ModSquad’s living the pura vida!

It’s a term you see and hear everywhere in Costa Rica. It celebrates the pure life, a way of existing that has served this Central American country’s people well. Costa Rica is well known as a stunningly beautiful tourist destination with amazing shorelines and gorgeous rainforests. Yet it’s also home to a brilliant workforce and a forward-thinking tech culture. As ModSquad looked to expand our worldwide network, we realized that there was one natural home base for ModSquad’s Latin American operations — Costa Rica.

ModSquad started off in 2007 as an American company with global aspirations. In 2015, we established our European Operations Center in Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland. We sought to replicate that success with a Latin American operation. After sending our intrepid site location group to countries far and wide through North, Central, and South America (all in the name of information gathering, of course!), it soon became clear that Costa Rica was the obvious choice.

Last month, members of the ModSquad community converged on San José, Costa Rica to celebrate the inauguration of ModSquad’s Latin American Operations Center — as well as its third year anniversary party! You see, we’ve been based in Costa Rica since 2019. Yet when COVID hit, we didn’t bring people into the Operations Center to work, even as we continued to add to our local roster. We had to delay the launch event until recently, but it was well worth the wait.

It was a grand gathering of Costa Rican Mods, vendor partners, and honored guests who’ve helped us along the way. Also joining in the celebration was a contingent of senior ModSquad executives from the U.S. and regional dignitaries. Among the participants were Andrés Valenciano, Costa Rica’s Minister of Foreign Trade, and Jorge Sequeira, Managing Director of CINDE, the Costa Rica Investment Promotion Agency, which helps foreign companies establish themselves in the country.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was held leading into a food- and music-filled celebration. The event was even more momentous for attendees, as this was the first time many were meeting face to face! People who were working remotely for the past few years were delighted to mingle with their colleagues. With the opening of the Operations Center, some will transition to an office-based schedule, while many others will still work from home.

“Costa Rica is an outstanding choice for us because it is a place where our culture thrives,” said Amy Pritchard, Chief Executive Officer of ModSquad. “We are very measured and selective in our business expansion to ensure we are always hiring world-class professionals. Costa Rica has a culture that embraces innovation and cultivates the knowledge-worker economy. That’s an ideal recipe for supporting our global Mod community and providing best-in-class services to our clients.”

In his comments, Mario Perez, ModSquad Director of People Operations, spoke about ModSquad’s progress in its short time in Costa Rica: “ModSquad has grown within the Latin America and Caribbean regions, with a presence in 19 countries with hundreds of jobs. We aspire to keep growing in quantity and quality of our talent.”

Mike Pinkerton, ModSquad’s COO and General Counsel, is confident that Costa Rica is the place to make this happen, saying, “As CINDE showed us in our visits, Costa Rica has a tremendous pool of highly-educated workers (with terrific English skills) and a culture that embraces innovation and technology. And it doesn’t hurt that everyone in America wants to visit Costa Rica and is very jealous of our presence here!”

Minister of Foreign Trade Valenciano shared some insights, noting, “Today we celebrate ModSquad’s addition to the group of companies that have found, in Costa Rica, ideal conditions for establishing operations. We trust that this milestone will mark the beginning of great opportunities for both the company and our country.” CINDE’s Sequeira also expressed his appreciation to ModSquad for choosing Costa Rica as its first Latin American base of operations. He commented, “We trust that, together with Costa Rican talent, top mechanisms will be created to serve ModSquad clients around the world.”

Amy underscored these sentiments. “As Minister Valenciano said at the event, ModSquad aligns with the core values of Costa Rica: ‘People, Planet, Prosperity.’ I couldn’t agree more.” she said.

What’s next for ModSquad Costa Rica? The next few years look sunny indeed, with plans for a major expansion of our Mod base and additions to our services team, including new Account Managers, Project Managers, Community Managers, and many other professionals in roles ranging from IT to finance to marketing to sales.

For right now, however, we’re going to savor the moment — pura vida, remember — before jumping in and bringing great opportunities to clients and workers alike in the Latin American region.

Want to experience pura vida for yourself in ModSquad’s Latin America Operations Center? Explore career opportunities in Costa Rica or other locations throughout the world.

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