As agencies grow, hiring becomes one of the biggest factors determining whether that growth continues—or stalls.
That was the challenge facing Optima Digital, an award-winning e-commerce growth agency.
The team helps e-commerce brands ranging from 6 figures to high 8 figures scale profitably through paid advertising, email marketing, and growth strategy.
Their work has earned industry recognition, including Irish E-commerce Agency of the Year, making every new hire critical to maintaining the standard their clients expect.
When they partnered with HireUA, they weren’t simply looking to fill open roles.
They wanted access to the very best international talent.
The Challenge: Finding High-Quality Talent Across Europe
Optima Digital first discovered HireUA through referrals from other business owners who had already worked with us.
After hearing about their positive experiences, the team reached out with a clear objective: find exceptional candidates across Europe who could strengthen their agency as it continued to grow.
As Caolan explained, hiring is one of the hardest responsibilities any business owner faces.
Finding people with the right combination of technical ability, communication skills, and cultural fit requires significant time and expertise — resources that are often better spent serving clients and growing the business.
That’s where we came in.
Building a Long-Term Hiring Partnership
Rather than approaching hiring as a one-off recruitment project, we worked closely with Optima Digital to understand how their business operated, what they valued in team members, and how each role would contribute to their long-term growth.
Since that first conversation, we’ve successfully helped the agency hire three different team members, with each search becoming more efficient as our partnership developed.
Whenever a new position opened, the process was straightforward.
The team shared the role requirements, we refined the hiring brief together, sourced qualified candidates, handled the screening process, and presented a carefully selected shortlist.
When additional candidates were needed, we continued searching until the right person was found.
As Caolan described it:
“We gave you our brief, and you guys did your work. When we needed more candidates, you went back out and found them.”
Quality Over Cost
Although international hiring can certainly reduce recruitment costs, that wasn’t what mattered most to Optima Digital.
Instead, the greatest value came from the quality of the people joining the business.
According to Caolan, exceptional employees have a direct impact on client satisfaction, retention, and long-term agency growth.
Better people deliver better work.
Better work keeps clients longer.
And stronger client relationships create more opportunities for growth.
Rather than measuring success by salary savings alone, Optima Digital viewed each great hire as an investment that would continue generating value month after month.
Helping Business Owners Focus on High-Value Work
For founders and agency owners, every hour spent reviewing applications, scheduling interviews, and screening candidates is time taken away from strategy, sales, and client relationships.
By managing the recruitment process from start to finish, we allowed the leadership team to stay focused on the highest-leverage areas of the business while remaining involved only in the final hiring decisions.
As Caolan explained, great hiring doesn’t just save time—it prevents costly mistakes that compound over time.
Having the right people in the business creates leverage across every department.
A Process Built on Communication
One theme came up repeatedly throughout our partnership: communication.
From the initial discovery calls through every stage of recruitment, Optima Digital highlighted the responsiveness of our team and the consistency of the process.
Whether refining role requirements, discussing candidate profiles, or adjusting the search, the collaboration remained smooth from beginning to end.
For growing agencies, that consistency is just as valuable as the candidates themselves.
A Partnership That Continues to Grow
After working together across multiple successful hires, Optima Digital now sees HireUA as an extension of its own recruitment process.
Instead of starting from scratch every time a new role opens, the team can simply share a hiring brief, confident that we’ll understand exactly what they’re looking for and deliver candidates who meet their standards.
One recent hire, Daniel, has already made a strong impression, and Caolan believes he’ll remain an important part of the business for years to come.
More Than Filling Vacancies
When asked whether he would recommend HireUA, Caolan didn’t hesitate.
He has already referred multiple business owners to us and continues to recommend HireUA to companies looking to build high-performing international teams.
For us, that’s the strongest measure of success.
We don’t just help agencies fill vacancies.
We help them build teams that deliver better work, retain clients longer, and create the foundation for sustainable long-term growth.
