What Oyster HR does

Oyster HR is a global employment platform that handles the messy, complex stuff that stops companies from hiring internationally – payroll, benefits, compliance, and taxes. They enable companies to hire people in countries where they don’t have a legal entity, effectively removing the “sorry, we can’t hire in your country” barrier that frustrates so many remote job seekers.

Founded in January 2020 (timing doesn’t get much better than that), Oyster has grown rapidly to over 600 employees across 70 countries. They’ve raised $150M+ at a $1B+ valuation, and they enable companies to hire talent in 180+ countries without setting up local entities.

The meta angle is what makes Oyster particularly interesting: they build the infrastructure that makes global remote work possible, and they use that same infrastructure to run their own distributed company.

Remote culture: what it’s actually like

Oyster doesn’t just enable distributed work for clients, they live it too. Their 648+ people are spread across 70 countries, and the company’s mission is literally to “create a more equal world by making it possible for companies to hire anyone, anywhere.”

When they say “work from anywhere,” the details back it up: 40 days PTO inclusive of regional holidays, a $1,500 equipment stipend, monthly wellness allowance, mental health support, flexible parental leave, and private health insurance.

The culture is built on four core values: Build and Give Trust, Make It Happen, Drive Change, and United Team. In practice, this translates to an ownership-oriented environment where employees are expected to take initiative rather than wait for direction.

Leadership is distributed across the company’s global footprint. Communication is async-first with strong documentation practices – essential when your team spans every major timezone. The company gathers for connection events, but daily work is designed to happen without real-time coordination.

The honest assessment: Oyster is a hypergrowth startup, and that comes with everything you’d expect. The pace is fast, roles evolve, processes are still being built. If you want stability and perfectly defined processes, this may not be the right moment. If you thrive in environments where you’re building the plane while flying it, the energy and mission are compelling.

Hiring in Europe: the details

Countries: 70+ countries and counting. Oyster quite literally solves the problem of hiring across borders – they have the infrastructure to employ people in more countries than almost any other company.

Employment model: EOR – Oyster IS the employer of record. They use their own platform to employ their team, which means every employee experiences the product from the inside. This is a significant advantage: bugs get caught faster, improvements get prioritised based on real internal feedback, and the team deeply understands the customer experience.

Timezone expectations: Flexible for most roles, with the understanding that some customer-facing positions may need overlap with specific regions. The global distribution of the team means there’s always someone working, and async communication handles the rest.

Salary approach: Competitive with clear levelling. As an EOR platform, Oyster has deep data on global compensation benchmarks, and they use this knowledge to set their own salaries competitively.

Language requirements: English is the primary working language.

Who they’re looking for

Oyster is growing across multiple functions:

  • Engineering and product
  • Sales and business development
  • Marketing and partnerships
  • Customer success and support
  • Operations and people teams

They’re looking for people who can handle the pace of a scaling company while maintaining people-first values. The intersection of growth speed and cultural intentionality is genuinely rare – they’ve managed a 4.9/5 Glassdoor rating and 91% Culture Amp engagement score despite hypergrowth.

What current and former employees say

Employee satisfaction scores are exceptionally high for a company growing this fast. People cite the mission, the diversity of the team, and the quality of the remote culture as standout features. The 40 days PTO is frequently mentioned as a genuine differentiator.

The concerns are growth-related: rapid scaling means org changes, role shifts, and the occasional growing pain. Some employees note that “building the plane while flying it” is exhilarating for some and exhausting for others. The EOR model itself means you’re technically employed by Oyster’s entity in your country, which can occasionally create administrative complexity.

How to apply

Specific tips: Understand the EOR landscape – know how Oyster compares to Deel and Remote.com, and be able to articulate what makes their approach different. If you’ve been hired through an EOR before (as an employee of another company), mention that experience. Show that you care about the mission of democratising global opportunity, not just about having a remote job yourself. The mission-alignment signal is strong in their hiring process.

See our full guide to Remote-First Companies That Actually Hire in Europe.