BYTEDANCE, the parent company of Douyin and TikTok, has expanded its 2026 campus recruitment program by about 25% from a year earlier, driven by a growing shortage of tech talent.

The tech giant recently launched its latest annual hiring campaign, aiming to recruit over 5,000 graduates across eight categories, including research and development, product management, and operations, Securities Times reported Wednesday.

Research and development roles saw a 23% year-on-year increase, with the most significant growth in algorithm, front-end, and client-side development positions.

Divisions with the highest demand include short-video platform Douyin; its e-commerce arm; B2B tech brand Volcano Engine; workplace productivity suite Lark; and video editing app CapCut. These units are seeking a high number of candidates for roles such as product manager and data analyst.

Volcano Engine also kicked off its own 2026 campus recruitment drive Wednesday. The platform, which provides cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) services to businesses, is hiring R&D talent in areas such as front-end, back-end, client-side development, algorithms, big data, testing, and operations. Six additional roles are open in non-R&D functions, including sales, solutions architecture, product management, design, operations, and marketing.

ByteDance is not alone. Other major tech firms, including Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings, have also rolled out campus hiring campaigns in a bid to secure more AI talent.

The trend reflects a broader national shortage. Leading companies across industries such as internet, e-commerce, smart hardware, and gaming are facing a critical lack of AI professionals, according to the 2024 talent migration report by professional networking platform Maimai.

Rising demand is also pushing up compensation. From January to February, the three highest-paying roles among common tech job postings were large language model algorithm engineers (68,051 yuan or US$9,465 per month), AI engineers (60,768 yuan), and algorithm engineers (52,381 yuan), according to data from Maimai High-Hire Talent Think Tank.

ByteDance’s TopSeed Talent program, which targets outstanding Ph.D. candidates and research interns in AI fields, offers a daily wage of 2,000 yuan, well above industry standards, reports show. (SD-Agencies)