How Many Employees Does Deepseek AI Have?

Joseph D'Souza
Written by
Joseph D'Souza

Updated · Jul 28, 2025

Rohan Jambhale
Edited by
Rohan Jambhale

Editor

How Many Employees Does Deepseek AI Have?

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

Incentivizing Reasoning Capability in LLMs via Reinforcement Learning (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.

Joseph D'Souza
Joseph D'Souza

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.

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