For years, remote work was treated like a perk.
Something flexible. Temporary. Maybe useful for freelancers or small distributed teams.
But according to Yaron, CTO of Deel, remote work is no longer an experiment. It is becoming infrastructure for how global companies scale.
In a recent conversation on Israel Tech with Yoel Israel, Yaron explained how Deel built a company of more than 7,000 employees operating remotely across dozens of countries.
“Everybody in Deel works remotely from home,” Yaron said. “Everybody in Deel gets paid through Deel.”
Building Teams Without Borders
Before joining Deel, Yaron spent years building products and startup teams.
The challenge was always the same.
How do you hire the best developer in the UK, the best designer in Romania, or the best engineer somewhere else in the world without forcing everyone into the same office or even the same country?
For Yaron, remote hiring is not simply about convenience.
It is one of the biggest advantages startups have.
“If you want to grow your startup fast and be responsible with your budget, this is exactly the way to go,” he explained.
That philosophy has allowed Deel to build engineering teams across 61 countries while scaling at extraordinary speed.
According to Yaron, the key is not building giant organizations.
It is building small, highly focused teams.
Why Smaller Teams Move Faster
One of the most interesting parts of the conversation focused on how Deel organizes engineering.
Instead of large departments layered with management, Yaron prefers small teams of four or five people with clear ownership.
“The real engines of any tech company are the teams,” he said.
Each team owns a specific area of the product and operates with a high degree of independence.
That structure reduces meetings, speeds up deployment cycles, and allows teams to move quickly without waiting for approvals across multiple departments.
“We deploy to production 50 times a day sometimes,” Yaron said.
He also argued that many large companies have become too bloated with middle management layers that slow execution.
In Deel’s case, leadership layers remain intentionally thin.
Experienced engineering managers oversee multiple teams while allowing individual groups to operate autonomously.
The Hidden Skill Behind Remote Work
Remote work changes more than geography.
It changes management itself.
According to Yaron, one of the most underrated skills in modern tech is learning how to manage remote teams effectively.
“Having very good managers is the key for remote work to succeed,” he said.
That requires a very different approach than traditional office management.
Instead of monitoring presence, managers focus on deliverables, accountability, communication, and trust.
At Deel, employees are evaluated based on output rather than hours spent sitting inside an office.
“I don’t care if you start your day at 8 or 9 AM,” Yaron explained. “You have to deliver by the end of the week.”
The company also looks for specific personality traits when hiring remotely.
Self-discipline, optimism, independence, and strong communication matter just as much as technical ability.
Why Israel Still Stands Out in Tech
The conversation also turned toward Israel’s engineering culture.
Yaron believes Israeli engineers remain among the strongest in the world in infrastructure, DevOps, cybersecurity, and backend systems.
At the same time, he acknowledged that Israel’s tech market has become increasingly expensive due to competition from multinational companies hiring locally.
“The country is small,” he said. “The competition is crazy.”
That reality is another reason remote work has become central to scaling.
Companies can combine top Israeli engineering leadership with distributed global talent.
According to Yaron, that mix creates both speed and resilience.
He also pointed to one of Israel’s defining startup traits: persistence.
“Israelis are very good at striving to accomplish something,” he said.
The Human Side of Remote Work
While much of the interview focused on scaling technology organizations, the conversation also became surprisingly personal.
Yaron spoke openly about how remote work changes daily life.
Instead of spending hours commuting, employees can spend more time with their families, children, and personal lives.
“You can have lunch together, bring them to school, bring them back from school,” he said. “You’re much more present in their life.”
For Yaron, the future of work is not simply about productivity.
It is about creating a structure where companies can grow globally while people still maintain balance in their personal lives.
And based on Deel’s growth, many companies appear to be betting on the same future.
