After Meta, China’s DeepSeek ramps up hiring as global AI talent hunt continues

Deepseek AI

Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek is stepping up its recruitment drive, posting a string of job openings as it eyes global talent in the increasingly competitive race to build next-gen artificial intelligence. According to a report by South China Morning Post, the Hangzhou-based company listed 10 new roles on LinkedIn, ranging from internships in large language models to core systems engineers and full-stack developers—positions based in Hangzhou and Beijing.

Though the listings were all in Chinese, their message was clear: DeepSeek is doubling down on its ambition to develop AGI (artificial general intelligence) with a hybrid focus on real-world application and academic rigour. The company boasts of “top-tier GPU clusters” and fast-paced experimental workflows, offering candidates the chance to work with researchers fluent in both engineering and theory, as per the report.

Interestingly, DeepSeek’s use of LinkedIn—largely defunct in mainland China—suggests it’s casting a net abroad for Chinese AI talent. The start-up has also posted over 40 roles on domestic job board Boss Zhipin, with salaries as high as ¥90,000 (~US$12,500) a month and bonuses equal to two months’ pay. Roles listed as “urgent” include key AGI and engineering positions.

DeepSeek has yet to release a breakthrough model, though it recently rolled out incremental updates to its R1 reasoning model and V3 foundational model.

The hiring push comes amid a broader AI talent war. Meta’s new Superintelligence Lab, led by Scale AI’s Alexandr Wang, has recruited several former OpenAI developers—many with Chinese roots. Nvidia, ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent are also in talent-acquisition mode, with recent high-profile hires from Tsinghua, Google, and the global AI ecosystem.