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How to Structure Your Tunisia Engineering Team: 3 Models That Work

You’ve decided to hire in Tunisia. Here’s how to structure the team so it actually works.

The three models

  • Model 1 — Extended Team
    2–5 Tunisia engineers join your existing Germany team.
    Integrated into the same codebase and sprints.
  • Model 2 — Dedicated Squad
    5–10 Tunisia engineers form their own squad and own a specific product area.
  • Model 3 — Hybrid Pod
    Germany and Tunisia engineers mixed in the same squads.

Most companies start with Model 1 and move to Model 2 once the team grows past 5–6 engineers.

Model 1: Extended Team

Team structure

  • Germany team: 3–5 engineers
  • Tunisia team: 2–3 engineers
  • Everyone reports to the same CTO or engineering lead

How it works

  • Tunisia engineers join daily standups
  • Work from the same backlog
  • Same GitHub repo and pull request process
  • Same code review standards

They’re not a separate team. They’re simply engineers working remotely.

Management

  • Weekly 1-on-1s with engineering lead.
  • Pair programming across locations.
  • Leadership visits Tunisia at least twice per year.

What you need

  • Strong documentation
  • Video-first communication culture
  • Clear onboarding process

Real example

German fintech company (8 engineers in Berlin)

  • Added 3 Tunisia engineers
  • Month 1: onboarding and bug fixes
  • Month 2: first feature shipped
  • Month 6: engineers working independently

What worked:

  • Treated them as full team members
  • Invested heavily in onboarding
  • CTO visited Tunisia early

Lesson: Over-communicate early, then scale back once the team is comfortable.

Model 2: Dedicated Squad

Team structure

  • 5–10 engineers in Tunisia
  • 1 senior or lead engineer in Tunisia
  • Reports to CTO in Germany
  • Optional: product manager

How it works

The Tunisia squad owns a specific product area.

Examples:

  • Mobile apps
  • API integrations
  • Data pipelines
  • Internal tools

The squad manages its own backlog, sprint planning, and retrospectives.

Management structure

  • Tunisia lead handles day-to-day management
  • CTO provides strategy and priorities
  • Product manager defines requirements

What you need

  • Strong technical lead in Tunisia
  • Clear ownership boundaries
  • Well-defined API contracts between teams

Real example

German SaaS company (20 engineers)

  • 12 engineers in Germany
  • 8 engineers in Tunisia

Tunisia team owns:

  • iOS and Android apps
  • Integrations
  • Webhook infrastructure

Germany team owns:

  • Core web product
  • Backend APIs
  • Infrastructure

Lesson: Autonomy works only if interfaces between teams are clearly defined.

Model 3: Hybrid Pod

Team structure

  • Each squad has engineers from both countries
  • Example: 1–2 Germany engineers + 2–3 Tunisia engineers
  • Tech lead can be in either location

How it works

  • Squads organized by skill, not location
  • Engineers rotate leadership for features
  • Communication is mostly async

Management

  • Engineering managers oversee squads
  • No location-based hierarchy
  • Travel budget for in-person collaboration

What you need

  • Mature remote-first culture
  • Excellent documentation
  • Trust-based management

This model works best for companies already fully remote.

How to choose the right model

Start with Model 1 if

  • You’re hiring your first Tunisia engineers
  • You already have a team in Germany
  • You want tight integration

Scale to Model 2 when

  • You reach 5+ Tunisia engineers
  • You want clear product ownership
  • You have a strong Tunisia tech lead

Use Model 3 if

  • Your company is already remote-first
  • You have distributed teams
  • You value location-independent squads

Common mistakes

Treating Tunisia as offshore

  • Include them in company all-hands
  • Add them to social channels
  • Celebrate launches together

Not visiting in person

Video calls are not enough. Visit the team at least twice per year.

Poor onboarding

  • System access on day one
  • Assign a mentor
  • Clear tasks for the first week

Documentation debt

Distributed teams require strong documentation.

Document:

  • Dev environment setup
  • Deployment processes
  • Architecture decisions
  • Product context

Typical evolution timeline

Month 0–3

  • Hire 1–2 engineers
  • Use Extended Team model

Month 4–12

  • Grow to 4–5 engineers
  • Stabilize processes

Year 2

  • Promote or hire Tunisia engineering lead
  • Move to Dedicated Squad

Year 3+

  • 10–20 engineers in Tunisia
  • Multiple squads with clear product ownership