Chinese technology giants are dangling annual pay packages approaching 1 million yuan (US$149,739) to attract artificial intelligence engineers who can turn AI models into commercial applications.
Companies including ByteDance, Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding are stepping up recruitment and training of the so-called forward-deployed engineers (FDEs), who work directly with customers to develop and integrate AI applications into business operations.
Demand for such professionals has been soaring. Job postings for FDEs in China surged 1,523 per cent in the first seven months from the same period in 2025, according to data from domestic professional networking platform Maimai, making it the fastest-growing AI technical role covered by the report.