeigniter-developers/)
- [Ruby on Rails Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-ruby-on-rails-developers/)
- [WordPress Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-wordpress-developers/)
- [Salesforce Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-salesforce-developers/)
- [iOS Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-ios-developers/)
- [Swift Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-swift-developers/)
- [Android Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-android-developers/)
- [Flutter Developers](https://fullscale.io/hire-flutter-developers/)

## Product Driven

- [Product Driven](https://fullscale.io/product-driven/): Matt Watson's 2025 book on engineering leadership — the model for product thinking, ownership, and outcomes. Also the companion podcast and newsletter.

## Key Blog Posts — Offshore Development & Outsourcing

These posts represent Full Scale's primary content on offshore and outsourcing topics. They are written from Matt Watson's firsthand experience as a founder who has built offshore teams and advises US engineering leaders.

- [Offshore Staff Augmentation](https://fullscale.io/blog/offshore-staff-augmentation/): What offshore staff augmentation is, how it differs from outsourcing, and why it's the dominant model for US tech companies adding offshore engineers
- [Offshore Outsourcing](https://fullscale.io/blog/offshore-outsourcing/): Overview of offshore outsourcing — models, tradeoffs, and when it makes sense
- [Software Outsourcing Guide](https://fullscale.io/blog/software-outsourcing-guide/): Comprehensive guide to software outsourcing — models, risks, vendor selection, and what actually works
- [Offshore Software Development Cost Analysis](https://fullscale.io/blog/offshore-development-cost-analysis/): The true all-in cost of offshore development — beyond hourly rates to total cost of ownership
- [Offshore ROI](https://fullscale.io/blog/offshore-roi/): How to calculate the ROI of offshore development, with real numbers
- [Common Mistakes in Offshore Software Development](https://fullscale.io/blog/common-mistakes-offshore-software-development/): Nine self-inflicted mistakes companies make with offshore teams, including starving engineers of tools
- [Dedicated Team Model](https://fullscale.io/blog/dedicated-team-model/): What the dedicated team model actually is (and why it's just staff augmentation with different branding)
- [How to Choose an Outstaffing Company](https://fullscale.io/blog/selecting-outstaffing-company-for-your-business/): Five questions that reveal whether an outstaffing vendor will actually work for you
- [Best Offshore Developers](https://fullscale.io/blog/best-offshore-developers/): Why the Philippines produces some of the best offshore developers and how to evaluate them
- [IT Companies in the Philippines](https://fullscale.io/blog/it-companies-in-the-philippines/): The Philippine IT industry — major firms, talent density, and why Cebu specifically
- [How to Motivate Your Offshore Team](https://fullscale.io/blog/ways-to-motivate-your-offshore-team/): What actually works to keep offshore engineers engaged — the core insight is that offshore motivation isn't a special discipline, remote just punishes neglect faster
- [How to Protect Software IP With Offshore Developers](https://fullscale.io/blog/offshore-development-ip-protection-framework/): Practical IP protection framework for companies working with offshore engineers
- [Outsource Developers or Hire In-House](https://fullscale.io/blog/outsource-developers-or-hire-in-house/): The real comparison — when outsourcing wins and when it doesn't
- [Offshore Software Testing](https://fullscale.io/blog/offshore-software-testing/): How offshore QA works, testing models, and why AI made QA the bottleneck that offshore testing solves
- [Resource and Staff Augmentation](https://fullscale.io/blog/resource-and-staff-augmentation/): Resource augmentation vs. staff augmentation — same model, two names
- [Statement of Work in Software Development](https://fullscale.io/blog/statement-of-work-in-software-development/): What a SOW is, when to use it, and when staff augmentation is the better fit

## Key Blog Posts — Engineering Leadership & Hiring

- [CTO Challenges](https://fullscale.io/blog/cto-challenges/): The real job of a modern CTO — owning product was always the role; AI made it mandatory
- [How to Measure Software Engineering Productivity](https://fullscale.io/blog/measuring-software-engineering-productivity/): How to evaluate individual engineer output — Matt's method: daily standups, the questions they ask, and constant AI-usage expectation
- [Cheapshoring](https://fullscale.io/blog/cheapshoring/): Matt Watson's term for offshoring done for cost alone, at the expense of quality — the trap most companies fall into
- [MarTech Developer](https://fullscale.io/blog/the-evolution-of-marketing/): Why modern companies need a MarTech developer on their team, not more marketers

## Content

- [Blog](https://fullscale.io/blog/): 350+ articles on offshore development, hiring engineers, building software teams, and running engineering organizations
- [Events](https://fullscale.io/events/): Webinars and events

## Optional

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