How Many Employees Does Deepseek AI Have?

Updated · Jul 28, 2025


Table of Contents
Introduction
As of January 2025, Deepseek AI employs about 200 people. LinkedIn categorises the firm in the 51–200 employee range, while Wikipedia’s most recent entry records 160 employees for 2025. The workforce is young, with a median tenure of roughly 0.8 years, and hiring momentum continues—eight positions are currently advertised for its Hangzhou headquarters.
Founded in July 2023, the company made headlines by claiming it trained its V3 language model in just two months at a cost below US$ 6 million, far less than the reported US$ 100 million required for GPT‑4. For scale, OpenAI’s headcount is estimated at about 3,500 employees, underscoring Deepseek AI’s lean, capital‑efficient structure as it scales its research and product development pipeline.
DeepSeek AI Executive Team Analysis
- Wikipedia reports further that Liang Wenfeng is the founder and CEO of DeepSeek.
- Before starting the company in mid-2023, he co-founded a hedge fund called High-Flyer back in 2015.
- He studied at Zhejiang University, where he earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering.
- At DeepSeek, Liang leads the AI strategy, focusing on new ideas, keeping costs low, and supporting open-source development.
- Highperformer also shows that Yuan Jinmeng is one of the co-founders of DeepSeek AI and also leads the research team as the Chief Scientist. This role was confirmed in executive listings from April 2025.
DeepSeek AI Employees / Authors
(Source: arxiv.org)
The January 2025 paper titled “DeepSeek-R1: Incentivising Reasoning Capability in LLMs via Reinforcement Learning” names 199 authors, many of whom are thought to be part of the current DeepSeek team.
Name | 101. Shaoqing Wu |
1. Daya Guo |
102. Shengfeng Ye |
2. Dejian Yang |
103. Tao Yun |
3. Haowei Zhang |
104. Tian Pei |
4. Junxiao Song |
105. Tianyu Sun |
5. Ruoyu Zhang |
106. T. Wang |
6. Runxin Xu |
107. Wangding Zeng |
7. Qihao Zhu |
108. Wanjia Zhao |
8. Shirong Ma |
109. Wen Liu |
9. Peiyi Wang |
110. Wenfeng Liang |
10. Xiao Bi |
111. Wenjun Gao |
11. Xiaokang Zhang |
112. Wenqin Yu |
12. Xingkai Yu |
113. Wentao Zhang |
13. Yu Wu |
114. W.L. Xiao |
14. Z.F. Wu |
115. Wei An |
15. Zhibin Gou |
116. Xiaodong Liu |
16. Zhihong Shao |
117. Xiaohan Wang |
17. Zhuoshu Li |
118. Xiaokang Chen |
18. Ziyi Gao |
119. Xiaotao Nie |
19. Aixin Liu |
120. Xin Cheng |
20. Bing Xue |
121. Xin Liu |
21. Bingxuan Wang |
122. Xin Xie |
22. Bochao Wu |
123. Xingchao Liu |
23. Bei Feng |
124. Xinyu Yang |
24. Chengda Lu |
125. Xinyuan Li |
25. Chenggang Zhao |
126. Xuecheng Su |
26. Chengqi Deng |
127. Xuheng Lin |
27. Chenyu Zhang |
128. X.Q. Li |
28. Chong Ruan |
129. Xiangyue Jin |
29. Damai Dai |
130. Xiaojin Shen |
30. Deli Chen |
131. Xiaosha Chen |
31. Dongjie Ji |
132. Xiaowen Sun |
32. Erhang Li |
133. Xiaoxiang Wang |
33. Fangyun Lin |
134. Xinnan Song |
34. Fucong Dai |
135. Xinyi Zhou |
35. Fuli Luo |
136. Xianzu Wang |
36. Guangbo Hao |
137. Xinxia Shan |
37. Guanting Chen |
138. Y.K. Li |
38. Guowei Li |
139. Y.Q. Wang |
39. H. Zhang |
140. Y.X. Wei |
40. Han Bao |
141. Yang Zhang |
41. Hanwei Xu |
142. Yanhong Xu |
42. Haocheng Wang |
143. Yao Li |
43. Honghui Ding |
144. Yao Zhao |
44. Huajian Xin |
145. Yaofeng Sun |
45. Huazuo Gao |
146. Yaohui Wang |
46. Hui Qu |
147. Yi Yu |
47. Hui Li |
148. Yichao Zhang |
48. Jianzhong Guo |
149. Yifan Shi |
49. Jiashi Li |
150. Yiliang Xiong |
50. Jiawei Wang |
151. Ying He |
51. Jingchang Chen |
152. Yishi Piao |
52. Jingyang Yuan |
153. Yisong Wang |
53. Junjie Qiu |
154. Yixuan Tan |
54. Junlong Li |
155.Yiyang Ma |
55. J.L. Cai |
156. Yiyuan Liu |
56. Jiaqi Ni |
157. Yongqiang Guo |
57. Jian Liang |
158. Yuan Ou |
58. Jin Chen |
159. Yuduan Wang |
59. Kai Dong |
160. Yue Gong |
60. Kai Hu |
161. Yuheng Zou |
61. Kaige Gao |
162. Yujia He |
62. Kang Guan |
163. Yunfan Xiong |
63. Kexin Huang |
164. Yuxiang Luo |
64. Kuai Yu |
165. Yuxiang You |
65. Lean Wang |
166. Yuxuan Liu |
66. Lecong Zhang |
167. Yuyang Zhou |
67. Liang Zhao |
168. Y.X. Zhu |
68. Litong Wang |
169. Yanhong Xu |
69. Liyue Zhang |
170. Yanping Huang |
70. Lei Xu |
171. Yaohui Li |
71. Leyi Xia |
172. Yi Zheng |
72. Mingchuan Zhang |
173. Yuchen Zhu |
73. Minghua Zhang |
174. Yunxian Ma |
74. Minghui Tang |
175. Ying Tang |
75. Meng Li |
176. Yukun Zha |
76. Miaojun Wang |
177. Yuting Yan |
77. Mingming Li |
178. Z.Z. Ren |
78. Ning Tian |
179. Zehui Ren |
79. Panpan Huang |
180. Zhangli Sha |
80. Peng Zhang |
181. Zhe Fu |
81. Qiancheng Wang |
182. Zhean Xu |
82. Qinyu Chen |
183. Zhenda Xie |
83. Qiushi Du |
184. Zhengyan Zhang |
84. Ruiqi Ge |
185. Zhewen Hao |
85. Ruisong Zhang |
186. Zhicheng Ma |
86. Ruizhe Pan |
187. Zhigang Yan |
87. Runji Wang |
188. Zhiyu Wu |
88. R.J. Chen |
189. Zihui Gu |
89. R.L. Jin |
190. Zijia Zhu |
90. Ruyi Chen |
191. Zijun Liu |
91. Shanghao Lu |
192. Zilin Li |
92. Shangyan Zhou |
193. Ziwei Xie |
93. Shanhuang Chen |
194. Ziyang Song |
94. Shengfeng Ye |
195. Zizheng Pan |
95. Shiyu Wang |
196. Zhen Huang |
96. Shuiping Yu |
197. Zhipeng Xu |
97. Shunfeng Zhou |
198. Zhongyu Zhang |
98. Shuting Pan |
199. Zhen Zhang |
99. S.S. Li |
|
100. Shuang Zhou |
DeepSeek Employee Demographics Analysis
- com also states that most of DeepSeek’s core technical staff are either fresh graduates or researchers with an experience of 1 to 2 years.
- A report published in chaincatcher.com states that about 20–25% of DeepSeek’s team have 3 to 5 years of experience.
- The company usually avoids hiring technical staff with over 8 years of experience.
- Less than 5% of DeepSeek’s team has more than five years of work experience, as per the reports of CNBC.
How much do DeepSeek AI Employees Earn?
- According to ehangzhou.gov.cn, the top-tier compensation of DeepSeek’s packages significantly surpasses the industry average in China, where AGI Deep Learning Researchers’ salaries typically hover around ¥380,000 to ¥450,000 annually (Approximately USD 53,200 to USD 63,000).
- The estimated annual salary (14-month model) accounted for ¥1.12 million to ¥1.54 million (USD 154,000 to USD 212,000).
Employee’s Experience Level | Monthly Salary | Estimated Annual Salary (14‑Month Model) |
Core System Engineers / Client Engineers | Starts at ¥60,000
(USD 8,400) |
¥840,000 (USD 115,860) |
Other Technical Roles | ¥20,000
(USD 2,800) |
¥280,000 (USD 38,500) |
DeepSeek Hiring Analysis
- According to SEO.AI, DeepSeek grew its team from about 150 employees in early 2025 to between 160 and 200 by mid-year.
- The news site en. People.CN shared that in February 2025, DeepSeek posted 52 job openings on BOSS Zhipin. More than 40 of these were technical jobs, including roles for researchers, engineers, UI designers, and support staff.
- Later, in July 2025, scmp.com reported that LinkedIn listed 10 more open positions at DeepSeek. These included urgent internships in AGI research and roles for deep learning and full-stack engineers based in Beijing and Hangzhou.
What Deepseek are Looking for in Future Employees?
- DeepSeek is looking for employees who understand large language models (LLMs) well. They should have hands-on experience working with these models, know how datasets and testing methods affect results, and be able to spot both strengths and problems in the models.
- Candidates who care deeply about data quality are valued, especially those who can manage and improve data labelling processes based on feedback.
- The company also appreciates curious minds who explore different topics and connect ideas across fields.
- A strong interest in artificial general intelligence (AGI) and the ability to solve tough problems without much help are important qualities.
- DeepSeek is especially interested in those with skills in high-performance computing (HPC), including tasks like optimising network and hardware performance.
- For legal roles, understanding AI regulations and building safety frameworks is a big plus. Employees who can design user-friendly interfaces and bring research closer to real-world use are also highly valued at DeepSeek.
Conclusion
Deepseek AI remains a lean yet rapidly scaling team. Public filings, industry reviews, and LinkedIn metrics converge on a headcount of roughly 200 employees as of early 2025, positioning the Hangzhou‑based startup within the 51‑200 bracket common to high‑growth AI ventures. This figure may rise quickly given its ongoing aggressive hiring drive.
Sources

Joseph D'Souza founded ElectroIQ in 2010 as a personal project to share his insights and experiences with tech gadgets. Over time, it has grown into a well-regarded tech blog, known for its in-depth technology trends, smartphone reviews and app-related statistics.