If you are searching for 'how to find a good Move developer', you are probably not looking for a generic blockchain engineer. You need someone who can write safe resource-oriented smart contracts, understand the execution model of Sui or Aptos, work with auditors and protocol engineers, and ship code that will not put funds, assets or user trust at risk. In 2026, the hiring market for Move developers is still relatively small, but it is more mature than it was a few years ago: the best candidates now have production deployments, security review experience, test discipline and a clear view of where Move differs from Solidity, Rust and conventional backend engineering.

This guide explains how to find and hire a good Move developer step by step: what strong looks like, which skills to screen for, what you should expect to pay, where to source candidates, how to structure assessments and interviews, and how to avoid expensive hiring mistakes.

What a good Move developer looks like for a production blockchain project

A good Move developer is not simply a developer who has completed a tutorial or forked a sample NFT contract. Move is designed around resources, ownership and safety, so strong candidates think in terms of invariants, asset lifecycles, capabilities, permissions and failure modes. They should be able to explain why a token, object or capability cannot be accidentally copied, dropped or misused, and how that design affects the application architecture.

For a production team, a strong Move developer usually has three layers of competence. First, they can write idiomatic Move modules, structs, entry functions and tests. Secondly, they understand the target chain, most commonly Sui or Aptos, including its object model, transaction flow, gas behaviour, package publishing process and tooling. Thirdly, they can work in a wider engineering environment: code review, CI, documentation, TypeScript SDK integration, wallet flows, indexers, monitoring and incident response.

Look for evidence that the candidate has shipped under real constraints. A good Move developer can talk about trade-offs they made, not just features they built. For example, they might explain why they used a capability-based access pattern instead of a simple admin address, how they avoided shared-object contention on Sui, or how they tested a marketplace listing lifecycle from creation through cancellation, purchase and settlement.

For senior hires, expect more than syntax knowledge. A great Move developer should be able to review protocol economics, challenge unsafe product requirements, design upgrade paths, communicate with auditors, and mentor engineers moving from Rust, Solidity, TypeScript or Go into Move. They should be security-minded without being paralysed, pragmatic without being careless, and comfortable saying, 'This needs a smaller release scope before mainnet.'

Key skills, frameworks and tools a Move developer should know in 2026

The exact skill mix depends on whether you are building on Sui, Aptos, Movement, an internal Move VM implementation or a bespoke protocol, but there are core capabilities you should expect. A credible Move developer should understand the Move language itself: modules, resources, abilities, generics, references, visibility, packages, named addresses, tests and formal reasoning concepts. They should also know how Move's resource model changes the way digital assets are represented compared with account-balance patterns in Solidity.

For Sui-focused roles, screen for the Sui object model, owned objects, shared objects, dynamic fields, programmable transaction blocks, Sui CLI, Move unit tests, package upgrades, Sui TypeScript SDK and common wallet integration patterns. Candidates building consumer apps should understand kiosk patterns, NFT and token standards, sponsored transactions, events, indexers and latency considerations. For Aptos-focused roles, look for Aptos Framework knowledge, resources under accounts, signer patterns, Move Prover awareness, Aptos CLI, modules, events, coin standards, object code where relevant, and integration with Aptos SDKs.

Technical areas worth screening explicitly

  • Move language fundamentals: resource safety, abilities such as copy, drop, store and key, generics, module boundaries and entry functions.
  • Chain-specific expertise: Sui versus Aptos execution models, object ownership, package publishing, gas, storage and upgrade constraints.
  • Testing discipline: unit tests, scenario tests, localnet/devnet workflows, negative tests and regression tests around invariants.
  • Security engineering: access control, re-entrancy equivalents where relevant, capability leaks, unsafe admin operations, arithmetic assumptions and denial-of-service risks.
  • Integration skills: TypeScript, SDKs, wallets, indexers, GraphQL or REST APIs, CI pipelines and deployment scripts.
  • Code quality: readable module structure, clear naming, minimal privileged paths, documented invariants and reviewable pull requests.

Do not demand every tool under the sun. A great Sui Move developer may not know Aptos deeply, and vice versa. What matters is whether they can reason from first principles, learn the target framework quickly and demonstrate careful production habits.

How much a Move developer costs in salary and day rates in 2026

Move developer compensation is volatile because supply is limited and demand often comes from well-funded protocol teams, exchanges, DeFi products, gaming studios and infrastructure companies. The following figures are rough guidance for 2026, not fixed market rules. Location, token upside, remote flexibility, funding stage, security expectations and whether the candidate has mainnet experience can all shift the numbers significantly.

In the UK and Western Europe, a junior Move developer with strong general software skills but limited production Move experience might sit around £45,000 to £70,000 base salary. These hires usually need mentoring and are best suited to teams that already have senior blockchain or protocol leadership. A mid-level Move developer with one or two shipped projects, solid testing habits and SDK integration experience may command roughly £75,000 to £115,000. A senior Move developer with mainnet deployments, security review experience and architecture responsibility can reasonably sit between £120,000 and £180,000+, especially for remote-first protocol teams competing internationally.

Contract rates vary even more. As rough 2026 guidance, junior or early mid-level Move contractors may charge £350 to £550 per day. Solid mid-level contractors often fall around £600 to £850 per day. Senior contractors, auditors with Move expertise, or engineers who can lead a critical mainnet launch may quote £900 to £1,300+ per day. Some will prefer weekly retainers, milestone-based engagements or US dollar pricing.

Be careful with unusually cheap candidates for asset-bearing code. A low rate can be acceptable for tooling, prototypes or supervised internal modules, but it is a false economy for protocol logic that manages funds, permissions or minting rights. If your budget is tight, reduce scope before reducing quality: hire a senior Move developer to design and review the critical path, then use mid-level engineers for surrounding integration work.

Where to find and source the best Move developers for your team

The best Move developers are rarely waiting on general job boards with 'Move developer' at the top of their CV. Many are active in ecosystem communities, open-source repositories, grant programmes, hackathons and protocol Discords. Your sourcing strategy should therefore combine direct outreach, community visibility, technical credibility and selective use of specialist recruitment support.

Start with ecosystem-specific channels. Sui and Aptos Discord servers, developer forums, GitHub organisations, grant recipient lists, hackathon winners, ecosystem demo days and conference speaker lists can all reveal credible candidates. Search GitHub for Move packages, Sui Move examples, Aptos modules, issue comments, pull requests and test suites. A candidate who has contributed a small but thoughtful fix to a framework, SDK or example repository may be more valuable than someone with a polished but shallow personal project.

Use LinkedIn carefully. Keywords such as Move, Sui Move, Aptos Move, Move VM, resource-oriented programming, smart contracts, Sui SDK, Aptos Framework and on-chain objects are useful, but many strong candidates describe themselves as blockchain engineers, smart contract developers, protocol engineers or Rust developers. Search for adjacent experience too: Solidity security engineers, Rust protocol developers and TypeScript dApp engineers who have recent Move repositories can be excellent prospects.

Practical sourcing channels for Move developer hiring

  • GitHub: review code quality, test coverage, comments and recent activity, not just stars.
  • Ecosystem Discords and forums: look for people answering technical questions well, not just promoting projects.
  • Hackathons and grants: identify builders who completed working products under time pressure.
  • Specialist job boards: use crypto, Web3 and blockchain boards, but write a precise advert to filter out generic applicants.
  • Referrals: ask auditors, protocol engineers, ecosystem leads and DevRel teams who they would trust with production code.
  • Specialist agencies: use recruiters who understand the difference between Move, Solidity, Rust and backend roles.

ProdReady Recruitment often finds the strongest Move developers through a mix of direct technical sourcing and referral mapping rather than passive adverts alone. That matters because the candidate pool is small, and the best people need a credible reason to speak to you.

How to write a Move developer job description that attracts strong candidates

A strong Move developer job description should be specific enough to attract serious candidates and honest enough to repel the wrong ones. Avoid vague phrases such as 'rockstar Web3 developer' or 'blockchain ninja'. Good engineers want to know what they will build, which chain they will work on, how mature the product is, what quality bar exists, and who will review their code.

Open with the project context. Are you building a Sui-based gaming economy, an Aptos DeFi protocol, an asset issuance platform, an NFT marketplace, a wallet infrastructure product or internal protocol tooling? State whether the role is focused on new module design, audit remediation, performance optimisation, SDK integration, migration from Solidity, or post-mainnet feature development. Candidates self-select better when the mission is clear.

Separate must-have skills from useful extras. Must-haves might include production software engineering experience, Move fundamentals, Sui or Aptos tooling, strong testing habits and comfort with code review. Useful extras might include Rust, Solidity, TypeScript, formal verification, DeFi mechanics, wallet integration, indexer design or previous audit participation. If you list every blockchain tool as mandatory, senior candidates will assume the role is poorly scoped.

Include details that good Move developers care about

  • Security expectations: mention audits, internal review process, threat modelling and mainnet risk controls.
  • Engineering environment: describe CI, version control, test frameworks, deployment process and documentation standards.
  • Chain and stack: specify Sui, Aptos or another Move environment, plus TypeScript, Rust, Go, React or infrastructure tools where relevant.
  • Decision authority: clarify whether the hire will design architecture, implement tickets, lead a workstream or advise founders.
  • Compensation and working model: include a realistic range, remote policy, contract length or permanent package.

A good advert also explains your hiring process. For a scarce skill set, say that you run a short introductory call, a focused technical screen, a paid practical exercise where appropriate, and a final team discussion. Candidates with multiple options are more likely to engage when the process looks respectful and efficient.

How to screen Move developer CVs, GitHub profiles and assessments effectively

CV screening for a Move developer should focus on evidence, not keyword density. Many applicants now add Move, Sui or Aptos to their profiles after completing a short course, but that does not mean they can design production modules. Your first pass should identify whether the candidate has actually written Move code, whether it is chain-specific and whether it demonstrates meaningful understanding of resources, permissions and tests.

Review GitHub when available. Look for original modules rather than copied tutorial code. Useful signals include meaningful package structure, clear test cases, negative tests, comments explaining invariants, sensible error handling and commits over time. Weak signals include a single unmodified counter example, no tests, hard-coded admin addresses, unused imports, vague README files and repositories created only days before applying.

For commercial work under NDA, ask candidates to describe the shape of the system rather than exposing proprietary code. A credible Move developer should be able to explain what modules they owned, what assets were represented, which access-control model they used, how packages were published, how upgrades were handled, what broke in testing, and what they would redesign now.

Designing a fair technical assessment for a Move developer

Keep the assessment close to your real work but small enough to complete in two to four hours, or make it paid if it requires more. For example, ask a Sui candidate to implement a simple asset listing module with create, update, cancel and purchase flows, plus tests for invalid ownership and double-spend attempts. For Aptos, you might ask for a resource-based escrow module with signer checks, event emission and tests for unauthorised withdrawal.

Evaluate the reasoning as much as the output. Ask the candidate to include a short design note: what assumptions they made, which invariants they protected, what they would add before mainnet and what trade-offs they considered. This reveals whether they can think like a production engineer rather than a syntax generator.

Move developer interview questions to ask and what good answers sound like

A structured interview helps you separate genuine Move developers from general Web3 applicants. Ask every candidate the same core questions, score them against agreed criteria and leave room for follow-up discussion. Good answers should be precise, practical and grounded in examples; weak answers tend to stay at buzzword level or confuse Move with Solidity patterns.

  • 1. How does Move's resource model change smart contract design? A good answer explains that resources cannot be freely copied or dropped unless abilities permit it, which makes ownership and asset safety explicit.
  • 2. What are the key differences between building on Sui Move and Aptos Move? Strong candidates mention Sui's object-centric model and programmable transaction blocks versus Aptos account resources, signer patterns and framework differences.
  • 3. How would you design access control for minting or admin actions? Good answers discuss capabilities, role resources, limited privileged functions, event logging and avoiding a single unsafe admin path.
  • 4. What tests would you write before publishing a marketplace module? Expect lifecycle tests, unauthorised access tests, cancelled listing tests, duplicate purchase tests, edge cases and negative tests.
  • 5. How do you approach package upgrades or migrations? A good answer recognises chain-specific upgrade rules, compatibility, state migration, versioning, communication and rollback constraints.
  • 6. Describe a security issue you found or prevented in Move code. Strong candidates can discuss a concrete bug class, such as leaked capabilities, incorrect ownership checks or unsafe shared-object design.
  • 7. How do you work with auditors? Look for clear documentation, reproducible tests, prompt fixes, risk prioritisation and respect for audit findings without outsourcing responsibility.
  • 8. What would you monitor after mainnet launch? Good answers include transaction failures, unusual event patterns, gas changes, object contention, error rates, wallet issues and user-reported anomalies.
  • 9. How would you explain a Move invariant to a frontend engineer? Strong candidates can translate protocol rules into integration constraints, such as who can call what and which object IDs are required.
  • 10. When would you push back on a product requirement? Good answers mention unsafe custody, rushed mainnet deadlines, unclear upgrade rights, ambiguous token economics or features that bypass permissions.

For senior candidates, add a design exercise: present a simplified product requirement and ask them to sketch modules, assets, permissions, tests and deployment risks. You are not looking for a perfect whiteboard architecture. You are looking for careful assumptions, clear boundaries and the ability to expose risk early.

Common Move developer hiring mistakes and red flags to avoid

The most common mistake is hiring a generic smart contract developer and assuming they can 'pick up Move in a week' for production asset logic. Some excellent Solidity or Rust engineers can become strong Move developers, but the transition still needs time, review and mentoring. If you are close to mainnet, you need someone who already understands Move's execution model and security expectations.

Another mistake is over-indexing on ecosystem enthusiasm. A candidate may be active in Discord, use the right language and understand token culture, but still lack disciplined engineering habits. For production work, enthusiasm is not a substitute for tests, code review, documentation and threat modelling. Conversely, do not reject quieter candidates who have strong repositories and thoughtful technical explanations simply because they are not prominent on social media.

Red flags when hiring a Move developer

  • No meaningful tests: especially for ownership, permissions, cancellation flows and invalid transactions.
  • Confusion between chains: treating Sui and Aptos as interchangeable without understanding their different models.
  • Unsafe admin design: broad privileged functions, hard-coded addresses or no plan for key management.
  • Copied tutorial projects: repositories that closely mirror examples but are presented as production work.
  • No security vocabulary: inability to discuss invariants, capabilities, attack surfaces, audit preparation or failure modes.
  • Poor communication: vague explanations of past work, defensive responses to review, or inability to document assumptions.
  • Mainnet bravado: candidates who dismiss audits, staged releases or monitoring as unnecessary bureaucracy.

Be wary of take-home exercises that are solved suspiciously quickly but cannot be explained in interview. AI-assisted coding is now normal across software development, but a production Move developer must still understand and defend the code. Ask them to modify their solution live, add a failing test or explain why a specific invariant holds.

Remote versus in-house Move developer hiring, and contract versus permanent choices

Because the Move developer talent pool is small, insisting on full-time office attendance can dramatically reduce your options. In 2026, many of the best Move developers work remotely across the UK, Europe, Asia and North America, often for protocol teams with asynchronous engineering cultures. If your role can be remote, you will usually access stronger candidates, move faster and benchmark compensation more realistically against the global market.

Remote hiring works best when your engineering process is mature. You need written specifications, clean tickets, recorded design decisions, code review standards, secure access controls and regular technical check-ins. Move development is too risk-sensitive for vague Slack instructions and unreviewed merges. If you do want an in-house or hybrid Move developer, make the reason clear: close collaboration with a London-based product team, regulated client work, hardware security requirements, or founder-led architecture sessions.

Contract versus permanent depends on stage and risk. A contractor is often the right choice for audits, urgent remediation, a defined module, a proof of concept, migration work or temporary senior oversight. Contractors can start quickly and bring specialised experience, but they may be expensive and less available for long-term ownership. Permanent hires are better when Move is core to your product roadmap, you need institutional knowledge, or you expect continuous feature development after launch.

A practical hiring model for many teams

  • Early prototype: use a senior contractor or fractional Move developer to design the core patterns correctly.
  • Pre-mainnet: bring in senior permanent or long-term contract support for testing, audit preparation and launch readiness.
  • Post-mainnet growth: hire a permanent Move developer or small team to own upgrades, integrations and ongoing security.

If you are choosing between one senior and two juniors, choose the senior for critical on-chain logic. Junior Move developers can be valuable, but they should not be the only line of defence for assets, permissions or protocol economics.

How long it takes to hire a Move developer and how to move faster

A realistic hiring timeline for a good Move developer in 2026 is usually three to eight weeks, assuming you already have a clear role, competitive compensation and a responsive interview process. A contractor for a tightly defined project can sometimes be found in one to three weeks. A senior permanent hire with mainnet experience, security depth and strong communication may take six to twelve weeks, particularly if you require a specific chain, timezone overlap or in-office presence.

The biggest delays are usually internal, not candidate-side. Teams lose good candidates by taking a week to review a CV, assigning a vague unpaid test, changing the job specification mid-process, or delaying compensation approval until the final stage. Strong Move developers often have inbound approaches from protocol teams, grant-funded projects and remote-first companies. If your process feels uncertain, they will disengage.

Ways to speed up Move developer hiring without lowering the bar

  • Agree the scorecard before sourcing: define must-have Move skills, chain requirements, seniority level and compensation range.
  • Use a two-stage technical process: one focused technical interview plus a small practical assessment or code review discussion.
  • Review GitHub before the call: do not waste interview time discovering whether they have written Move at all.
  • Make assessments relevant: avoid generic algorithms; test resource design, permissions and chain-specific tooling.
  • Pay for larger exercises: senior candidates respect serious evaluation, but not free consultancy.
  • Move within 24 to 48 hours: provide feedback, schedule next steps and keep momentum.
  • Sell the technical challenge: explain why the work is hard, meaningful and well-supported by the team.

Speed does not mean skipping due diligence. For production Move roles, reference checks, code review and security-focused questioning are still essential. The key is to remove avoidable pauses while keeping the technical bar intact.

How ProdReady Recruitment shortlists production-ready Move developers in days

ProdReady Recruitment helps hiring managers find Move developers who are genuinely suitable for production work, not just candidates with blockchain keywords on a CV. Our approach starts with the real engineering problem: the chain you are building on, the assets at risk, the launch timeline, the maturity of your existing team, and whether you need permanent, contract, remote or hybrid support.

We then build a targeted search around the right talent pools. For Move roles, that often means mapping Sui and Aptos contributors, reviewing GitHub activity, identifying engineers from grant programmes and hackathons, approaching adjacent Rust and Solidity specialists with credible Move evidence, and using referral routes through auditors, DevRel teams and protocol engineers. The shortlist is judged against practical production criteria: resource-oriented design, chain-specific tooling, test quality, security awareness, communication and ability to work with your existing stack.

For each shortlisted Move developer, we aim to give you useful context rather than a CV dump. That can include their strongest relevant projects, chain experience, compensation expectations, availability, remote constraints, likely technical level and any areas to probe in interview. For urgent contract needs, a well-scoped requirement can often produce credible conversations within days. For senior permanent roles, the same process helps you reach candidates who are not actively applying but are open to the right technical challenge.

Whether you use ProdReady Recruitment or run the process internally, the principle is the same: define the role tightly, screen for production evidence, respect the candidate's time and do not compromise on security-critical judgement. A good Move developer can accelerate your roadmap, reduce audit pain and prevent costly design mistakes. A weak hire can do the opposite. Taking the time to hire properly is one of the highest-leverage decisions a Web3 engineering leader can make.