Original author: Zackary Skelly (Head of Talent, Dragonfly)

Compiled by Zen, PANews

The well-known encryption VC Dragonfly Capital conducts quarterly analyses of the encryption industry job market, providing insights into position trends, candidate perceptions, portfolio company activities, and forecasts for its portfolio companies.

Recruitment Market Trends

When analyzing the market, Dragonfly monitors multiple signals, but 'investment portfolio company new positions' best reflects the overall sentiment of the industry. In short, the talent recruitment market in the encryption industry gradually recovered from 2023, with a surge in the first quarter of 2024, but stagnation occurred in the second quarter.

Quarterly Job Changes

In the second quarter of 2024, engineering and design positions remain relatively stable, GTM (GoToMarket) positions have surged, and data science positions have also seen a considerable rise. Meanwhile, marketing positions are shifting towards leadership roles.

Year-on-Year Comparison

Comparing the second quarter of 2023 with the second quarter of 2024, GTM positions have significantly risen, especially in the finance, operations, legal, and customer support areas.

Engineering positions have become more specialized, with a strong demand for Rust language. DevRel (Developer Relations) and Protocol Eng (protocol engineer) are still highly sought after. However, there has been a significant decline in design positions.

Job Seeker Interests

In the second quarter of 2024, there were more DeFi job seekers in the market, while those who focused on infrastructure construction stayed in place, looking for the convergence of products and markets. Many people have a curious attitude towards the combination of AI and encryption - exciting but uncertain use cases, which seems too advanced.

In addition, Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZK) is still a highly sought-after technical type among senior software engineers (Sr SWE).

The evolution of priorities and increased scrutiny

Job seekers are looking for project teams that have reliable roadmaps after TGE instead of just shouting 'ToTheMoon', and tend to prefer companies with strong ecosystems and well-known brands. Few job seekers are willing to consider jobs that do not match their skills or have unclear job descriptions.

The fatigue of encryption practitioners and the openness of Web2

More and more encryption native job seekers are willing to consider job opportunities in Web2 while seeking positions in the encryption industry. In contrast, the exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and US policies favorable to encryption have attracted more talent from TradFi and Web2 fields.

Working Mode and Salary Conditions

Remote and hybrid work are still preferred, but more and more companies are starting to discuss arranging physical offices offline. In terms of salary expectations, job seekers' standards are still high, and most are unwilling to compromise.

Portfolio Recruitment Trends

Dragonfly's portfolio companies have all increased their recruitment efforts in the second quarter, with a growing interest in specialized, product-centric engineering positions (such as front-end development).

The recruitment of GTM is rising in the Asia-Pacific region, while engineering positions are expanding in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region. In addition, the recruitment momentum of Layer 1 projects (ALT L1s) is increasing.

Recruitment Market Forecast

Recruitment is closely related to the US election cycle. The evolving stance of Trump's pro-encryption and Harris's attitude has sparked discussions, which may drive GTM recruitment. Dragonfly expects this trend to continue, and as use cases solidify, job seekers' sentiment towards the combination of AI and encryption will also shift towards excitement.