Engineering Lead

You'll be the founding member of a new China-basedengineering team: architecting and building the in-country version of Quanta yourself, then running itand growing the team around you.

About International Data Group

About the Role & Team IDC recently launched Quanta, a new AI platform that puts autonomous buyer and seller agents towork on IDC's global technology market-intelligence data — helping tech buyers and vendors makefaster, evidence-backed decisions.

It's a genuinely new kind of product for a research company that'sspent decades defining the category, and it's live today for customers outside China.

Bringing Quanta to China We're now extending Quanta into China, and it's a real engineering problem, not a copy-paste rollout.China's data-residency requirements mean large parts of the platform have to be independentlyrebuilt to run in-country: user data, uploaded documents, and query handling all need to stay inChina, and some of the AWS and agent infrastructure we rely on elsewhere isn't available there at all.You'd be the engineer who solves that.

Stands Out At IDC, your work helps shape how the world understands technology and where it goes next.

As the premier global provider of trusted technology intelligence, IDC equips business and technology leaders with the evidence they need to make confident decisions.

Our insights inform strategy, investment, and innovation across industries and regions.

Recognized by IIAR as Analyst Firm of the Year for five consecutive years, IDC sets the standard for credibility and impact.

With more than 1,000 analysts worldwide and a truly global perspective, we combine deep expertise with practical relevance.

Responsibilities

• It's an unusual combination — a 0-to-1 build on top of analready-proven product, genuinely hard technical constraints to design around, and long-termownership once it's live.
• You’ll Do Architect and build a China-resident version of Quanta's user data platform, including modernizinga 10+ year old access model behind a new API layer
• Get Quanta's AI agents running in China without Agent Core, by adapting or forking the agentorchestration layer to a China-compatible alternative
• Rebuild the document upload, storage, and search/vector-index systems to run independentlyinside China Design the data boundary that lets China-based search and agents operate while keeping IDC'sproprietary research and verbatim user queries appropriately separated from crossing in or out of thecountry
• Recruit, hire, and lead the long-term China engineering team, starting as its first member
• Own the system on an ongoing basis after launch — this is a long-term build-and-run role, not aone-time migration handoff

Requirements

• You Bring 8+ years of full-stack or backend software engineering experience, including ownership ofarchitecture decisions under real infrastructure and regulatory constraints

Direct experience building or operating systems inside

• China's infrastructure/data-residencyenvironment Experience with API design and migrating legacy systems (databases, access models) onto modernservice layers
• Working knowledge of search/vector-index systems and LLM agent orchestration frameworks
• Experience leading or mentoring engineers — you'll be building a team, not joining one Fluency in Mandarin and English Comfort operating with real autonomy and ambiguity, including constraints that may still shift asthe project proceedsPreferred
• Experience with China-specific cloud providers (Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, Huawei Cloud) asAWS alternatives
• Experience working on a distributed team across US/EU/China time zones

Preferred

• Prior 0-to-1 or greenfield build experience, ideally in a regulated or data-sovereignty-constrainedmarket
• Familiarity with MCP (Model Context Protocol), as our broader agent orchestrator migration ismoving that direction

Benefits

• You collaborate with curious, high-caliber colleagues who value rigor, integrity, and shared success.
• Here, your ideas matter, your voice is heard, and your contributions provide the insights leaders rely on every day.
• It is meaningful work, backed by a culture that supports growth, collaboration, and long-term career development with a globally respected brand.
• An environment where you can explore new areas outside your specialty and stay engaged with work you enjoy.
• Hybrid working with 4 days in office per week required.
• On top of your statutory holiday allowance and public holidays, IDC grants annually reviewed company-wide closures on 19 August (Unplug Day) and 26 December – 3 January inclusive (Global Shutdown) and a volunteering day.
• A position in a highly professional and globally respected market research and advisory firm, where initiative leading to results is rewarded.

Equal Opportunity Employer

IDC is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all qualified persons. Employment eligibility verification required. We participate in E-Verify. If this role relocates to a different country, the salary range will be updated to reflect that country's range, rather than a currency conversion of the original range. #LI-NS