Starting from 2016, the recruitment for blockchain-related talents has become a lucrative priority for headhunters. Companies and non-profit organizations are fighting to hire the best brains that master blockchain techniques in China.

Search result of “blockchain” on Lagou , one of major IT recruitment platform, shows 217 vacancies available and 51job returns 305 jobs. Employers include big companies like Pingan Technology, Sanyi Engineering and Zhongan Insurance. But we can see more offers coming from fintech startups, mostly located in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Shenzhen. The monthly salary ranges from 10,000 RMB(~1,450 USD) to 60,0000(~8,700 USD), which is way beyond the average salary , or around 644 USD (annual average 53,615 RMB), of a Chinese in 2015.

Blockchain talents in high demand in China. (screenshot from Lagou)

Take the “Blockchain Researcher” by Pingan Technology for example:

Perks:

Fortune 500 companies, good welfare and performance bonus.

Job Description:

1. Responsible for the design and R & D of blockchain products;

2. To develop a financial platform and infrastructure based on Ethereum;

3. Study the protocol, operating mechanism and the product realization on layer-protocol level to help improve some PoC blockchain products.

Requirements:

1. Bachelor degree or above in software engineering, computer or equivalent.

2. More than 1 year development experience, previous working experience in Internet or financial industry is preferred.

3. Familiar with Linux/Java/Python/Javascript or at least two of them, familiarity with the Solidity language is preferred.

4. Familiar with various of data structures and algorithms, cryptography, security protocols and encryption algorithms.

5. Master the working principles, mechanism and encryption algorithms of blockchain products like Bitcoin or Ethereum.

6. Good team spirit and execution capability, strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

According to Effy Lee, the OP of a recruitment post for Ant Financial on 8btc, the annual salary for a Blockchain Director’s position is well over 1 million RMB(~144,000 USD). Although she refuses to disclose the commission rate, it’s said that the headhunter could get up to 30% of the annual salary if a candidate is contracted.

As blockchain technology is often interwoven with financial industry and information technology, a person that has the capability to cross the gap between both is rare. However, with the recent cooling down of internet finance speculation, some seasoned developers are turning to blockchain research, just like Zhu Zhiwen, founder of Ebookchain. He used to work in a state-owned company and turned to study blockchain in 2015 and now he made the headline of CSDN as a blockchain expert. On the other hand, blockchain startups like Gingkoo are injected with abundant funding for expansion.

A job in commercial sectors may sound tempting for its high salary, but what’s more attractive to the Chinese public is the stability of working in government sectors or non-profit institutes.

At the beginning of 2016, the digital currency research lab under the PBoC has established the first blockchain technology research team and a digital currency research center. The team is committed to the practice and forward-looking research utilizing blockchain in the field of financial sectors, such as digital draft business. In June 2016, Digital Money Research Labs released the first proof-of-concept prototype of the Smart Digital Draft System (SDDS) based on blockchain technology. In December 2016, PBoC also sent out a message to hire talents who have master or doctoral degree in computer science, information security and cryptology. At present, the Digital Currency Research Center is involved in the central bank related key research topics. The institute also established a joint lab for digital currency with Zhejiang University.

“Blockchain is considered the cornerstone to transform a untrustworthy internet to a credible network, the role of which will shift from transfer of information into transfer of value.”

He Baohong, Deputy Director of Technology and Standard Research Institute of CATR, speaks at a blockchain and big data forum in Shanghai Pudong.

“However, the conception of Blockchain is not unified. The industry has realized that the absence of a standardized blockchain is not conducive to its development.”

The blockchain industry is like Wild West in China. With the gradual clarification of regulation in China, we are expecting more demands for the most-treasured resources: talents.

Last but not least, 8btc is also recruiting blockchain developers with C/C++, Python skills.