Remote is the all-in-one HR and payroll platform with a mission to create opportunity everywhere. Remote does this by making it simple for companies to find, hire, manage, and pay teams anywhere in the world–combining deep local expertise with a unified platform built for compliance, security, and ease of use.
Pulse 2.0 interviewed Remote co-founder and CEO Job van der Voort to gain a deeper understanding of the company.
Job van der Voort’s Background
Could you tell me more about your background and how the idea for the company came together? Van der Voort said:
“I started my career as a neuroscientist but eventually left academia to join GitLab, which at the time was a five-person startup. I didn’t have a traditional tech background, but I had the opportunity to prove what I could do. Over the next five years, I helped scale GitLab to more than 450 employees across 45+ countries. That experience changed both the course of my career and my perspective on work.”
“Being part of a globally distributed team showed me how powerful it is when companies hire based on ability, not location. People could live where they wanted, stay close to their families, and still do meaningful work. But behind the scenes, employing and paying someone across borders was a nightmare. Each country comes with its own legal, tax, and compliance requirements, and most companies simply don’t have the infrastructure or knowledge to manage it on their own.”’
“That’s where the idea for Remote came from: making it easy for any company to hire and pay anyone, anywhere. For too long, people have been forced to shape their lives around where the jobs are. We believe it should be the other way around. When people have the freedom to choose where they live and how they work, they can build better lives. Meanwhile, companies get access to talent they never would’ve found otherwise. That’s the future we’re building towards at Remote.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Van der Voort reflected:
“I wouldn’t say I have a favorite single moment, but my favorite part about leading Remote is knowing we’re building something that is designed to evolve and solve new problems as they arise in the modern workplace. We’ve helped open doors for people and companies all over the world in a way that creates lasting opportunity. Watching Remote grow from a concept into a business that truly removes borders for work has been extremely fulfilling. My time at GitLab showed me the power of building for the future, and made me realize this is exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life. When global employment is done right, it reshapes what’s possible for people everywhere–and that’s always been the vision.
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Van der Voort explained how Remote supports the full employment lifecycle:
“Remote is a global HR and payroll platform built to simplify every stage of the employment lifecycle.”
At the heart is a global HRIS that gives companies one place to manage all their people data in one place and handle hiring and onboarding, time off, compensation, and offboarding. Customers can use AI and automation throughout the platform to manage these tasks easily and quickly. The same AI-first approach can be found in Perform, our performance management product that helps teams run structured and efficient review cycles. At Remote, we recently ran a full company-wide review across nearly 2,000 people in 48 hours. That same process previously took more than a month to complete.
Core to any employment experience is payroll, and Remote Payroll makes it easy for companies to run compliant payroll around the world with AI-powered workflows and automatic payments. We’re proud to say that it’s all backed by our in-house global infrastructure and expertise. We chose to build and operate our payroll system internally rather than outsourcing to third-party providers, resulting in higher accuracy, faster issue resolution, and more consistent service quality.
“Our Employer of Record (EOR) service allows companies to legally hire people in other countries without having to set up their own entities. And for US companies, our Professional Employer Organization (PEO) offering helps manage domestic HR operations in the same platform they use for international teams. Additionally, if you work with contractors, our Contractor Management tool lets companies onboard, manage, and pay their local and international contractors compliantly.
We also offer Recruit, an AI-powered global talent solution that helps companies find and hire the right candidates anywhere in the world.”
At Remote, compliance is not a separate layer—but rather a unified feature.
“One of our key differentiators is Compliance Watchtower, which is integrated into our platform. It monitors legal and HR policy changes globally and gives companies clear, proactive guidance on how to stay compliant. No more guessing or scrambling when laws change.”
All of these capabilities within the Remote platform are purpose-built to work together, streamlining the HR process for companies hiring across borders.
“We have everything on one platform with robust APIs, making it easy to manage global teams at scale without bouncing between disconnected systems.”
Strategic Partnerships
Has the company participated in any notable strategic partnerships? Van der Voort revealed:
“Our Remote Embedded partnerships have been a big area of growth. They let companies use Remote’s global employment tools right inside the systems they’re already using. For example, our most recent embedded partnership with Workday makes it easy for Workday GO customers to pay their global teams without even having to leave their Workday workflows. This builds on similar partnerships we’ve established with BambooHR, Personio, and Gusto that make it easier for their users to manage their local and international teams in one place. These partnerships are all about meeting customers where they already are and making global employment simple.
Challenges Faced
Have you faced any challenges in your sector of work recently? Van der Voort acknowledged:
“The real challenge is now making sure that AI is actually helping rather than just being a shiny add-on. AI is already in HR, but if it’s not properly integrated, it can create more work, confusion, or even take away from the human touch that teams need to thrive.”
“We’ve been focused on building AI into our platform in ways that genuinely make HR easier and faster. That means automating routine tasks, surfacing insights, and proactively handling compliance, but being mindful of leaving the decision-making, mentorship, and human relationships where they belong. The goal is simple: give HR teams the efficiency and clarity they need, while keeping humans at the center of every process.”
Evolution Of The Company’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Van der Voort noted:
“We started with a narrow focus: making it possible for companies to hire people anywhere in the world without setting up local entities. That meant building the infrastructure for EOR and compliance across borders.”
“Since then, the scope of our platform has expanded significantly. Today, we support the full employment lifecycle, from hiring and onboarding to payroll, equity, and performance management..”
“We recently launched Remote Surveys, an AI-powered offering that allows HR teams to collect employee feedback across the entire employee lifecycle in minutes, making it easy to connect the dots for every outcome. Last year we also launched Remote PEO, which lets companies run payroll, manage benefits, and stay compliant in the United States without getting bogged down with administrative tasks. These tools give businesses a seamless way to manage both domestic and international teams all in one platform.
Challenges Faced
What challenges has the company faced as AI continues to evolve, and how are you overcoming it? Van der Voort acknowledged:
“I’m a big advocate for AI. It’s one of the most transformative tools of our time, and it’s only getting better. But like any tool, it depends on how you use it. If applied carelessly, you risk creating more problems than you solve.”
“A clear example of this is in hiring. Our Recruiting Report found that 65% of recruiters say AI-generated applications have caused a surge in unqualified candidates, and 73% report that AI-written resumes often contain false or misleading information. On average, it’s added more than 9 extra days to the hiring process per role.”
“We’ve taken a more deliberate approach. In our products, we embed AI where it drives real outcomes, like helping customers surface qualified candidates faster, not just more candidates. Internally, we treat AI as part of the toolkit, not a replacement for judgment. The biggest challenge is keeping pace with how fast AI evolves, and knowing when to lean in versus when to slow down.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Van der Voort cited:
“Since 2019, Remote has grown from an idea into the trusted HR and payroll platform for tens of thousands of businesses. Today, we help companies of all sizes hire, manage, and pay talent in over 200 jurisdictions. We’ve also made it possible for businesses of all sizes, from startups to mid-market companies and beyond, to employ great talent wherever they are without the complexity or cost that used to come with international hiring.”
“Along the way, we’ve built a fully global internal team of nearly 2,000 people working from more than 90 countries. We also built and launched our own AI-powered payroll engines, now live in over 100 countries. That’s something no one else in our space has done, and it’s a huge leap forward for how global payroll gets done.
We made our first acquisition in 2024, which allowed our customers to offer equity to global teams in a simple, compliant way. And to kick off 2026, we just acquired Atlas, which will enable us to launch new products to help manage global expenses.”
Customer Success Stories
Can you share any specific customer success stories? Van der Voort highlighted:
“One company we work with, Globl.Contact, is building a fully remote, globally distributed team to deliver premium customer service for international brands. They’ve hired over 500 people across 27 countries, all managed by an internal HR team of just two. They use Remote HRIS as their single source of truth for contracts, onboarding, time off, and payroll.”
“Before Remote, they were juggling separate systems, which led to duplicated work and reporting issues. Now everything is centralized. They save around 20 hours a week on admin, onboard new hires in just 4 days, and avoid millions in costs by not having to set up local entities or work with multiple vendors. With one platform and a dedicated support team, they’ve scaled fast without the usual overhead.”
“Another customer, a global consulting firm hiring in 15 countries, used to spend over 80 hours a month managing payroll manually through spreadsheets and scattered providers. They came close to missing a tax deadline that could have cost them six figures. The risk forced them to hit pause on hiring.”
“Now they use Remote’s AI-powered payroll to run compliant payroll in every country automatically. No scrambling or manual calculations, just payroll that works so teams can stay focused on the work that matters for their company.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Van der Voort affirmed:
“We cover the full employee lifecycle in one platform, from hiring to offboarding. We also own and operate 100% of our legal entities instead of outsourcing critical pieces to third-party vendors, which means customers get faster onboarding, stronger IP protection, and full accountability for all the hires they make.”
“Additionally, we combine deep local, in-house expertise with easy-to-use software, so companies can navigate global employment without needing multiple tools or consultants. From day one, Remote was built for scale, compliance, and the global workforce.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Van der Voort concluded:
“Our goal is to keep evolving with our customers. As the nature of work continues to shift, we want to stay ahead of it, whether that’s through better tech, smarter integrations, or new ways to simplify global employment.”
“Since 2019, we’ve been committed to offering new innovations that help customers scale faster. Looking ahead, we’ll continue building the tools and infrastructure that remove friction from global hiring, help companies around the world easily find great talent, and enable more people to access great work no matter where they live.”
