When Mónica and Fátima joined Xelvin in December, the Porto office was still at the very beginning. A few months later, that first idea has grown into a lively office where engineers work remotely for Dutch clients while staying closely connected to the teams in the Netherlands.

For Fátima, the city feels like the right place to be. “I moved to Porto about two years ago because I really love the city and I think it’s a great place to live,” she says. Since joining Xelvin, she has been part of building something new. “We’ve been building the team here in Porto, it’s been super nice.”

Mónica, originally from Braga, experienced that same growth from the very beginning. “We started with almost nothing here in Porto and now the office is very full, so yeah, it’s very grateful to see everything that has happened.”

Starting from an empty office

In the beginning, there was still a lot to figure out. The team in Porto was small, the office was quiet, and the way of working was still being shaped. But from day one, there was support from the Netherlands.

“When we first joined, we came to the office and it was pretty empty, obviously, because it was just the two of us and of course, we had support from the colleagues in the Netherlands, especially Rubin,” Fátima explains.

That support helped create a strong connection between Porto and the Dutch offices. During their second week at Xelvin, Mónica and Fátima travelled to the Netherlands to meet the team and attend the Christmas party. That moment helped turn a new international set-up into something more personal.

“And since then, a lot has happened and the team has grown a lot,” Fátima says. “And it’s very cool to be part of the process and see everything happening.”

More than recruitment

Although Mónica and Fátima work as recruiters, their role in Porto quickly became broader than recruitment alone. Besides finding the right people for the team, they also helped shape the practical side of the new office.

“We helped looking for these people and we also helped with a lot of things in the office,” Mónica says. “But we also enjoy it because of course, it’s not only recruitment, but we see everything happening besides building a team.”

That hands-on involvement is part of what makes the Porto story special. The team is not only growing in numbers, but also in identity. The office has become a place where people work together, learn together and connect with Dutch clients from a distance.

Today, the contrast is clear: the office that once felt empty is now almost too small for the team that has been built.

Looking for the right engineers and the right mindset

The engineers recruited from Porto work on projects for Dutch clients. That means that technical knowledge and experience are important, but these are not the only things that matter.

“As you must know, we are looking for engineers,” Fátima explains. “And of course, we look not only for their experience and their background in terms of education, but it’s also very important for them to be a good fit to the team.”

Culture fit plays an important role. The team looks for people who enjoy working with others and who are open to being part of something new.

“So the culture is very important for us,” Fátima says. “And yeah, we’ve seen in these first steps that it is really, really a big thing for us and for the clients.”

For candidates in Portugal, joining Xelvin can also mean stepping into the unknown. They may be leaving a well-known Portuguese company to join an international organisation they are still getting to know. That takes curiosity and trust.

Mónica explains: “It’s very hard to leave a company that is also very known in Portugal. And just to come to a different company that probably they never heard about.”

That is why the team looks for people who enjoy a new challenge and are open to growth.

The bridge between Porto and the Netherlands

For remote engineering to work well, distance cannot become a barrier. That is where the Porto team plays a key role. Mónica and Fátima act as the bridge between the engineers in Portugal and the clients and colleagues in the Netherlands.

According to Mónica, one thing makes the biggest difference: “I think communication is key.”

There is daily contact with Rubin in the Netherlands, who keeps the Porto team updated on projects, client needs and developments. “We are always connecting and communicating with Rubin, we talk to him every day,” Mónica says.

In addition to this, the team also has weekly meetings with the client, in this case Viro. These meetings help everyone stay aligned and make sure feedback is shared quickly.

“We also have meetings every week with the client directly,” Fátima explains. “So we have a weekly meeting with them, just to check, to tell them how everything is going, to pretty much just check in.”

That structure creates clarity. It also helps the Porto team support both sides: the engineers in the office and the client in the Netherlands.

Making remote work feel personal

Remote collaboration becomes stronger when people meet each other in real life. That is why visits from the Dutch client to Porto have been an important part of the process.

The client has visited the Porto office several times, both for interviews and to spend time with the team. For Fátima, these visits helped build trust.

“In the beginning they came over for some interviews,” she says. “And it really helped because I think they could get to know us and it made them feel much more at ease.”

Seeing the office, meeting the recruiters and speaking with candidates in person made the set-up more tangible. It helped the client understand how remote collaboration from Porto works in practice.

“Of course they are far from Portugal and sometimes it’s hard to visualize how everything will be,” Fátima explains. “And so being here with us really made them feel much more secure about all of this.”

Later in June, the team visited again for interviews and a team-building activity. That visit showed how quickly the connection had grown.

“As they said, it seemed like we knew each other like from 10 years ago because we got along so well,” Fátima says.

Growth built on trust

The Porto office shows how international collaboration can work when communication, trust and team feeling are built from the start. It is not just about placing engineers. It is about creating an environment where people feel part of a team, even from a distance.

From Porto, Xelvin is creating engineering capacity for Dutch clients in a way that stays personal, connected and close, even across borders.

Curious to see what remote collaboration could mean for you or your organisation? Get in touch with us.