Speed and Specialization: How Jumio Scales With Upwork

Jumio, a leader in AI-driven identity verification and compliance solutions, moves fast. And Peter Andrada, VP of IT, makes sure they never slow down.

“My job is to enable our people to do their absolute best work,” says Andrada. “IT’s mission is to accelerate and secure the business. When a new project requiring freelance professionals is approved, I go straight to Upwork and start hiring.”

Andrada uses Upwork so effectively that his colleagues call him “The Upwork Guy” and turn to him when traditional resources fail.

He recalls one of his favorite examples:

“I was visiting the Montreal office when our Austria team needed a German business contract translated into English ASAP. Traditional translation services quoted a three-week turnaround and a €1,000 price tag.

“I told them, ‘Not for me, I have Upwork.’

“I posted a job that essentially said: ‘German business contract translated into English. It's a legal document. We can't get it wrong. Need it within 12 hours.’ Within a short time, someone accepted the project and turned it around faster and cheaper than the translation company could.”

Gaining agility on multiple fronts

As an Enterprise client, Andrada has direct access to the top 1% of talent on Upwork across more than 10,000 skills categories. Having a wide and deep talent bench at his fingertips enables his teams to quickly solve urgent and highly specific skills demands.

“Upwork gives me agility,” states Andrada. That agility comes in many forms.

When the CTO and CISO wanted an expert to analyze and improve automation and system connectivity across multiple enterprise platforms, Andrada looked for a very specific set of skills. “We needed someone with IT, ERP, and finance systems knowledge and probably 15-plus years of experience. And we found them on Upwork,” he says.

Agility isn’t just about quickly pulling in critical skills; it’s also about optimizing how long you keep them.

When the IT support team was scrambling to dig out of an 800-ticket backlog, Andrada brought in three support agents he found on Upwork to help the team catch up. One agent stood out, and Andrada still works with him long after completion of the initial project. 

Agility also means maximizing how employees spend their time, including Andrada himself.

"Right now, my team has 26 projects due in the next 12 weeks, and ultimately, I’m responsible for all of them," says Andrada. "I could work 22-hour days trying to manage it all myself, but I don’t have to. I have three project managers from Upwork, and I trust them to get things done."

They’ve proven so capable that Andrada doesn’t waste time monitoring every detail.

Andrada explains, "I don’t have to read all the stuff flying around because I know things are being handled. They only bring me in when something’s hot—when I need to make a decision, clear a roadblock, or escalate an issue. So, I can spend time focusing on more strategic work.”

Winning with speed, expertise, and trust

The ability to move fast without sacrificing quality or security is a competitive advantage—one that Jumio mastered with Upwork.

By tapping into a global network of highly skilled professionals, Jumio has its foot firmly on the gas pedal controlling how fast the company scales and how far they stay ahead of competitors.

“To reach our goals, Jumio needs to move faster, better, and cheaper—with ironclad security and trust,” Andrada says. “I sleep well at night because I know if we don’t have the expertise in-house, we can get it through Upwork.”

The thing is, you don’t have to be an Enterprise client like Jumio to start sleeping well at night.