# Nearshore Software Development from Spain | EU + US Overlap | Alher Tech > Spain-based nearshore development for US and EU clients. 4-6h overlap with US East Coast, full overlap with EU, native Spanish + fluent English, GDPR-compliant under EU law. - Canonical page: https://alhertech.com/en/engagement-models/nearshore-software-development/ - Site: Alher Tech (custom software, AI agents and SEO engineering, https://alhertech.com/) - Contact: https://alhertech.com/en/contact/ --- A Spain-based development team for US and EU clients. Time-zone overlap that lets you actually collaborate, GDPR-compliant under EU law, native Spanish + fluent English, no offshore quality lottery. ## What Nearshore Delivers - **Real Time-Zone Overlap**: Nearshore is not a different model from dedicated team or staff augmentation: it is the geography. We mention it as a separate option because the buyers searching for "nearshore" are usually answering a specific frustration: they tried offshore (India, Philippines, Vietnam) and got hurt by 12-hour time-zone gaps, communication friction or quality mismatches; or they considered onshore in the US and choked on the bill rate. Spain sits in the middle: 4-6h overlap with US East Coast, full overlap with EU, day rates 50-60% below US senior rates, EU-law contracts and GDPR by default. - **Quality Without the Offshore Lottery**: We hear the same story constantly: a client tried India or the Philippines, got an okay first project, then quality collapsed when the senior who initially impressed them got moved off. Our team is small, named and stable: you interview every engineer, you keep the same engineers for years. - **GDPR and EU Law by Default**: All our contracts are signed under Spanish/EU law, with EU-based data processing as the default. For US clients with European users, that's one less compliance headache. For EU clients, it's table stakes done right from day one. - **Pick This If You Want EU Time Zones**: Choose nearshore from Spain when time-zone overlap and EU compliance matter to you. If you only care about the lowest possible day rate and don't mind 9h+ time-zone gaps, offshore (India, Vietnam) will be cheaper. If you need US East Coast working-day overlap with US-based engineers, that's full onshore at roughly 2x our rate. - **Native Spanish + Fluent English**: Every engineer on the team is a native Spanish speaker (useful if you operate in LATAM or Spain) and writes/speaks fluent professional English. We don't sell engineers below B2 English on synchronous-heavy roles. Async writing is in English by default. - **Predictable Holiday Calendar**: Spain has roughly 14 public holidays a year, fewer than most of LATAM and broadly aligned with the EU calendar. Engineers take an average of 22 vacation days, and we coordinate vacations with you 30 days in advance. No surprise empty weeks. ## How We Build Your Nearshore - **Geography Fit Call**: We confirm where your team works from, what synchronous overlap you actually need (most clients underestimate this), and whether nearshore from Spain genuinely beats offshore or onshore for your case. If it does not, we say so. - **Engagement Model Choice**: Nearshore is a geography, not a structure. You still pick: dedicated team, staff augmentation or full outsourcing. We map your situation to the right structure before scoping people. - **Profiles and Interviews**: Named senior engineers within 5 business days. You interview each one. Every CV includes English level, time-zone availability and a notes section on synchronous vs async preference. - **EU-Law Contracting**: MSA under Spanish/EU law, DPA covering GDPR, IP assignment, NDA. We can issue invoices in EUR, USD or GBP. US clients usually invoice through our entity to avoid VAT complications. - **Async-First Operating Cadence**: We default to async-heavy operations: written PR descriptions, decision records, Loom recordings for architecture walk-throughs. Synchronous time is reserved for daily standup and weekly demos in your time zone. - **Quarterly On-Site Visit (Optional)**: If you want a senior to fly to your office for a sprint or a workshop, we cover travel time at our standard rate (no markup) and you cover flights and hotel. Most clients do this once or twice a year. It's surprisingly worth it. ## High-performance stack used by global leaders React/Next.js/Angular on the frontend and Java 21 + Spring Boot + PostgreSQL 14 on the backend: the same stack that BBVA, ING, and Netflix use for their security and performance. ## Nearshore: FAQ ### How is nearshore different from offshore? Geography and what falls out of it. Offshore from a US perspective usually means India, the Philippines or Vietnam: 8 to 13 hours of time-zone difference, English as a second language, contracts under non-EU/non-US law. Nearshore from a US perspective means Spain or Latin America: 1 to 6 hours of overlap, native Spanish, fluent English, EU-law contracts when the team is in Spain. Day rates are higher than offshore (typically 1.4-1.8x) but lower than US onshore (typically 0.4-0.5x). The trade-off is communication friction vs cost. ### What's the typical contract length? Same as the underlying engagement model, because nearshore is the geography, not the contract. Dedicated team minimum 3 months, staff augmentation minimum 1 month, outsourcing project length, fixed price by milestone. ### How does pricing work? Spain-based senior engineers run €5,000-€8,500/month per seat depending on stack and seniority, billed monthly. That equates to roughly $55-$95/hour fully loaded, about 50-60% of an equivalent senior in San Francisco or New York, and roughly 30-40% above an equivalent senior in Bangalore or Manila. We invoice in EUR by default, USD or GBP on request. ### What is the minimum commitment? Same as the underlying model. One engineer for one month if you go staff augmentation, three engineers for three months if you go dedicated team. Nearshore doesn't change those minimums. ### How fast can we start? 10 to 15 business days for staff augmentation, 2 weeks for a dedicated team. The contract layer adds a few extra days for US clients because of the cross-Atlantic legal review, but we have templates that most US legal teams accept with minor edits. ### What about communication and language? Default working language with US, UK and non-Spanish-speaking EU clients is English (every engineer is at B2 minimum, most are C1+). With Spanish-speaking clients in Spain or LATAM we operate in Spanish. We default to async-first: PR descriptions, decision records, Loom recordings. Synchronous calls happen daily for standup and weekly for demos. ### How do holidays work? Spain has about 14 public holidays a year and engineers take 22 vacation days on average. We coordinate vacations 30 days in advance and never let two senior team members vacation in the same week without explicit client sign-off. August is the heaviest vacation month, so plan accordingly for Spain-based teams. ### Are you GDPR compliant for our European users? Yes, by default. Spanish entity, EU data processing region, DPA included with the MSA, sub-processor list maintained on request, breach notification SLA of 24h. For US clients onboarding European users this saves you a Schrems II conversation entirely. ### Do you work with clients globally? Yes. We work fully remote with clients across Spain, Europe, the US and LATAM. Time zones, video calls and live demos at every milestone.