As the Lithuanian startup ecosystem expands, the biggest pain point remains the lack of talent. Currently, more than 600 employees who can work in the IT field are being sought, according to the data of the association "Unicorns Lithuania", which unites Lithuanian startups.
Today, not only employees with technical skills are in demand on the market - programmers, testers, data analysts, data engineers, but also sales, marketing, human resources or communication specialists, financiers, project managers.
Most startup employees are offered up to 2. EUR salary - there are almost half of such job advertisements. From 2 to 4 thousand testers, system engineers, analysts of various types, managers of individual teams can earn EUR. From 5 thousand euros - experienced engineers, data analysts or programmers. The average salary in Lithuanian startups in the first quarter of this year reached 3026 euros before taxes and grew by 15 percent during the year.
"Due to a possible economic slowdown, investor behavior is changing and a significant number of global technology companies are slowing hiring. Although we will see turbulence, redistribution of resources or even layoffs in the short term in Lithuania as well, startups are used to seeing crises not as a judgment, but as an opportunity. Some of the big Lithuanian start-ups work profitably and grow not from investors, but from profit. This leads to a completely different approach to finance or business development", says Inga Langaitė, head of Unicorns Lithuania.
More than half of the vacancies published by "Unicorns Lithuania" are in the country's unicorns. Cyber security startup Nord Security offers over 200 career opportunities. This is where programmers and cyber security specialists are most lacking. Over 100 vacancies - and second-hand fashion goods on the peer-to-peer trade platform "Vinted". Several tens of employees are also missing in startups KiloHealth, Hostinger, TransferGo, and Bored Panda.
"A survey of association members showed that it takes 2 to 4 months on average to fill one job position in a startup, and in some cases, the search for specialists with specific skills takes up to six months. The lack of talent is one of the main things hindering the development of Lithuanian startups, so changes are necessary. It is important to increase the competence of teachers, ensure a competitive salary, integrate technology and programming even in primary education programs, strengthen the quality of STEM sciences in later grades and motivate them to choose IT studies and build their careers here", I. Langaitė analyzes the situation.
Due to the lack of talent in Lithuania and opportunities for faster expansion abroad, startups in our country are looking for employees not only in Vilnius, Beautiful or in other cities of the country, but also in relevant markets for users of their services or products - elsewhere in Europe, JAV, even in Asia. Employees are guaranteed the opportunity to work in an international team, remotely or under flexible conditions, and a wide package of employee benefits is offered. For example, an unlimited education budget, health insurance, additional vacation days.
Association "Unicorns Lithuania" currently unites more than 45 Lithuanian startups. Members include Vinted, Tesonet, KiloHealth, Hostinger, Bored Panda, Omnisend, Tech zity, PVcase, Trafi, TransferGo, Whatagraph, Litilit" and others.
