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Photo courtesy of Yonhap News |
[Alpha Biz= Kim Jisun] Naver is ramping up recruitment to develop a map-based “super application” for Saudi Arabia, in a move aimed at applying its proprietary mapping and search technologies to a government-led digital platform. The large-scale hiring effort for a specific service marks a rare step for the company.
According to industry sources on Tuesday, Naver Cloud is recruiting professionals across eight job categories through February 20 to develop a Saudi Arabia-focused map-based super app. To meet a development timeline targeting completion within this year, the company is prioritizing the hiring of core front-end and back-end developers.
Naver has previously launched a digital twin project in Saudi Arabia, which has been regarded as a success, and industry observers are watching closely to see whether the company will expand its business into other areas such as robotics.
The recruitment covers positions including DevOps engineers for map-based super app services; quality assurance specialists for global map-based super apps; search data engineers and search service engineers; back-end developers for basemap and directions services; full-stack back-end and front-end developers; and iOS developers for map-based super app services.
The map-based super app initiative is jointly supported by Naver Innovation—a joint venture between Naver and Saudi Arabia’s National Housing Company—along with Naver Cloud and Naver Labs. The project is being led by Chae Sun-joo, head of strategic business at Naver and chair of Naver Innovation’s board.
A Naver official said the Saudi project can be viewed as a “Team Naver” initiative, reflecting group-wide collaboration.
The map-based super app is a public information platform being developed in cooperation with the Saudi government, designed to support daily life in areas such as housing and mobility. While updating the Saudi Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs’ existing map-based administrative app, Balady, had initially been considered, the partners ultimately decided to build a new application instead.
Although the app will be operated by the Saudi government, a substantial portion of the underlying technology is expected to be provided by Naver. The platform will incorporate Naver Map’s software development kit (SDK) and a search engine built on Saudi-specific regional data. Features such as personalized search and recommendation services powered by Arabic large language models (LLMs) are also expected to be introduced.
Alphabiz Reporter Kim Jisun(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
