Hire Developers in China - Second Talent
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Hire Developers in China

Hire dedicated developers from China for $4,500–$5,500/mo. Save 50-70% vs US salaries. Pre-vetted engineers ready in 24–48 hours.

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Hire in days. Keep the calibre. Halve the cost.

24 Hours

to get matched

50-70 %

payroll savings

92 %

talent retention rate

4.9

avg client rating

200 +

companies building with us

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3,000+ Dedicated Developers For Hire in China

Lin Xiaoyu, Mandarin AI Trainer Chengdu, China
Vetted
MandarinSimplified ChineseEnglishResponse Rating +2

Lin writes and reviews Mandarin training data in Simplified Chinese. She rates model answers for fluency and accuracy, and rewrites translated data so it reads natively.

Advanced English Full-time Ready

Lin Xiaoyu

Mandarin AI Trainer · 6+ Years

Chengdu, China

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Tao Sun, Dedicated Game Developer Shenzhen, China
Vetted
UnityUnreal Engine 5C#C++ +2

Tao is a dual-engine game developer with both Unity and Unreal mastery. He has shipped mobile and PC titles for global publishers from China, owning gameplay frameworks, content pipelines, and platform certification.

Advanced English Full-time Ready

Tao Sun

Dedicated Game Developer · 11+ Years

Shenzhen, China

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Xinyi Zhou, Dedicated Unreal Engine Developer Beijing, China
Vetted
Unreal Engine 5C++BlueprintsNiagara +2

Xinyi is an Unreal Engine 5 developer with deep AAA experience. She has shipped console and PC titles at Tencent and NetEase-tier studios, owning gameplay systems, animation programming, and tools work.

Advanced English Full-time Ready

Xinyi Zhou

Dedicated Unreal Engine Developer · 9+ Years

Beijing, China

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Xiao Li, Dedicated DevOps Engineer Hangzhou, China
Vetted
KubernetesTerraformAWSCI/CD +2

Xiao is a DevOps engineer specializing in cloud-native infrastructure and platform engineering. She has built and maintained production environments for large-scale tech companies, with deep expertise in container orchestration and observability.

Advanced English Full-time Ready

Xiao Li

Dedicated DevOps Engineer · 7+ Years

Hangzhou, China

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Yun Zhao, Dedicated Data Engineer Beijing, China
Vetted
PythonApache SparkFlinkBigQuery +2

Yun is a data engineer with expertise in building real-time data pipelines and analytics platforms. She has designed data infrastructure for large-scale e-commerce and ad-tech companies processing billions of events daily.

Advanced English Full-time Ready

Yun Zhao

Dedicated Data Engineer · 9+ Years

Beijing, China

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Backed by results, not promises

Maneva

6

Specialists hired

Industrial AI Industry
Maneva
Truckstop

8

Engineers hired in Vietnam across five requisitions.

22 d Avg to hire 3 Disciplines
Truckstop
Tom Ferry

14

Developers hired across five role types in 18 months.

60-70% Cost saved 5+ Role types
Tom Ferry
Open Campus

70%

Jump in productivity after building the team.

10 Engineers 2 mo To scale
Open Campus
Beyond Cars

$1.5B

Exit via acquisition by a major automotive marketplace.

70% Growth 4 mo To scale
Beyond Cars
Chow Sang Sang

70%

Reduction in labor costs across store operations.

30% Revenue up 14 d To hire
Chow Sang Sang
Mixcare Health

70%

Increase in business efficiency after the build.

5 Team members 2 Countries
Mixcare Health
SatLayer

50%

Productivity boost after scaling the engineering team.

20% Team growth 40% Capability
SatLayer
Lane Crawford Joyce

3

Role types staffed for the group's technology team.

10 Engineers 2x Dev speed
Lane Crawford Joyce
imBee

3 days

To source and onboard their first sales hire.

3 SDRs hired ID Hiring market
imBee
WELL3

2 mo

Of hiring time saved on their lead engineer search.

1 Lead engineer HK Hiring market
WELL3

Why Second Talent?

  • 50-70% cost savings

    No office overhead, no traditional employee expenses.

  • AI-native talent

    Teams equipped with the latest AI tools.

  • Working U.S. hours

    4-6 hours of overlap to stay aligned.

  • Rigorous vetting

    Coding tests, peer interviews, and role checks, matched to your exact stack.

How Second Talent Works

What our clients say

Thanks to Second Talent, Open Campus quickly built a skilled tech team of 10 within two months, boosting productivity by 70% and accelerating our Web3 platform's development.

This success has strengthened our role in decentralized education and fueled our market expansion, highlighting our leadership in Web3 innovation.

Jonah L.

Jonah L.

Head of Portfolio (raised US$100m)

Animoca Brands

Second Talent helped Beyond Cars (acquired by Carro) swiftly build a top-tier tech team in just a month, accelerating our platform's development and boosting productivity.

This success allowed us to expand into new markets, ultimately leading to our acquisition by a major automotive e-commerce company.

Garry Y.

Garry Y.

Co-Founder (acquired by Carro)

Carro

Partnering with Second Talent has been a game-changer for our tech expansion.

Their ability to source top-tier talent from Vietnam helped us scale rapidly while maintaining quality. Their pre-vetted candidates integrated seamlessly, and their account management ensured smooth onboarding.

Tom F.

Tom F.

Co-founder (#1 US Real Estate Coach)

Tom Ferry

Second Talent played a key role in our tech expansion, quickly providing high-quality frontend talent that integrated seamlessly into our projects.

Their pre-vetted candidates, smooth onboarding process, and excellent support helped us build a strong, cost-effective team that drives our success.

Marco A.

Marco A.

Co-founder & CTO

Finno

Second Talent built our team of pre-vetted engineers who made our hiring decisions straightforward.

Once onboarded, our tech team saw a significant boost in productivity and development speed. Their excellent account management and responsive customer service also ensured smooth handling of all post-onboarding HR matters.

Jack N.

Jack N.

Director of IT (10,000+ employees)

Lane Crawford

Second Talent helped us rapidly scale by sourcing top-quality SDR talent from Indonesia.

Their pre-screened candidates fit perfectly, and their smooth onboarding and support built a strong, cost-effective team that helped to test and experiment sales with another market.

Leo W.

Leo W.

Co-founder (raised US$5m)

imbee

Hire Remote Developers in China from anywhere

Wherever your team sits, you can hire remote Developers in China through Second Talent. Most of our clients are in the United States, Europe, the UK, and Australia, and the model is the same across every origin. Dedicated, pre-vetted talent. Time-zone overlap that fits your workday. Compliant employment handled for you.

Hiring from United States

  • 4–6 hours of daily overlap with US hours
  • Delaware MSA, NDA and IP assignment on file
  • USD billing, monthly invoices, Stripe or bank transfer

Most US clients hiring Developers in China start with one engineer and scale to a 3–5 person team within the first quarter.

Hiring from Europe & the UK

  • 6–8 hours of daily overlap with CET and UK working hours
  • GDPR aligned, EU standard contractual clauses available
  • EUR or GBP billing supported, SEPA / Wise / bank transfer

European teams hiring Developers in China typically replace 3–4 senior open roles with one Second Talent engagement.

Hiring from Australia

  • 6–8 hours of daily overlap with Sydney and Melbourne working hours
  • AU-aligned contracts, ABN-friendly invoicing
  • AUD or USD billing, monthly cycle

Australian teams hiring Developers in China get the closest time-zone alignment of any offshore destination.

Hiring from somewhere else? Canada, the Middle East, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan work exactly the same way. Contracts, payroll, social contributions and IP assignment are handled by Second Talent wherever your entity is registered, so the only thing that changes is your overlap window.

Hire Now

Hiring Developers is Easy with Second Talent

Hire in 3 steps, not 3 months.

1

Tell Us What You Are Building

Share what to ship, automate, or scale. Plus stack, budget, and timezone overlap.

2

Meet Top Picks in 24 Hours

6–8 pre-vetted Developers fluent in Claude Code and modern AI stacks. Interview the ones you like.

3

Ship From Day One

We handle contracts, payroll, and equipment. Your Developer ships real output within the first week.

Hire Developers by Specialization in China

Guide to Hiring Developers in China

Everything you need to know about employment laws, payroll, and compliance when hiring developers in China.

China has the deepest engineering pool on earth and the most friction attached to using it. Both parts are worth understanding before you decide.

$919B

Software and IT services revenue, first five months of 2026

8M

People employed in software development

464

EF English score, 86th of 123 countries

$4,500

Monthly starting point for a senior engineer through us

Scale, and an AI hiring surge

Software and IT services revenue reached about $919 billion in the first five months of 2026, up 10.3 percent year on year, across roughly eight million people in software development. The AI competition for engineers is intense: Tencent raised technical recruitment 36 percent in 2026, AI roles account for more than 60 percent of Alibaba's hiring and more than 90 percent of Baidu's campus intake. Beijing holds 19 of the country's top 50 AI companies, Shanghai 14, with Shenzhen and Guangzhou holding 10 between them.

English is the trade-off

China scored 464 in the 2025 EF English Proficiency Index, 86th of 123. Engineering talent is exceptional and English is genuinely a constraint for most of it. Teams that succeed here run written-first, keep specifications precise, and put a bilingual lead between the team and the business.

Employment costs vary by city, not nationally

Employer contributions run 30 to 35 percent including the housing fund and are set city by city, with the contribution base banded between 60 and 300 percent of the local average wage and reset every July. Since September 2025 any agreement to waive social insurance is void, and an employee can resign on that basis and claim severance. Budget from the city, never from a national average.

See what each role actually pays in the China developer rate card.

Sources: China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology software revenue data, 2026; EF English Proficiency Index 2025; Supreme People\'s Court Interpretation II, in force September 2025.

Working Hours

40 hours/week (8 hrs/day, 5 days). "996" culture exists but is non-compliant.

Overtime Pay

150% weekdays, 200% rest days, 300% statutory holidays. Max 36 hrs OT/month.

Probation Period

1 month (<1 yr contract), 2 months (1-3 yrs), 6 months (3+ yrs).

Leave Entitlements in China

Leave Type
Entitlement
Annual Leave
5 days (1-10 yrs), 10 days (10-20 yrs), 15 days (20+ yrs).
Sick Leave
3-24 months depending on tenure. Paid at 60-100% by region.
Maternity Leave
98 days nationally + provincial extensions (30-60 extra days common).
Paternity Leave
15-30 days depending on province.
Public Holidays
11 days (New Year, Spring Festival 3 days, Qingming, Labor Day, National Day 3 days).

Notice Period

30 days (written notice) or 1 month salary in lieu.

Severance Pay

1 month per year of service. Capped at 12 months (for high earners).

Payroll & Tax in China

Component
Details
Employer Contributions
~31% (pension 16%, medical 10%, unemployment 0.5%, housing 5-12%).
Employee Contributions
~23% (pension 8%, medical 2%, unemployment 0.5%, housing 5-12%).
Income Tax
Progressive 3%-45%. Monthly standard deduction: CNY 5,000.
Minimum Wage
Beijing: CNY 2,420/mo (~$335). Shanghai: CNY 2,690/mo (~$372). Varies by city.
13th Month / Bonus
Not mandatory. Year-end bonus standard (1-6 months in tech).
Senior Developer Salary
$4,500-$5,500/mo

Second Talent handles all of this for you

Payroll, taxes, social contributions, leave tracking, contracts, and compliance in China. You focus on building your product.

Hire Talent

Frequently Asked Questions

How fast can I hire a software engineer in China through Second Talent?
Most clients receive a shortlist of pre-vetted Chinese engineers within 24–48 hours of submitting their requirements. You can interview immediately and hire within a week.
How much does a senior engineer in China cost?
Senior software engineers in China range from $4,500–$5,500/month through Second Talent. Mid-level: $3,200–$4,200/mo. Staff/lead level: $6,000–$7,500/mo. 50-70% lower than equivalent US salaries.
Do I need to set up a Chinese entity to hire?
No. You can hire Chinese engineers as independent contractors, or use Second Talent's Employer of Record (EOR) service to handle payroll, contracts, taxes, and local labor compliance on your behalf.
How does Second Talent vet engineers in China?
A four-stage process: resume and work-history review, technical screening with role-specific coding challenges, live English communication interview, and reference + employment verification. Less than 5% of applicants pass.
What time zone do Chinese engineers work in?
China Standard Time is UTC+8 — a 13-hour gap with US Eastern Time. Engineers typically use an overlap model: 1–2 daily meetings during the early-morning US window, with the rest of the day handled async via Slack, Notion and Linear.
What kinds of roles do Chinese engineers excel at?
Backend (Java, Go, Python, C++), AI/ML (TensorFlow, PyTorch), cloud and DevOps (AWS, GCP, Kubernetes), embedded/IoT (C++, Rust, RTOS), and high-scale distributed systems. China produces strong talent across all of these.

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