Foreign companies increased the hire of Russian IT specialists
Foreign companies are returning to the practice of recruiting Russian IT specialists. According to the results of 2024, they hired about 5 thousand employees, which is twice as much as a year earlier. Among the most active employers, domestic developers, Chinese Huawei, Alibaba and Tencent, say, however, European SAP, Delivery Hero and American META (recognized in the Russian Federation and prohibited), Amazon, Openai. The mincifers are aware of the situation, but they emphasize that they are about private cases and they do not wear a mass character.
Foreign companies doubled the hire of Russian IT specialists, said Arseniy Brykin, director of the Basis Consortium Basis (unites 15 developers of software and electronic engineering). According to him, in 2024, “several thousand” Russian IT employees were employed in foreign companies: “Now foreign companies not only directly hire employees as freelancers. Part of the hiring occurs through contracts for the provision of services when the collectives of Russian engineers actually work on the tasks of foreign vendors, without changing their jurisdiction. ”
Last year, about 5 thousand Russian highly qualified IT cadres against 2.5 thousand in 2023 were employed in foreign companies, ARTEZIO Sergey Matusevich was confirmed by the Development Director of AI and Web-Technologies.
He adds that companies from Southeast Asia and the Middle East were especially activated, and he calls Chinese Huawei, Alibaba and Tencent dominant among them. Demand for Russian IT-cadres has grown from the UAE, especially in Fintech Segment, and there is also growth from Indian IT-Autsorcer, continues Mr. Matusevich. He clarifies that employees are hired in foreign legal entities.
Over the past year, the growth of the hiring of Russian experts increased from 1.5–2 thousand people in 2023 to 3-5 thousand, Anton Bobrov, the K-TAM HRM-Platform Director for the Development of the HRM Platform (Group of Consulting Group of Companies). At the same time, he calls SAP, Delivery Hero, Zalando among the Hunting leaders in European companies. “American firms are no less active: META (recognized in the Russian Federation extremist and prohibited – b), Amazon, Openai – they hire directly or through branches in Armenia, Georgia, Serbia,” he emphasizes.
Global offices Huawei, Alibaba, Tencent, Meta (recognized in the Russian Federation extremist and prohibited), Amazon, Openai, Sap, Delivery Hero, Zalando did not respond to the request of Kommersant.
“This situation is not massive. Mincifers are aware of individual cases, while in the whole industry we see a steady increase in the number of employees. According to the results of 2024, their number almost reached 1 million people, ”Kommersant said in the ministry.
The number of requests from the Chinese companies for the search for IT specialists in the Russian Federation increased four times over the year, Vitaly Mankevich, chairman of the All-Russian Public Organization of the All-Russian Public Organization, told Kommersant. However, of them, according to his assessment, only 200 people managed to employ it. “It is worth noting that they are taken exclusively to solve the tasks of doing business in Russia and without moving to China,” he assures, adding that in China and so much competition among IT specialists. Mr. Manchevich explains the growth of demand for Russian experts to the growing activity of Chinese companies in the Russian Federation. “The current trend will not be long-term, most likely such an increase is associated with a low base, and, having gained the right amount, foreign companies will stop hiring Russian IT specialists,” he said.
Active “Hunting” of Russian personnel is also due to the attractiveness of salaries in currency, the restoration of the IT market in Asia and English-speaking countries, says Vera Kraevskaya, CEO of Vizhnservice: “Many Russian companies have no resources to compete in salaries with foreign players.”
740 thousand people
He made up the deficiency of IT cadres in the Russian Federation, according to the Minzifra, in mid-2023.
“In the context of the global deficiency of IT-cadres, Russian experts remain attractive-they have a strong mathematical base, a high ability to solve complex problems with limited resources, and they are still cheaper than Western colleagues, especially in dollar terms,” explains Mr. Matusevich.
He emphasizes that the main problem remains a “high -quality” personnel of personnel: “First of all, expert -level experts, architects, project managers, those who determine the direction of technological development are leaving.”
