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I don't have much experience managing macOS in a professional setting (mostly just writing automation one-liners). But a simple way to automate setup would be to create a GitHub repo and include the setup script (below) and the company wallpaper. There are a LOT of casks (macOS native applications) and formulae (command line apps, built from source), so check Homebrew for apps you want to install.
Check out Installr. You can deploy a fresh OS and any necessary PKGs. You can do it remotely or with a USB drive. I use Installr to deploy Outset. Outset holds the scripts I use to adjust various preferences. Works great.
I would not suggest using homebrew in a production environment, I would suggest using Installomator instead
You're right, it isn't optimized for a production environment (like at all). But the OP asking about a quick way to install and configure a macOS install for work without an MDM. But, Homebrew manages getting the newest version of the specified packages. Although, after a quick look through the Installomator repo, it seems like a good option in this instance. And another option would be using Installr which had been mentioned earlier. And depending on the amount of users, using SSH (and Ansible, if you feel like it) could also work as a DIY MDM (but limited to osascript commands for system prefs).
3: Get ProfileCreator (https://github.com/ProfileCreator/ProfileCreator/releases) and work out some default settings for your new machines.