Top 10 Tech Startups Hiring Junior Developers in Kazakhstan in 2026
By Irene Holden
Last Updated: April 16th 2026

Too Long; Didn't Read
TrustMe and RaMTech lead Kazakhstan's top tech startups hiring junior developers in 2026, with TrustMe offering equity and hands-on roles in digital trust ecosystems, while RaMTech focuses on product-minded AI positions with salaries reaching 600,000 KZT. They thrive in the country's Year of Digitalization and AI, benefiting from IT park tax incentives and connections to hubs like Astana Hub, making them ideal for launching a tech career.
Every major league has its draft day - a tense, hopeful ritual where raw potential meets its first big break. Globally, the tech industry is facing a paradox: while demand for senior talent soars, the pathway for newcomers has collapsed, with global entry-level tech hiring dropping by 73%. Yet, far from any stadium, a different draft is underway.
In Kazakhstan, 2026 has been officially declared the "Year of Digitalization and AI", creating a unique talent-scouting ground. While the world ignores rookies, Kazakh deep-tech startups, backed by national focus and record investments, are actively drafting junior developers. This local hiring spree is fueled by hubs like Astana Hub, which secured $177 million in investments in 2024, creating momentum against the global trend.
For junior developers, the game has changed. Your first job is no longer just an application; it's a strategic draft pick into an ecosystem building its legacy. The following startups represent the most ambitious teams looking to call your name and bet on your potential.
Table of Contents
- The 2026 Tech Draft in Kazakhstan
- Mirai Tech
- DAR Tech
- BI Group IT
- Aviata.kz
- Sergek Group
- Solva
- Chocofamily
- 1Fit
- RaMTech
- TrustMe
- How to Get Scouted in Kazakhstan's Tech Scene
- Frequently Asked Questions
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For the 2026 AI career guide in Kazakhstan, see this comprehensive resource.
Mirai Tech
Operating at the cutting edge of "deep-tech," Mirai Tech specializes in sensor engineering and industrial automation, focusing on R&D-heavy projects that bridge hardware and software. As a participant in national initiatives like Alem.AI and one of the select Kazakh startups to join the prestigious StartX accelerator at Stanford University, the company is integrated into a pipeline designed to pull local graduates into high-tech research and development.
The culture is high-intensity and academic, led by technical founder Gulnur Kalimuldina. For juniors with a passion for embedded systems (C/C++) and a desire to work on tangible engineering challenges, Mirai Tech offers unparalleled access to world-class research networks and complex problem-solving from day one. It exemplifies the deep-tech shift within Kazakhstan's top startup cohort.
Startups in the Alem.AI ecosystem often recruit through university partnerships at Nazarbayev University. A practical first step is to check their career center and attend tech talks hosted by the Astana Hub to get on their draft radar.
DAR Tech
In an ecosystem where top-tier salaries can be intimidating for early-stage companies, DAR Tech stands out by offering a critical entry point. With junior developer roles starting around 100,000 KZT, they provide a realistic on-ramp for those prioritizing experience and skill-building over initial compensation. This positions them as a key player actively contributing to the local talent pipeline, even as global experts warn the industry is "eating its seed corn" by cutting junior hires.
For a junior developer in Almaty or Nur-Sultan, DAR Tech represents a classic startup trade-off: accept a lower starting salary in exchange for significant hands-on responsibility and the chance to contribute to multiple parts of a growing business. It’s a calculated first step to build your resume in a practical, production environment where you can quickly gain broad exposure.
The most effective way to find their openings is through popular local channels like the Work IT KZ Telegram channel (29.8k+ members) and the central Astana Hub vacancy portal. Use a role here to gain 12-18 months of versatile experience, making you a far more competitive candidate for specialized startups or higher-paying tech firms later in your career draft.
BI Group IT
As the digital arm of Kazakhstan’s largest construction firm, BI Group IT offers a unique proposition: applying software development to revolutionize a traditional, physical industry through "Smart Construction." This startup-within-a-corporate structure provides the stability of a major parent company alongside the innovative drive of a dedicated tech team, making it a standout destination for juniors seeking impactful work.
Hiring junior Java and BIM software developers, you’ll work on projects that directly impact national infrastructure and urban development, from ERP systems to IoT-enabled construction sites. This is an ideal environment for juniors who want to see their code manifest in the real world and understand how tech integrates with core industrial operations - a valuable perspective in Kazakhstan’s diversifying economy and a key part of the active hiring landscape for engineering talent.
For those interested, look for their collaborations with local universities for internship programs. A background or interest in engineering or project management is a significant plus here, and positions are frequently listed on the central Astana Hub vacancy portal, a primary hub for tech roles in Nur-Sultan and beyond.
Aviata.kz
Aviata.kz is an established leader in Kazakhstan’s travel-tech sector, effectively a startup that has successfully scaled into a major player. Ranked among the top startups in the country, it actively recruits junior engineers in Almaty, offering a hybrid environment: the dynamism of a tech company competing in a fast-paced market with more established processes than a seed-stage venture.
For a junior developer, this means access to complex, high-traffic systems dealing with payment processing, search algorithms, and large datasets, but with a likely more robust mentorship and onboarding framework. It’s a perfect middle ground for those wary of the extreme volatility of a very early-stage startup but eager to avoid the slower pace of a massive corporate IT department. You get to learn how a proven, scalable tech product operates in a competitive sector like travel.
A practical step to get scouted is to follow Aviata.kz and its parent company, Chocofamily, on LinkedIn, where they often post openings before wider job boards. This position offers a fantastic opportunity to build a resume with experience from a recognized market leader within Kazakhstan's vibrant digital economy.
Sergek Group
Specializing in "Smart City" analytics and AI-driven video processing, Sergek Group is a future-ready software firm tackling large-scale problems like traffic management, public safety, and urban planning. Frequently ranked as a top startup in Kazakhstan, they offer juniors exposure to big data, computer vision, and cloud infrastructure at a national scale, where projects have immediate, visible societal impact across Kazakh cities.
The culture is geared towards solving complex, systemic issues, requiring developers to think about scalability and real-world deployment from the outset. It’s less about building a niche consumer app and more about engineering the backbone of modern urban living. This aligns with the national "Year of Digitalization and AI," positioning juniors at the heart of transformative public-sector tech.
As a resident company of Astana Hub, Sergek Group offers the added advantage of favourable tax incentives for IT park residents. A practical tip for candidates is to check the Astana Hub vacancy portal consistently and network at smart city and AI-focused meetups in Nur-Sultan. With junior software engineer salaries in Almaty reaching up to 477,000 KZT/month at top firms, roles at impactful companies like Sergek are a valuable career investment.
Solva
Ranked as the #1 startup in Kazakhstan for Software & Data by StartupBlink in 2026, Solva represents the pinnacle of app and fintech development in the local ecosystem. Their top-tier ranking signals strong market traction, technical excellence, and a healthy growth trajectory, making them a premier destination for ambitious junior talent.
For a junior developer, joining a top-ranked startup means working with best-in-class peers, exposure to modern development practices, and contributing to products that are already competitive in the market. The learning curve will be steep, but the quality of experience and the brand recognition on your resume will be exceptional. You’ll learn how a successful software company operates at speed - a critical lesson that translates to any global tech hub.
Startups at this level recruit aggressively. To get drafted, move beyond standard job boards. Use LinkedIn to find and thoughtfully engage with their engineering leads. Demonstrating that you’ve used their product and have insightful feedback shows the product-minded initiative that top teams value in their rookie picks.
Chocofamily
A leader in Kazakhstan's digital commerce, Chocofamily is the force behind major platforms like Chocofood and its B2B SaaS arm, Chocosoft, which powers over 5,000 merchants. This isn't just a delivery app company; it's a complex ecosystem at the forefront of the country's growing AI and e-commerce integration, leveraging machine learning for recommendation engines, logistics, and payment systems.
For a junior developer, this offers a rare opportunity to work on sophisticated, AI-driven products with massive, real-time user bases within Kazakhstan. You’ll gain experience in scalable backend systems, data pipelines, and machine learning applications that are critical to a modern digital economy. The scale of their operations provides a "big tech" level of challenge within the vibrant context of a leading local player, often highlighted among startups modernizing Kazakhstan's tech landscape.
A crucial practical tip for applicants is to investigate which specific team or product line is hiring. A junior role on the AI/recommendation team at Chocosoft offers vastly different, deep-tech experience than one on the front-end of a consumer app. Target your application and portfolio projects accordingly to align with the specific technical challenges of that team.
1Fit
Ranked as the 6th top startup in Kazakhstan by StartupBlink, 1Fit exemplifies successful, fast-scaling consumer tech in Almaty. With a unified fitness subscription app, they’ve moved beyond seed stage into Series A/B funding backed by major regional VCs like QazTech Ventures, embodying the kind of innovative entrepreneurship promoted by national digitalization initiatives.
This growth phase is ideal for juniors: the product-market fit is proven, processes are being formalized, and there is high demand for talent to build new features and scale infrastructure. You’ll work in a mobile-first, dynamic environment focused on user acquisition and engagement, gaining experience critical to any consumer tech career. Historically a key employer for Almaty graduates, 1Fit offers a culture that is growth-oriented and focused on making lifestyle services accessible.
As a top-ranked company on StartupBlink's 2026 list, they represent a secure bet for juniors seeking a vibrant workplace. A key practical tip is that fast-scaling startups like 1Fit often hire in cohorts. Keep an eye on their careers page and local tech media for announcements of new funding rounds, which typically trigger immediate hiring sprees for new talent to join their team.
RaMTech
RaMTech develops smart chatbots and AI assistants for business automation with a distinctly stated hiring philosophy: they value developers who "think with the logic of a product". This explicit focus on product-mindedness over pure code execution makes them a standout destination for juniors who want to understand the strategic "why" behind their technical work from day one.
As an early-stage resident of Astana Hub, they offer competitive salaries in the range of 150,000 to 600,000 KZT, directly investing in nurturing this blend of technical and business talent. You won’t just be tasked with executing tickets; you’ll be encouraged to understand customer pain points and business goals, receiving an apprenticeship in product development combined with hands-on work in conversational AI.
This foundational skill set is highly portable and deeply valued across the global tech landscape. To get drafted by this product-minded boutique, emphasize projects or coursework where you had to make a product decision or consider user experience. In your application and interviews, prepare to discuss not just how you built something, but what problem it solved for the end-user.
TrustMe
Our top draft pick for 2026 is TrustMe, a startup building a digital trust ecosystem centered on smart contracts and e-signing platforms using blockchain and AI. They perfectly embody the "deep-tech" shift in Kazakhstan, modernizing foundational business processes and ranking among the country's top startups.
Backed by QazTech Ventures and Quest Ventures, they are in the crucial early-growth stage (20-50 employees), where juniors can secure significant equity and hands-on responsibility. Crucially, they don't just hire junior talent; they actively cultivate it through platforms like their internal TrustHR system, indicating a structured commitment to development. Working here means touching hybrid infrastructure, core platform logic, and cutting-edge trust technologies central to the national digital transformation outlined in the government's modernization agenda.
To stand out for this premier pick, demonstrate an understanding of the broader "digital trust" problem space. Familiarize yourself with Kazakhstan’s e-governance initiatives and think about how TrustMe’s technology fits. You’re not just joining a startup; you’re helping build a critical piece of the country's future digital infrastructure.
How to Get Scouted in Kazakhstan's Tech Scene
Landing a role in Kazakhstan's 2026 startup draft requires a local playbook that goes beyond standard job boards. Your strategy should mirror how these teams scout talent - through community engagement and specialized pipelines.
First, leverage the central platforms of the ecosystem. The Astana Hub vacancy portal is the primary hub for startup jobs, while community channels like the Work IT KZ Telegram channel (29.8k+ members) provide real-time opportunities. Second, tap into state-backed upskilling pathways. Inquire if startups partner with the Tech Orda program, a government initiative to train 100,000 IT specialists, which often includes direct hiring pipelines for graduates.
Building the right skills is paramount. Affordable, flexible bootcamps like Nucamp, which offers AI and coding programs across 200+ cities in Kazakhstan, provide a structured path. Their ~78% employment rate for graduates and career services are designed to connect you directly with local employers in the Astana Hub and Almaty clusters. Finally, network at the source by attending meetups hosted by Almaty Tech Garden or Nazarbayev University - prime recruiting grounds for founders looking for their next draft pick.
Frequently Asked Questions
How did you decide on this ranking of top startups for junior developers?
The ranking is based on criteria like active junior hiring, integration into Kazakhstan's digitalization initiatives such as Alem.AI, and opportunities for hands-on learning. Startups were evaluated for their role in the ecosystem, with TrustMe topping the list for its focus on digital trust and equity offerings.
What salary can I expect as a junior developer at these Kazakh startups?
Salaries vary; for instance, DAR Tech offers around 100,000 KZT for entry-level roles, while RaMTech provides 150,000 to 600,000 KZT based on product-mindedness. This reflects the trade-off between initial pay and gaining broad experience in a fast-paced environment.
Which startup is best if I want to work on AI or machine learning projects?
TrustMe and Chocofamily are excellent for AI, with roles in smart contracts and recommendation engines impacting over 5,000 merchants. For deep-tech AI, Mirai Tech in Astana offers R&D in sensor engineering, ideal for those interested in embedded systems and national projects.
Are there advantages to joining startups in Astana Hub or Almaty's IT clusters?
Yes, startups in these hubs benefit from favourable tax incentives for IT park residents and proximity to employers like Kaspi.kz. For example, Astana Hub residents often access government grants and local VC funding, boosting job stability in Kazakhstan's growing tech ecosystem.
What are the best ways to find and apply for these junior developer roles?
Use local resources like the Astana Hub vacancy portal and Telegram channels such as Work IT KZ with 29.8k+ members. Networking at meetups hosted by Almaty Tech Garden or through university partnerships can also help you tap into hiring pipelines for startups like BI Group IT.
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Irene Holden
Operations Manager
Former Microsoft Education and Learning Futures Group team member, Irene now oversees instructors at Nucamp while writing about everything tech - from careers to coding bootcamps.

