StafkaRequest profiles

Hire a remote customer support specialist from Ukraine

A customer support specialist answers customers by email, chat and sometimes phone, solves their problems on the first contact where possible and passes product feedback to the team. The person works your hours from Kyiv under a direct contract; you pay a one-time fee only if you hire.

Your working day against Kyiv24-hour dial in New York time. Your 9:00 to 17:00 is the highlighted sector. Kyiv: sunrise 07:20, sunset 18:07 local, 2 hours shared on a 9 to 18 day, 6 on a 13 to 22 shift.6 hof your 9–17 with Kyiv
New York
your 9–17their working day, shared part bright13–22 shiftnight therenow
$44,770US median for this job
$700–$1,000our offer per month
8 h / 2 hshared hours with Berlin / New York
#45Ukraine in the EF English index

US wage: BLS[1]. Local wage: State Statistics Service of Ukraine[2]. English index[3].

Request profilesSee the hours

Working hours

Kyiv is on UTC+2 (UTC+3 in summer)[4].

Hours in Kyiv, January

New York (US Eastern)16:00–00:00 in Kyiv, 2 h shared
Chicago (US Central)17:00–01:00 in Kyiv, 1 h shared
Los Angeles (US Pacific)19:00–03:00 in Kyiv, 0 h shared
London11:00–19:00 in Kyiv, 7 h shared
Berlin / Paris (CET)10:00–18:00 in Kyiv, 8 h shared
0006121824
normal local day 9–18client's 9–17shared hours

A customer support specialist has to be available while the client's customers are: for a New York client that is 16:00–00:00 in Kyiv in winter, for a Berlin client 10:00–18:00. That is close to a normal local day, so European clients are the easier fit. US coverage is an evening-to-night shift; agree on it, and on a shift premium, before the offer.

Support is easy to split by time zone: a team in UTC+4 can cover the European day and the US morning, and night shifts can cover the US afternoon.

English level

Ukraine ranks #45 of 123 countries in the EF English Proficiency Index 2025 with a score of 526 ("Moderate" band). A national average says little about one person: every candidate we show passes a written task and a recorded voice answer at C1 level.

What to expect

Day to day

  • Answer tickets and live chats in clear, friendly English
  • Handle refunds, returns and order issues
  • Write and update help-centre articles
  • Tag tickets and report recurring problems
  • Escalate bugs with clear reproduction steps

How to test candidates

  • Three written replies to real-looking tickets (angry, confused, VIP)
  • Typing speed and grammar under time pressure
  • Judgement: when to refund, when to escalate

Pay and cost

Our current offer for this role is $700–$1,000 a month. That is 1.0–1.4 times the Ukraine average wage ($710). The low end is close to the national average and the high end is above it; the USD contract and remote setup matter as much as the number.

$63,957 US hire at the medianwage plus benefits, year one
$13,288 remote hire from Ukraine$850/month, fee and Deel, year one

How to contract and pay

On Upwork the client marketplace fee is up to 7.99% of every payment[8], and moving a freelancer off the platform within 24 months costs 13.5% of a year's estimated earnings (minimum $1,000)[9].

How hiring through Stafka works

  1. Send the role, hours and budget.
  2. Within 5 business days you get 3 vetted profiles with a written English sample and a voice recording.
  3. Interview, choose, and sign a contract directly with the person.
  4. Pay the $2,500–$3,000 fee on the start day; a free replacement within 90 days if it does not work out.

Questions

How much does it cost to hire a customer support specialist from Ukraine?

Our offer range is $700–$1,000 a month plus a one-time placement fee of $2,500–$3,000.

What time zone is Ukraine in?

Kyiv is UTC+2 (UTC+3 in summer).

How good is English in Ukraine?

Ukraine scores 526 (Moderate) in the EF English Proficiency Index 2025; we only show candidates who pass our C1 checks.

Other countries

Sources

  1. BLS OEWS May 2025, 43-4051: https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes434051.htm
  2. State Statistics Service of Ukraine, average monthly wage of staff employees, August 2026: https://www.lv.ukrstat.gov.ua/ukr/si/press/2026/r12_67.pdf
  3. EF English Proficiency Index 2025: Ukraine: https://www.ef.com/wwen/epi/regions/europe/ukraine/
  4. timeanddate.com: Kyiv time zone: https://www.timeanddate.com/time/zone/ukraine/kyiv
  5. Deel pricing, contractor management: https://www.deel.com/pricing/
  6. Wise Business pricing (US): https://wise.com/us/pricing/business
  7. Tax Code of Ukraine, art. 293.3: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/2755-17
  8. Upwork Client Marketplace Fee: https://support.upwork.com/hc/en-us/articles/4660220468499-What-is-the-Client-Marketplace-Fee
  9. Upwork User Agreement, sections 7.1 and 7.3: https://www.upwork.com/legal

How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Data checked 2026-10-16.