The future of remote work and international talent

Navigating the New Frontier: Remote Work, AI, and the Evolving Global Talent Pool

Minda Zetlin, Contributing Editor at Inc., moderated a Web Summit Lisbon 2025 panel on remote work’s evolving future. Ilya Brotzky, Co-Founder and CEO of VanHack, asserted that remote work is now fundamental to most companies, with advanced tools enabling effective cross-border, asynchronous collaboration. He believes this makes it an optimal time for remote engagement.

Skerdi Sino, CMO of Native Teams, highlighted a surging demand for remote teams, driven by the AI wave. Companies seek top global talent to accelerate development, as the best individuals are geographically dispersed. Mr. Brotzky noted a scarcity of senior software engineers in North America, contrasting with an abundance in the Eastern hemisphere.

VanHack addresses this talent gap by facilitating global hiring and engineer relocation. The panel stressed that remote work often involves hybrid models. Mr. Sino underscored the need for remote workers to actively engage in company culture and be available for essential in-person meetings, cautioning against disengagement during virtual calls.

Mr. Brotzky advocated for “remote work best practices,” including maintaining an online presence and clear response expectations. Innovative tools like “Rome” are emerging to enhance virtual office interactions. Accountability and active participation, such as using cameras during team meetings, are crucial for remote success.

Tech hiring shows a positive trend after a recent downturn, with companies prioritizing smarter, efficient teams. AI significantly lowers the barrier to entrepreneurship, enabling founders to build Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) more easily. This aligns with Jevons’ paradox, where increased efficiency fosters new opportunities and consumption.

Mr. Sino predicted AI would shift job types, not reduce overall numbers. He cited a World Economic Forum forecast of 40% growth in blue-collar industries by 2030. Mr. Brotzky suggested coding is becoming a “blue-collar job,” as engineers are the foundational builders of the digital world.

Regarding layoffs, Mr. Sino observed that individuals failing to leverage AI to expand capabilities, merely using it to shorten existing tasks without adding value, are more vulnerable. Companies prioritize efficiency, aiming to achieve more with the same or fewer resources through technological adoption and adaptation.

Mr. Brotzky noted that adapting to new technologies like Large Language Models (LLMs) is crucial for software engineers, evolving their roles into “agent orchestration engineers.” He personally demonstrated AI’s empowering effect by using Claude to build a VanHack landing page, highlighting the combined importance of both hard and soft skills. Mr. Sino added that AI empowers non-technical founders to better understand and test development processes, leading to more informed decisions and smaller teams for MVP delivery. VanHack offers tech recruiting, while Native Teams provides solutions for managing international payroll and distributed workforces.