Case study: how to cut development team costs by 43% without losing quality
In September 2025, the CTO of an 80-person Paris fintech contacted us. His problem: an 8-person development team costing €95,000/month, a board demanding 30% IT cost cuts, and zero room for quality compromise (ACPR regulator). Here's how we solved the equation.
The context: a classic Paris team at €95K/month
The existing team was composed of profiles hired through Paris staffing agencies and internal hires. Here's the monthly cost breakdown:
- 2 senior Java/Spring Boot developers (permanent): 2 × €7,800 = €15,600/month (gross loaded salary)
- 2 senior React/TypeScript developers (staffing agency): 2 × €550/day × 20 days = €22,000/month
- 1 mid-level fullstack developer (permanent): €6,200/month
- 1 senior DevOps/SRE (staffing agency): €620/day × 20 days = €12,400/month
- 1 QA engineer (permanent): €5,500/month
- 1 tech lead (permanent): €9,200/month
- Overhead (licenses, infra, management): ~€24,100/month
- Total: €95,000/month or €1,140,000/year
French market daily rates: the real numbers
These rates are consistent with market data. According to the Free-Work Daily Rate Barometer (formerly Freelance-info), median daily rates in the Paris region for 2025-2026 are:
- Java/Spring Boot senior: €540-580/day (source: Free-Work)
- React/TypeScript senior: €500-560/day
- DevOps/Cloud senior: €580-650/day
- Tech lead: €650-750/day
The Malt Tech Barometer confirms these ranges, with a median freelance IT daily rate in France around €550/day for senior profiles.
The alternative: the Paris + Casablanca hybrid model
Our proposal was simple: keep expertise and leadership in Paris, move qualified execution to Casablanca, and augment the entire team with AI.
Restructured team:
- 1 senior tech lead / architect in Paris (our lead, 15 years XP): architecture leadership, code reviews, CTO relationship — €9,500/month
- 2 senior Java/Spring Boot developers in Casablanca: 2 × €350/day × 20 days = €14,000/month
- 2 senior React/TypeScript developers in Casablanca: 2 × €300/day × 20 days = €12,000/month
- 1 mid-level DevOps/SRE in Casablanca: €340/day × 20 days = €6,800/month
- 1 QA engineer in Casablanca: €250/day × 20 days = €5,000/month
- AI tooling (Claude Code, Copilot, CI/CD): €2,200/month
- Nearvik management overhead: included
- Total: €49,500/month or €594,000/year
Morocco nearshore daily rates: full transparency
Our nearshore rates are based on Moroccan market realities. A senior developer in Casablanca, employed full-time with a competitive salary (25,000-35,000 MAD/month or €2,300-3,200), costs the end client €300-400/day when factoring in employer charges, office space, management, and studio margin.
These rates are consistent with data from Moroccan platforms and IT salary surveys in Morocco. The gap with Paris isn't due to lower quality — Moroccan engineers graduate from ENSIAS, EMI, INPT or ENSA, recognized engineering schools with curricula aligned with French standards.
The reduction calculation: -43% at constant scope
Here's the precise comparison:
| Role | Before (Paris) | After (Nearvik) | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backend Java (×2) | €15,600 + €11,000 | €14,000 | -€12,600 |
| Frontend React (×2) | €22,000 | €12,000 | -€10,000 |
| DevOps/SRE | €12,400 | €6,800 | -€5,600 |
| QA | €5,500 | €5,000 | -€500 |
| Tech Lead | €9,200 | €9,500 | +€300 |
| Fullstack mid-level | €6,200 | — | -€6,200 |
| Overhead | €24,100 | €2,200 | -€21,900 |
| Monthly total | €95,000 | €49,500 | -€45,500 |
| Annual total | €1,140,000 | €594,000 | -€546,000 (-43%) |
But how do you maintain quality with fewer people?
The legitimate question: going from 8 to 7 people while cutting costs by 43% — how is this possible without sacrificing quality?
1. AI as a productivity multiplier. Every developer on the team uses Claude Code and GitHub Copilot in their daily workflow. On mechanical tasks (boilerplate, unit tests, documentation, refactoring), measured productivity gains are 40-60%. This more than compensates for one fewer headcount.
2. A senior tech lead who frames everything. The Paris-based architect reviews every PR, sets standards, and interfaces with the CTO. Architectural quality is actually better than before, because an experienced senior challenges every technical decision.
3. Senior developers, not juniors. We don't place low-cost juniors. Casablanca profiles have 5-10 years of experience, speak French natively, and work in the same timezone as Paris.
Results after 6 months
Six months after implementing the new model:
- Velocity: +15% story points delivered per sprint (measured in Jira)
- Quality: production bug rate dropped from 2.3% to 1.8%
- Availability: 99.95% SLA maintained
- Compliance: ACPR audit passed without comment
- Realized savings: €273,000 over 6 months
- Team satisfaction: the CTO quotes 'smoother communication than with some Paris staffing agencies'
What made the difference
Three key factors drove the success of this transition:
Structured onboarding. 3 weeks of complete handover with the previous team. Architecture documentation, processes, and conventions. No big bang — a progressive, module-by-module transition.
Total transparency. The CTO has access to the same Jira, Slack, and GitHub as the team. They see PRs, code reviews, and deployments. Zero black box.
AI integrated into CI/CD. Automated AI code reviews before human review. Auto-generated tests. Documentation kept up to date. AI doesn't replace developers — it removes low-value work from their plate.
Conclusion: augmented nearshore means 2+2=5
This case study illustrates a reality many CTOs are discovering in 2026: when done right, nearshore sacrifices nothing. Expertise stays in Paris. Execution is delivered by qualified seniors in Casablanca. AI accelerates everyone.
The result: -43% costs, +15% productivity, quality maintained. It's not magic — it's well-organized engineering.
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