# Your first Singapore hires, handled. URL: https://skillsforce.com.sg/sectors/tech-start-ups Title: Tech Start-up Hiring & HR in Singapore | Skillsforce Description: First Singapore hires, HR and payroll for tech start-ups: local-first hiring, CPF and IRAS support, plus recruitment help before your entity exists. Updated 21 August 2026. First published 25 June 2026. Author: Skillsforce (People-operations team) A start-up’s first hires set the team, and the first payroll runs set the compliance habits. We help you build that team in Singapore before you have built an HR function, running the search early and having payroll and HR ready the moment your entity exists. ## How does Skillsforce help a tech start-up hire in Singapore? Skillsforce places a start-up’s first Singapore hires and runs the HR and payroll behind them. Before your entity exists, we can start the search and build your shortlist so hiring is not held up, with recruitment, CPF and IRAS all ready to go the day your entity is registered. ## The backbone before the headcount Early-stage teams hire generalists, move fast, and rarely have anyone whose job is HR. That is exactly when a late CPF filing or a mis-set payroll causes the most damage. We provide the people-operations backbone (recruitment, employment, payroll) so the founders can stay on the product, not the paperwork. ## Where we come in - First Singapore hires and early generalists - Recruitment support before your entity is registered - Interim or fractional HR for a new office - Salary benchmarking for early local hires - Payroll, CPF and IRAS set up correctly from hire one ## Building a local core A first Singapore team built around local hires is faster to onboard and far simpler to keep compliant. The local pool for early-stage roles is deeper than founders expect: operations, finance, customer-facing and engineering-support people who have worked in small companies before and do not need a process to follow. We run the search in the open market and shortlist on merit under TAFEP’s Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices. The compliance side of a local hire is small but unforgiving at this size. CPF starts from the first payday, and a new permanent resident sits on graduated rates, 9% of wages in year one and 24% in year two, before full rates apply from year three. Get that wrong on hire number three and you are correcting it for the rest of the year. We set payroll, CPF and IRAS up properly at the start. ## Payroll, equity and the entity gap Founder pay, option grants and early hires still have to clear CPF and IRAS correctly once your entity exists, and equity carries its own reporting. While you are still incorporating, we run the search, hold a shortlist ready and set payroll, CPF and IRAS reporting up in parallel, so all of it is ready to go the moment your entity is registered. ## From idea to first team 1. **Scope the hires:** We work out the roles and how far along your entity registration is, so recruitment and HR set-up run in parallel rather than waiting on each other. 2. **Source and shortlist:** We find and screen the candidates so your team is ready to start: on your own payroll once your entity is registered, or via Manpower Outsourcing if you already have an entity but no headcount yet. 3. **Run HR and payroll:** CPF, IRAS, leave and contracts handled from the first hire, equity-aware. 4. **Hand over when ready:** As you grow into your own HR function, we transition cleanly or stay as interim support. ## Frequently asked questions ### Can you employ staff before we have a Singapore entity? Not before your entity exists. What we can do is prepare the hiring: run the search, screen candidates and hold a shortlist ready so your first hires can start as soon as your entity is registered. If you already have a Singapore entity but no headcount to employ staff under yet, our Manpower Outsourcing service can employ them on our books while you direct their work. ### Do you focus on Singaporean and PR candidates? Yes. We work the local market first for early-stage generalist, operations and engineering-support roles, and shortlist on merit under TAFEP’s Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices. Where a search would otherwise widen, MOM’s Fair Consideration Framework requires the role to be advertised on MyCareersFuture for at least 14 consecutive days, with fair consideration of every applicant, before an employer looks further afield. ### How do you keep hiring fair? Selection is merit-based under TAFEP’s Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices. Skillsforce is Progressive Wage Mark accredited and has adopted three Tripartite Standards: Age-Friendly Workplace Practices, Employment of Term Contract Employees, and Flexi Work Arrangement. All of these sit on public registers, with our EA Licence 99C3289, so you can check them rather than take our word for it. ### Can you run payroll when our founders and staff hold equity? Yes. We run CPF on the cash components and handle the IRAS reporting for share options and other equity, including IR8A and IR21, so early grants do not complicate payroll. ### We have no HR person yet. Can you be it for now? That is our core fit for start-ups. We provide interim or fractional HR plus payroll, so hiring, contracts, CPF and IRAS are handled properly until you are ready to bring HR in-house. ### Our start-up is not really a tech company. Will you still work with us? Yes. Early-stage firms rarely sit neatly in a sector, and what matters is what the business actually does rather than what you call yourself. Contracts, payroll, CPF and IRAS run the same way regardless. What changes for a market new to us is the recruitment brief, so we take a longer one and calibrate on the first shortlist. ## Sources - [MOM: Fair Consideration Framework](https://www.mom.gov.sg/employment-practices/fair-consideration-framework) (Local-first advertising duty, accessed 21 August 2026) - [TAFEP: Tripartite Guidelines on Fair Employment Practices](https://www.tal.sg/tafep/getting-started/fair/tripartite-guidelines) (Merit-based selection, accessed 21 August 2026) - [CPF Board: CPF contribution rates](https://www.cpf.gov.sg/employer/employer-obligations/how-much-cpf-contributions-to-pay) (Graduated PR rates and rates effective 1 January 2026) ## Related - [Manpower Outsourcing](https://skillsforce.com.sg/services/contract-management) - [Setting up in Singapore](https://skillsforce.com.sg/services/hr/setting-up-in-singapore) - [A technology start-up’s first hires](https://skillsforce.com.sg/insights/tech-startup-first-hires-singapore)