We hire across different backgrounds. But the people who do their best work here share something in common.
We hire fewer roles than most companies our size. Deliberately. Every person we bring in raises the bar for the next hire and for the quality of the work itself.
You question the source, not just the conclusion.
When a dataset does not add up, you go back to the primary record. Not the summary. You have caught things others missed because they stopped one layer too early.
You follow the thread even when it is inconvenient.
You do not round off ambiguous findings to fit a cleaner narrative. If the evidence points somewhere uncomfortable, you say so.
You build. You do not just flag.
You have identified a broken process and fixed it. Not just noted it in a meeting. You improve the system you are working in.
You understand that context changes everything.
A fact without its network is noise. You instinctively ask: who owns this, what does it connect to, and why does that matter right now.
You hold yourself to the standard you want from others.
You do not wait to be managed toward quality. You set the bar for your own work and expect colleagues to do the same.
You are not building features. You are building intelligence.
We help democratic governments understand what is happening inside China's defence and technology landscape. The work is hard, the stakes are real, and the team is unlike any you have worked with before.
Work with consequence
Used by defence ministries and intelligence agencies across NATO-allied nations. The decisions built on our data determine what gets approved, blocked, or escalated. Export licences, investment screening, procurement. You are not building software for its own sake. You are helping governments understand who is behind China's most consequential entities, and why it matters.
Data nobody else has
Seven years of primary collection from Chinese registries, procurement records, patent filings and research funding. Built from the source, not scraped from secondhand feeds. No competitor has the depth or the history we have. When you work here, you work with the best raw material available anywhere.
World-class peers
Former diplomats, technologists, China specialists and analysts who have lived this problem rather than just read about it. Twenty nationalities, one mission. The kind of team where the average conversation makes you think harder, and Friday drinks are actually worth staying for.
Grow through difficulty
Every person at Datenna dedicates 10% of their time to getting better, backed by a real training budget. Right now almost everyone is focused on AI. Learning how to use it, build with it, and embed it into the product. If you want to stay sharp, this is the place to do it.
You are not building features. You are building intelligence.
We help democratic governments understand what is happening inside China's defence and technology landscape. The work is hard, the stakes are real, and the team is unlike any you have worked with before.
Work with consequence
Used by defence ministries and intelligence agencies across NATO-allied nations. The decisions built on our data determine what gets approved, blocked, or escalated. Export licences, investment screening, procurement. You are not building software for its own sake. You are helping governments understand who is behind China's most consequential entities, and why it matters.
Data nobody else has
Seven years of primary collection from Chinese registries, procurement records, patent filings and research funding. Built from the source, not scraped from secondhand feeds. No competitor has the depth or the history we have. When you work here, you work with the best raw material available anywhere.
Where we need people right now.
The talent is scarce and the problems are not getting simpler. We invest in the people who join us through dedicated learning time, real training budgets, and a team that makes you better at your job.
World-class peers
Former diplomats, technologists, China specialists and analysts who have lived this problem rather than just read about it. Twenty nationalities, one mission. The kind of team where the average conversation makes you think harder, and Friday drinks are actually worth staying for.
Grow through difficulty
Every person at Datenna dedicates 10% of their time to getting better, backed by a real training budget. Right now almost everyone is focused on AI. Learning how to use it, build with it, and embed it into the product. If you want to stay sharp, this is the place to do it.
Hear it directly from the
people here.
The problems we work on don't have clean answers. That's the point. You're constantly pushing into territory where the data is incomplete, the structures are deliberately opaque, and the stakes for getting it right are real. I haven't found that combination anywhere else.
The intelligence I produce ends up in front of governments making decisions about China. That's not something most analysts get to say. The responsibility is significant, and that's exactly why I'm here.
The most compelling part is the balance of ambiguity and responsibility. You're not just interpreting information, you're uncovering structure in environments intentionally designed to resist easy conclusions.
Hard problems. Good people.
Real fun.
Outside the work, we boulder, play padel, argue about table tennis technique, watch films together, and make the summer event something people actually look forward to. None of it is mandatory. Some people join everything. Some people keep it low-key. Both are fine.
What matters is that you feel welcome, do great work, and enjoy the people you do it with.
Where we need people right now.
We hire deliberately. Every role is open because the work genuinely needs another serious person.
View our open rolesNo matching role?
We're always open to hearing from exceptional people. Send us your CV and we'll be in touch.
We hire on what you show us.
Every stage is designed to surface how you think.
Not how well you interview. We aim to be direct about expectations, transparent about fit, and respectful of your time throughout.
Application Review
101We read carefully. Looking for evidence of rigorous thinking, genuine motivation, and experience that maps to real problems. Not a polished CV formula.
Introductory Call
202A direct conversation about your background, how you work, and why Datenna. We will be honest about the role. We expect the same.
Domain Interviews
303We go deep. Expect questions that do not have clean answers. Because the work does not either. Surface your reasoning, not just your conclusions.
System Design Interview
404You will be asked to architect solutions to real operational problems. Not textbook exercises. How you think about scale and constraints matters more than getting to a canonical answer.
Practical Assessment
505A structured exercise based on the kind of problem you would actually face here. We are not testing speed. We are testing how you reason under ambiguity.
Offer
606If there is a strong match, we move without delay. Direct about compensation, expectations, and fit. No ambiguity at the finish line.
Serious work. Serious standards.
Real consequence.
Datenna is building intelligence infrastructure for governments navigating the China challenge. For the right people, that is exactly the reason to join.