The Rise of Bitcoin & Blockchain: A Growing Demand for Talent

Key Findings

• As Bitcoin has captured the public interest over the past year, companies have rapidly invested in hiring for roles related to Bitcoin and blockchain, even in the face of regulatory uncertainty and price volatility.
• Are blockchain jobs growing? Using Glassdoor's database of millions of job openings, we found 1,775 blockchain-related job openings in the U.S. in August 2018, a 300 percent increase over the same period last year.
• The median salary for blockchain-related job openings is $84,884 per year. This is $32,423 or 61.8 percent over the US median salary of $52,461, according to Glassdoor's August 2018 Local Pay Report.
• Most blockchain jobs are technical. Software engineer was the most common blockchain job open on Glassdoor, accounting for 19 percent of all blockchain job listings, illustrating the demand for talent who can continue developing this technology.

Blockchain technologies and cryptocurrencies have surged in popularity in the last year, evolving from a niche technological curiosity into an explosive financial market worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have quickly gained wider appeal from amateur enthusiasts, venture capitalists and major corporations hoping to capitalize on the technology and assets’ growth. While the applications of blockchain technology are diverse, most of the recent interest has focused on cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies utilize blockchain to perform transactions without the need of a formal authority (like a central bank), an idea that has appealed to proponents of privacy and democratic technology. Aside from the underlying technological innovation, cryptocurrencies have also become well known for being highly volatile. For example, the exchange rate for a Bitcoin ranged from a low of $755 to a high of $20,089 in 2017. As more employers become interested and invest in the technology, the professionalization of the space has accelerated as well. Are blockchain and cryptocurrency jobs as volatile as the currency's daily value? What employers are hiring these roles, in what U.S. cities and what is the pay?  Glassdoor’s dataset of millions of job postings grants a unique view of how the rise of cryptocurrency and blockchain have been reflected in the job market.

What We Did

This analysis is based on a large sample of online U.S. job postings from Glassdoor. To evaluate the state of the blockchain job market, we performed a text search of Glassdoor’s real-time job openings database for any job posting containing keywords related to blockchain, Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. While most jobs in the industry are cryptocurrency-related, we also included more general blockchain-related terms to accurately reflect the market. We excluded any jobs from third-party staffing and recruiting firms to ensure we were accurately measuring unique job openings. We then used the technology behind Glassdoor’s “Know Your Worth” salary tool to estimate the median base pay for each job, providing a comprehensive picture of pay and open jobs related to blockchain and cryptocurrency jobs.

How Many Blockchain Job Openings Are There?

As of August 2018, we found 1,775 unique blockchain-related job openings in the United States. By comparison, at this time last year, there were only 446 similar job listings, representing a 300 percent year-over-year increase. The surge in open jobs has well outpaced the 200 percent increase in value that cryptocurrencies have undergone since August 2017. Despite the price volatility over the last year, continued growth in job openings suggests that blockchain employers remain confident in the market opportunity and continue to make long-term investments in their teams.

Where Are Jobs Located?

It’s no surprise that the U.S. financial and tech capitals, New York City and San Francisco, respectively, represent a disproportionate share of blockchain-related jobs at 24 percent and 21 percent of total job openings. San Jose (6 percent), Chicago (4 percent) and Seattle (4 percent), also known for their financial and technical expertise, round out the top five cities for blockchain job openings. Altogether, these cities constitute 59 percent of open blockchain-related jobs in the U.S. Top 15 U.S. Metros for Blockchain Job Openings on Glassdoor

Rank	City	# of Job Openings	% Share
1	New York City, NY	421	24%
2	San Francisco, CA	381	21%
3	San Jose, CA	99	6%
4	Chicago, IL	84	5%
5	Seattle, WA	63	4%
6	Boston, MA	57	3%
7	Los Angeles, CA	57	3%
8	Washington, DC	57	3%
9	Austin, TX	38	2%
10	Raleigh, NC	32	2%
11	Philadelphia, PA	26	1%
12	Atlanta, GA	22	1%
13	Dallas, TX	20	1%
14	Denver, CO	20	1%
15	Charlotte, NC	18	1%
	Other	380	21%
	Total	1,775

While most of these jobs are concentrated in the top 15 cities, the remaining 21 percent are distributed across the rest of the country. By comparison, in artificial intelligence (AI), another high-growth technical field, job openings are much more geographically concentrated with only 13 percent of jobs found outside the top 15 metros. Internationally, the story is similar with many jobs concentrated in major financial and technology hubs. Amongst international metros (not including the U.S.), London topped the list with 189 blockchain-related job openings, followed by Singapore, Toronto and Hong Kong. Top 5 International Metros for Blockchain Job Openings on Glassdoor

Rank	City	# of Job Openings	% Share
1	London	189	16%
2	Singapore	85	7%
3	Toronto	82	7%
4	Hong Kong	79	6%
5	Berlin	53	4%
	Other	730	60%
	Total	1,218

What Roles Are In Demand?

The most in-demand blockchain roles employers are hiring for today on Glassdoor are predominantly technical and engineering roles. Software engineer is the clear winner, accounting for 19 percent of total job listings, followed by more specialized roles like front-end engineer to technology architect. In total, engineering, technology and science roles comprise a whopping 55 percent of job openings and suggest there’s still demand for skilled workers who can advance fundamental blockchain technology. While many of the open roles are quite technical, recent Glassdoor research has shown that as tech companies scale up, their need for non-tech roles grows too. In our data, we see that business roles are well-represented with analyst relations manager being the second-most common job posting (5 percent), followed by product manager (4 percent), risk analyst (3 percent) and marketing manager (2 percent). Surprisingly, more traditional finance roles like traders and investment analysts don't feature in the top 15 occupations -- perhaps pointing to a focus on the non-financial applications of blockchain technologies or the hesitance of more traditional institutional investors to break into the cryptocurrency space. Top 15 Occupations for Open Blockchain Jobs on Glassdoor

Rank	Occupation	# of Job Openings	% Share
1	Software Engineer	331	19%
2	Analyst Relations Manager	88	5%
3	Product Manager	76	4%
4	Front-End Engineer	54	3%
5	Technology Architect	50	3%
6	Risk Analyst	45	3%
7	Technical Consultant	39	2%
8	Back-End Engineer	33	2%
9	Marketing Manager	30	2%
10	Community Manager	26	1%
11	Engineering Manager	23	1%
12	Product Designer	23	1%
13	DevOps Engineer	19	1%
14	QA Engineer	15	1%
15	Strategy Manager	14	1%

Who Is Hiring?

As hiring for blockchain roles rises, which employers today are building teams around blockchain or digital currency? Several of the top-hiring employers are startups looking to expand rapidly. ConsenSys, for example, has over 200 related job listings despite having less than 1,000 employees today. Other startups like Coinbase, Figure and Kraken are likewise hoping to build up their expertise, with dozens of openings each. By contrast, IBM, a large company with over 300,000 employees, is tied with ConsenSys in the number of blockchain-related job openings. Other large consulting or professional services firms like Accenture and KPMG are also hiring these roles to advise their clients on how to apply new blockchain technologies. Large technology companies like Oracle are also expanding their blockchain teams, though there is a notable absence of major technology companies like Facebook, Google and Apple. Top 15 Employers Hiring for Blockchain-Related Jobs

Rank	Employer	# of Job Openings	% Share
1	ConsenSys	214	12%
2	IBM	214	12%
3	Coinbase	63	4%
4	Figure	37	2%
5	Oracle	37	2%
6	Kraken	37	2%
7	Circle	26	1%
8	Accenture	26	1%
9	World Open Network	22	1%
10	Thunder Token	21	1%
11	J.P. Morgan	17	1%
12	KPMG	16	1%
13	BitGo	15	1%
14	Wachsman	15	1%
15	Abra	15	1%
	Other	1,000	56%

How Much Do Blockchain Jobs Pay?

Using the technology behind Glassdoor's Know Your Worth tool, we can assign a salary estimate to these open blockchain jobs. Overall, we found a median base salary of $84,884 per year for open blockchain-related jobs on Glassdoor. That's a staggering $32,423 (61.8 percent) over the U.S. median salary of $52,461 per year, according to Glassdoor's August 2018 Local Pay Report. Due to the diverse mixture of jobs available, salaries range from $36,046 per year all the way up to $223,667 per year. The reason we see higher salaries for blockchain jobs is due to the location and nature of the jobs available. High cost-of-living cities like New York City and San Francisco dominate the blockchain job market and employers there must offer higher salaries in order to attract talent. Additionally, high skill occupations like software engineers already demand high salaries, compounding this location effect. After accounting for those effects, the high salaries we see for these roles are not unusual. For example, in New York City, the median pay for all software engineers was $104,630 per year in August 2018, essentially equal to the $102,104 median salary we see for blockchain-related jobs of the same occupation and location.

Conclusion

The nascent cryptocurrency industry is fragile with regulatory uncertainty and extreme price volatility threatening to derail growth. Industry followers have fretted as the cryptocurrency market capitalization has dropped over 50 percent in 2018, but focusing myopically on the short-term can ignore strong long-term trends. While financial markets are volatile in the short-run, investing in human capital is a much stronger signal and increased hiring is a robust indicator of long-term interest. Companies both large and small have been willing to invest for the long-term in blockchain by expanding hiring over the last year. Our analysis found that companies are hiring primarily for technical roles, requiring engineering experience and coding skills, and many of these job openings are centered in cities that are already major talent hubs for technical or financial expertise. Both factors are contributing to pay exceeding median salaries elsewhere -- another strong indicator of long-term investment. While the ultimate staying power of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies remains to be seen, the blockchain job market seems primed to continue its rapid growth into the near future.