Korea's developer hiring: big sign-on bonuses, fewer graduate intakes

This guide is for developers and employers following Korea's tech job market. In 2025 some companies paid large bonuses just for passing their hiring process, while most big tech firms stopped open recruitment of new graduate developers. Bank of Korea (한국은행) data help explain the split. Each figure below carries its date.

Bonuses for passing the hiring process

In April 2025, the AI startup Wrtn Technologies (뤼튼테크놀로지스) announced that it would pay ₩20,000,000 to anyone who passed its full-time hiring process, even if the person then declined the offer, moved elsewhere or never started work. The hiring drive ran until June 30, 2025 across 17 positions, including AI development, back-end and front-end engineering, marketing, design and product analysis. The company also raised its employee referral reward to ₩5,000,000 for each successful hire.

In August 2025, the travel and leisure platform NOL Universe (놀유니버스) offered a ₩5,000,000 congratulatory payment to people who passed its hiring for tech roles in development, security and product management.

The author reads these offers as more than a perk. A payment that does not depend on starting work looks like an investment in a network of talented people in their 20s and 30s, and larger referral rewards show how much companies now rely on their own staff to find talent.

From the hiring boom to fewer graduate intakes

Offers were generous during the startup investment boom of the early 2020s. In June 2020 Coupang (쿠팡) advertised a ₩50,000,000 signing bonus while hiring 200 developers with 5 years' experience. In 2020 Toss Bank (토스뱅크) offered stock options worth ₩100,000,000 and up to 1.5 times the candidate's previous salary. In February 2021 the game company Krafton (크래프톤) raised developers' pay by ₩20,000,000 and set the starting salary of new graduate developers at ₩60,000,000.

By 2025 the picture had changed. Of the seven companies often grouped as Nekarakubaedangto (네카라쿠배당토: Naver, Kakao, Line, Coupang, Baemin, Danggeun and Toss), only Naver planned open recruitment (공개채용) of new graduate IT developers in 2025. The other six said they had no separate plan and would use rolling recruitment (상시채용) when needed (Byline Network, February 12, 2025). The same report said hiring of new developers had fallen noticeably compared with 2~3 years earlier.

Why AI talent is scarce

A Bank of Korea issue note published in December 2025 (BOK Issue Note No. 2025-36) estimated about 57,000 AI specialists in Korea in 2024. About 16% of them, more than 11,000 people, worked abroad, roughly 6 percentage points more than workers in other fields, and the United States was the main destination.

Pay is a key reason. The Bank estimated the wage premium for AI skills in 2024:

In the Bank's survey of 400 Korean companies, more than half planned to hire more AI staff (large firms 69.0%, mid-sized firms 68.7%, small and medium-sized firms 56.2%). The most common difficulties were a shortage of skilled people (27.4%) and high pay expectations (25.3%).

The same pressure exists abroad. In a 2025 survey of US decision-makers by the training company Revature, 84% said they were worried about finding tech talent in 2025, and 29% named AI, generative AI and machine learning as the most important of seven hard skills.

Salary figures need care

Salary numbers for AI developers often circulate without a clear source, so check what they measure. The Korea Artificial Intelligence and Software Industry Association (한국인공지능·소프트웨어산업협회, KOSA) runs the official wage survey of software engineers across 17 job types. Its wage table includes AI developers under application software developers (응용SW개발자) rather than as a separate group. Its averages also include allowances, bonuses, severance pay provisions and the employer's share of social insurance, so they serve as a cost benchmark for software projects, not as take-home pay. For use in 2026, the association set the average daily wage of software engineers at ₩414,762, up 4.7% from ₩396,307, based on a survey of 37,436 employees at about 1,100 companies in September~October 2025.

Do sign-on bonuses work?

The author is cautious. Experienced developers who already earn high salaries are likely to care more about growth opportunities and the company's vision than about a one-time payment. Senior developers at large companies tend to value stability, benefits and long-term career development. Given the size and profile of the companies offering such bonuses, the author doubts that top talent will move for them. The offers may appeal more to mid-level developers and to motivated people who want to learn new technology.

Skills employers ask for

According to the author, developers now need AI knowledge on top of coding. Typical requirements include Python and libraries such as TensorFlow and PyTorch, an understanding of machine learning and deep learning algorithms, and cloud and MLOps skills. Business domain knowledge and the ability to solve real business problems with AI matter as well.

For companies, the author recommends moving from mass hiring to strategic, selective hiring. Sign-on bonuses can help, but steady training, growth opportunities and a clear career path attract people more reliably.

Outlook

The author sees 2025's sign-on bonuses as a sign of a transition: from mass hiring to selective hiring based on expertise, and from general development skills to AI skills. As generative AI improves, simple and repetitive coding work is likely to be automated, which makes developers who can create value with AI scarcer. The author expects companies to compete harder for such people and to try new ways of attracting them. Developers and companies that adapt early will be in a stronger position.