A U.S. GRC firm built a 9-person Canadian team without a Canadian entity, at 28% lower cost

Summary

A U.S. governance, risk and compliance (GRC) consultancy serving financial services, healthcare and technology clients needed a Canadian delivery team. Its Canadian clients wanted consultants who knew Canadian frameworks first-hand, but the firm had no Canadian entity, no CRA payroll account, and no experience with provincial employment standards.

Through InfraDev’s Employer of Record service, the firm made its first Canadian hire 21 days after its first call with us and built a team of nine over eight months. Fully loaded costs, including our fee, came in about 28% below equivalent U.S. hires.

The challenge

Canadian clients in regulated industries expected consultants familiar with the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), PIPEDA and provincial privacy law such as Québec’s Law 25, not U.S. practitioners reading Canadian rules from a distance. A Canadian team had become a requirement for winning that work.

The firm’s leadership did not want to spend months forming an entity, registering with the CRA and building payroll when its business was advising clients. And as a firm that audits other organizations’ compliance, it could not afford payroll errors, misclassified workers or CRA exposure in its own house. Its estimate for setting up an entity was four to six months, while competitors were already hiring in Canada.

How the firm evaluated its options

Before the first call, the firm’s leadership worked through three of our guides:

• How U.S. companies hire in Canada to compare an Employer of Record, an entity and contractors. Because most roles were long-term and directed by the firm’s managers, contractor arrangements were ruled out on classification grounds.
• Canadian payroll guide so the finance team could model employer contributions and benefits and price Canadian engagements for clients.
• CRA requirements to frame its vendor due diligence: how remittance deadlines are met, how T4 slips and Records of Employment are issued, and what happens in a CRA review.

The firm estimated this saved two to three weeks of internal research and at least one external legal consultation, and it arrived at the first call with a cost model and a business case already approved.

How the engagement works

InfraDev is the legal employer of the Canadian team. We hold the employment contracts, run payroll and remittances, administer benefits, and apply provincial employment standards. Employment agreements include confidentiality, data-protection and intellectual-property terms written to satisfy the firm’s own clients’ audit requirements, such as SOC 2 and ISO/IEC 27001.

The firm runs everything else. A director of Canadian operations based in Toronto, a senior GRC professional with prior experience at Canadian financial institutions and a Big Four firm, manages the team’s work, performance and development and reports to U.S. leadership. Team members are staffed on U.S.-led or Canadian-led engagements as needed. The firm’s IT and security teams provision the same tools and access controls as for U.S. staff; we do not manage the client’s technology or take part in client delivery.

The team

Role	Count	Profile
GRC analyst	4	3–7 years in compliance frameworks (NIST, ISO/IEC 27001, SOC 2), risk assessment and control testing
Senior GRC consultant	3	7–12 years leading engagements; certifications such as CISA, CRISC, CIPP or CISSP
Security analyst	2	Technical controls, vulnerability assessment, cloud security (AWS, Azure), identity and access management

Candidates with experience at Canadian banks, insurers or healthcare organizations were prioritized.

The numbers

The firm gave permission to share aggregated, anonymized cost data. Figures are in USD and are fully loaded: salary, employer contributions, benefits and, for the Canadian team, InfraDev’s fee.

Role	U.S. fully loaded cost (annual)	Canadian fully loaded cost via InfraDev (annual, USD)
GRC analyst	$95,000 – $115,000	$68,000 – $82,000
Senior GRC consultant	$135,000 – $165,000	$97,000 – $118,000
Security analyst	$105,000 – $130,000	$75,000 – $93,000

For the nine-person team:

	Annual cost (midpoint)
U.S. equivalent team	$1,200,000
Canadian team via InfraDev	$860,000
Difference	$340,000 (28.3%)

That is about $37,800 per person per year. The comparison excludes the entity setup and maintenance costs the firm avoided, which it estimated at $50,000–$80,000 to set up and $15,000–$25,000 a year to maintain.

Timeline

Step	Time
First inquiry to first hire	21 days
Contract negotiation	1 week
Onboarding the first analyst (offer, background check, equipment)	2 weeks
Building the full team of nine	8 months, paced to client demand

What other compliance-led firms can take from this

• Rule out contractor arrangements early for long-term, directed roles. Your own employment practices will be scrutinized by your clients.
• Build the cost model first. Employer contributions and benefits are predictable once you know the structure, and they determine how you price Canadian work.
• Run vendor due diligence like an audit. Ask how remittances, slips and records are handled, and get the answers in writing.

Questions from GRC firms hiring in Canada

How does a U.S. GRC firm hire Canadian specialists without a Canadian entity? Through an Employer of Record. InfraDev employs the specialists, runs payroll and remittances, and assigns them to work exclusively on the firm’s engagements. The firm directs the work.

How much did the firm save compared with U.S. hires? About 28% on fully loaded costs, including InfraDev’s fee. Savings vary by role and location; across clients, 10–40% for comparable roles is typical, not guaranteed.

Who manages the team’s technology and access? The client. InfraDev does not manage client systems; employment agreements carry the confidentiality and data-protection terms the client’s own audits require.