Hire software developers in Vietnam through an EOR

Why hire software developers in Vietnam?

Companies hire software developers in Vietnam for a large, young engineering workforce, a cost base below more established Asian tech hubs, and a time zone (UTC+7) that overlaps a working day with both Europe and the rest of Asia. English is commonly the working language on outsourcing and product-engineering teams, which eases code review and day-to-day communication across those time zones. An employer of record lets you tap that pool without incorporating.

The talent base is sizeable. TopDev’s Vietnam IT Market Report 2024–2025 counts about 560,000 people in information-technology and computer-science fields, with roughly 55,000 to 60,000 new students entering those fields each year — a workforce that skews young.8 That depth is why Vietnam features in “China plus one” engineering strategies, where firms add a second delivery location to spread cost and risk.

What do developers earn in Vietnam?

Developer pay in Vietnam turns on seniority and specialism. ITviec’s IT Salary & Recruitment Market Report 2025–2026 puts the median full-stack developer at ₫37,250,000 gross a month, rising with experience as below; front-end sits near ₫34,800,000 and mobile near ₫36,850,000 at the median, while senior back-end engineers reach about ₫54,900,000 at eight-plus years.7

Should you hire Vietnamese developers as employees or contractors?

For an ongoing developer role you direct day to day, employment is the lower-risk choice. Vietnamese law looks at substance, not labels: under the Labour Code (Article 13), any arrangement with paid work, wages and the hirer directing the worker is an employment relationship, whatever a “service contract” says.1

A developer role is usually subordinate and continuous — set hours, a team, a backlog, your tools — which is what the test treats as employment. If a “contractor” developer is reclassified, the cost runs backwards from day one: back-dated social, health and unemployment insurance of about 32% of gross,4 plus back tax, interest and a tiered fine. A genuine, non-subordinate specialist on a defined project can still be a contractor. The full test and the real penalties are in EOR versus hiring a developer as a contractor.

What does it cost to employ a developer in Vietnam?

The cost of employing a developer in Vietnam is the gross salary plus about 23.5% in statutory employer on-costs, and — through EOR Vietnam — our flat service fee of US$149 per employee per month on top. The 23.5% is 17.5% social insurance, 3% health insurance, 1% unemployment insurance and a 2% trade-union fee.45

Our fee is a flat US$149 per employee per month — the same for every Vietnamese-national developer whatever the salary, seniority, role or city, and as of October 2026. There are no setup, onboarding, offboarding, contract or payslip fees and no hidden fees; the gross salary and the statutory on-costs are passed through at cost. Each engagement also carries a security deposit equal to two months of the employee’s employment cost — gross salary plus statutory employer contributions — which we hold for the duration of the engagement and return at the end, less any unpaid amounts. A foreign engineer who needs a Vietnamese work permit is quoted separately.

On the ITviec median full-stack salary of ₫37,250,000,7 the on-cost adds ₫8,753,750, for an employer total of ₫46,003,750 a month before the US$149 service fee. At that salary every contribution base is below the ₫50,600,000 social- and health-insurance ceiling in force since 1 July 2026, so the full 23.5% applies; above that ceiling the social-insurance, health-insurance and trade-union components stop rising, while unemployment insurance keeps rising to its own, higher cap.45 Model your own figure, including the caps, with the cost calculator, and see the full on-cost breakdown on Vietnam payroll and employer costs.

Can you relocate a foreign engineer or tech lead to Vietnam?

Yes — a foreign senior engineer, architect or tech lead generally needs a work permit, and an EOR can sponsor it. Under Decree 219/2025/ND-CP, in force since 7 August 2025, the “expert” category needs a university degree plus two years’ relevant experience, or a degree plus one year in priority sectors such as technology and finance.3

A “technical worker” is a second route, needing a year’s training plus two years’ work, or three years’ work with no formal training. A permit lasts up to two years, tied to the contract, and is issued within 10 working days of a complete application.3 A foreign engineer on a 12-month-plus contract also joins social and health insurance and is exempt from unemployment insurance, but the 2% trade-union fee still applies — so the employer on-cost is about 22.5% (17.5% social insurance, 3% health insurance and the 2% trade-union fee) and the employee pays about 9.5%.45 Because the work-permit, visa and temporary-residence handling make each case different, a foreign hire is quoted separately rather than at the flat US$149 service fee. Eligibility and the dossier are set out on work permits for foreign employees in Vietnam.

The contract terms that matter for developers

For developer hires, the contract has to do real work on four fronts: probation, IP ownership, confidentiality and non-compete, and equipment and remote work. Vietnamese law shapes each, so draft the terms to the Labour Code rather than porting a home-country template.

Probation. Because most developer roles require a university degree, the maximum probation is 60 days; it is up to 180 days for enterprise managers and 30 days for roles needing only a vocational qualification. Probation pay must be at least 85% of the full salary (Labour Code 2019, Articles 25–26).1 The limits by role are set out in the Vietnam probation-period guide.

IP assignment. Write ownership and assignment of the code, designs and other work product expressly into the contract. The Labour Code (Article 21.2) allows a written agreement protecting an employer’s business and technological secrets, with defined scope, duration and compensation for breach — the natural home for source-code confidentiality and IP terms.1 How the code and designs an EOR-employed developer produces pass to you as the client is set out on IP ownership of employee work in Vietnam.

Non-compete. Treat post-employment non-competes as fact-specific, not automatic. No statute directly validates them, and they sit in tension with the constitutional right to work, but a 2023 case precedent (No. 69/2023/AL, effective 1 November 2023) confirmed that commercial arbitration can hear non-compete and non-disclosure disputes as independent civil agreements. Reasonable scope and duration help; a clause barring a whole industry or running for years is vulnerable.2 The full enforceability picture is on non-compete agreements in Vietnam.

Equipment and remote work. No separate statute governs remote developers, so equipment, hybrid or fully remote arrangements and any home-office allowance are set in the contract and internal labour regulations — there is no telework statute and no digital-nomad visa, so the EOR route is how most teams hire remote developers compliantly, as covered on remote work in Vietnam. Statutory limits still apply: normal working time is capped at 8 hours a day and 48 a week (Labour Code 2019, Article 105).1 Contract types and renewal rules are on Vietnam’s employment-contract and labour-law page.

Data protection. Development teams handle source code and personal data, so build in Vietnam’s data-protection regime: the Personal Data Protection Law 91/2025/QH15 and its implementing Decree 356/2025/ND-CP, both in force since 1 January 2026, require clear notice and consent and set conditions on sending personal data abroad — relevant when code, logs or HR records flow to an overseas parent or client.9 The same consent and data-minimisation rules govern any pre-employment screening you run on a candidate — see background checks in Vietnam.

Equity. Senior engineers increasingly expect stock options. Vietnam eased the rules in 2024, so a foreign parent’s employee share plan can run through a local entity and simply be reported to the State Bank of Vietnam rather than pre-approved (Circular 23/2024/TT-NHNN, in force 12 August 2024; position as of October 2026).10 Whether a developer employed through an EOR — rather than by the issuer’s own Vietnamese company — can join such a plan is not squarely settled and needs local counsel; the mechanics, the tax triggered on sale and that open question are on employee stock options in Vietnam.

Is a 13th-month bonus expected for developers?

A 13th-month (Tet) bonus is customary in Vietnam but not required by law. The Labour Code leaves bonuses to the employer’s reward policy (Article 104), so it binds only if promised in the contract, a collective agreement or a published bonus policy.1

In the competitive developer market it is close to universal — typically about one month’s salary, paid before Lunar New Year and often pro-rated for part-year service. Budget for it as a real cost of attracting engineers. The norm, and when it becomes contractually binding, is covered in the 13th-month salary and Tet bonus guide; leave and statutory benefits are on employee benefits in Vietnam.

Where is the developer talent in Vietnam?

Most Vietnamese developer hiring happens in three places: Ho Chi Minh City, the largest commercial and tech hub; Hanoi, the capital and northern enterprise centre; and Da Nang, a fast-growing coastal tech city. An EOR lets you employ in any of them without a local office, since the employing entity, not you, is on the ground.

Location also sets the minimum-wage floor, which fixes the contribution base. Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi centres are Region I (₫5,310,000 a month under Decree 293/2025/ND-CP), while central Da Nang is Region II (₫4,730,000), not Region I — a point many guides get wrong.6 Developer pay sits far above these floors, so the minimum wage rarely binds it; the detail is on Vietnam’s 2026 minimum wage by region. For local notes, see hiring in Ho Chi Minh City and hiring in Hanoi.

Da Nang deserves a closer look for hardware, embedded and chip-design hiring: the city is building a semiconductor and chip-design cluster around its software parks, which is starting to concentrate specialist engineering talent there. The cluster detail and the local tax incentives are on EOR in Da Nang.

How to hire developers in Vietnam through an EOR

Hiring a developer through the EOR Vietnam service follows four steps: you scope the role, we employ the engineer through a Vietnam-registered entity, we run payroll and compliance, and you direct the work. The employing entity stays the legal employer throughout, so you carry no local incorporation — see how an EOR is lawfully structured in Vietnam.

Related guides

These sit within the full set of Vietnam employer guides — payroll, leave, contracts and compliance in depth. For another role-based playbook, see hiring sales reps and country managers in Vietnam.