"Recruiting Digital Talent"... Fintech-Originated Scout War (Comprehensive)

KakaoPay to Hire Hundreds Starting This Month
Commercial Banks and Gaming Industry Also Speeding Up IT Recruitment

[Asia Economy Reporters Kiho Sung and Nahum Kang] The value of digital talent in the financial industry is soaring. This is a result of the rapid acceleration of contactless services due to COVID-19, which has led to a surge in demand for digital talent in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and security. It is analyzed that the entry of fintech (finance + technology) companies and big tech (large information and communication companies) into the financial sector has been the trigger. Commercial banks, which are undergoing unprecedented restructuring, are also focusing on hiring digital talent, igniting a fierce scouting war.

According to the financial sector on the 16th, Kakao Pay will conduct recruitment aiming for triple digits from the 22nd of this month until the 1st of next month. The recruitment fields include ▲server ▲Android ▲web development and 20 other development positions, as well as 12 non-development positions including service PM (product manager) and staff, totaling 32 positions simultaneously.

Kakao Pay, which started with 60 employees in 2017, has grown to about 800 employees, and as the business reaches its main track, it needs to significantly expand its digital talent. Kakao Pay plans to hire more than 300 people this year, including 100 in the first half.

Hundreds of Financial IT Developers Hired... Startups Also Join Recruitment Wave

Large-scale hiring by internet banks and fintech companies is nothing new. Kakao Bank, for example, has announced plans to hire triple-digit experienced workers across eight fields this year, focusing on financial IT development and server development. Currently at about 900 employees, Kakao Bank will expand to over 1,000 after this recruitment. Viva Republica, which operates Toss, will also hire more than 300 developers in the first quarter alone.

Commercial banks, which underwent unprecedented restructuring last year, are accelerating the hiring of experienced IT professionals to strengthen digital competitiveness instead of large-scale open recruitment. Shinhan Bank is the first domestic commercial bank to conduct rolling recruitment for digital and ICT personnel. Kookmin Bank and Woori Bank have also started competing to secure IT and digital talent.

A financial industry official said, "As digital transformation accelerates, the scale of digital businesses and personnel is growing. Competition among companies to recruit digital-related talent is inevitably becoming more intense."

The gaming industry is also fiercely competing to attract development talent by significantly raising salaries. Netmarble and Nexon have raised starting salaries for new recruits to 50 million KRW for development positions and 45 million KRW for non-development positions. NCSoft, where the starting salary for developers is currently in the mid-40 million KRW range, is expected to raise salaries following its record-breaking performance last year.

Major startups have also joined the talent acquisition competition. Hyperconnect, which made a huge hit by being sold to the US-based Match Group for about 2 trillion KRW, is actively recruiting talent by offering a "talent referral bonus" of 1 million KRW.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.