AI Video Generation · Talent Map · US / UK / Israel / Central Asia / Canada
Seven AI video companies, 1,687 listed members — but only 518 are actually building. They come from Big Tech and self-driving — film VFX is under 1%.
We break down the real R&D teams at Runway / Luma / Pika / Higgsfield / Decart / HeyGen / Synthesia: how big, who they are, where they come from, where they sit.
Report date 2026-06-22Produced by Metix AICoverage 7 companies · global
Executive Summary
01 Listed headcount ≠ R&D scale
Metix AI global talent pool, data through mid-2026. We count each of the seven companies' listed members and isolate the current "engineering + research + creative design" core (the builders). All figures are aggregate, with no personal information.
Most are scaling fast, leaving a wide mobility window
13.7%
PhD share among builders
≈ OpenAI 14.4% / Anthropic 13.7%
5
Talent geographies
US labs / Israel / Kazakhstan / UK-Europe / US-Canada
①Listed headcount ≠ R&D scale
Of 1,687 listed members, only 518 are builders (about a third). The rest are creator communities and sales. To benchmark team size, separate these three layers first — and watch out for inflated "community" counts, especially on consumer products.
②Different structures: research shops vs. product shops
Across the field it's 60% engineering, 21% research, 13% creative. But Luma is 55% research and Higgsfield is 80% engineering — "build-your-own-model" and "application-layer product" map to completely different hiring profiles.
③Big Tech dominates, film VFX barely registers
The biggest feeders are Google / Meta / Amazon. Film-VFX backgrounds are under 1%, and "Hollywood crossover" is the exception. The real video talent comes from machine learning, Big Tech engineering, and self-driving, defense intelligence, and search engines.
④Five talent geographies, all expanding
US labs, Israel, Kazakhstan, UK-Europe, US-Canada — five disconnected markets. 70% joined in the past two years and only 6.8% are new grads: this is pure lateral hiring.
Methodology. We count only the seven pure-play video / generative-media companies; OpenAI Sora and Google Veo sit inside their parent companies and can't be isolated, so they appear only as feeders and background, not in the totals. All figures are independently verified. The same x-ray can be generated on demand for any target company.
Team Composition
02How big the R&D core is, and who's in it
Listed headcount isn't R&D headcount. Builders are only about a third — the chart below compares each company's absolute builder count against its total listed members.
Synthesia
150 / 623 listed
HeyGen
93 / 242
Runway
87 / 275
Luma AI
83 / 200
Higgsfield
50 / 188
Decart
38 / 91
Pika
17 / 68
Bar length = absolute builder count (Synthesia's 150 = 100%). "Listed" = visible current members. Source: Metix AI
The gap splits two ways: on the consumer side it's creator communities, and on the enterprise side it's sales. Both are real business functions, but neither is R&D.
Company
Listed
builders
creator communities
Sales / marketing
Builder share
Pika
68
17
27
6
25%
Higgsfield
188
50
60
35
27%
Runway
275
87
60
36
32%
HeyGen
242
93
39
45
38%
Luma AI
200
83
34
42
42%
Decart
91
38
8
19
42%
Synthesia
623
150
27
265
24%
Total
1,687
518
255
448
31%
Who are the "creator communities"?These are members of consumer products' Creative Partner / Ambassador programs. They often list several products at once as their "current role" (we've seen one person tagged to more than ten), and they're ecosystem promoters, not employees — at Pika and Higgsfield this group makes up 30–40% of the listed count. Break them out separately when benchmarking a team.
What the builders are made of
Split by function, you can tell at a glance whether a company is research-driven or product-driven: Luma is more than half research, Higgsfield is 80% engineering. Creative / design appears everywhere (13% across the field), but almost none of it comes from film VFX.
Each company's builders by function (totals to 100%). Source: Metix AI
Where The Talent Comes From
03Where the talent comes from: Big Tech leads, film VFX barely shows up
Builders' prior employers, deduplicated and ranked — the top 11 feeders, dominated by Big Tech.
Google
39
Meta
29
Amazon
28
Microsoft
20
Snap
17
Apple
16
ByteDance
15
NVIDIA
12
Adobe
11
Huawei
10
Yandex
8
Bar length = number of builders who once worked there (deduplicated, by person; Google's 39 = 100%). Source: Metix AI
Looking only at "video-relevant" feeders, self-driving 3D vision, defense intelligence, and search engines come out on top, while film VFX is essentially zero.
Israeli defense intelligence (Unit 8200 / IDF)
≈24
Self-driving 3D vision
13
NVIDIA
12
Yandex
9
VFX / film-effects studios
≈1
"Self-driving" = Waymo / Cruise / Zoox and the like; "VFX" = Pixar / ILM / Weta / DNEG and others combined. Source: Metix AI
VFX career-switchers?Even on the broadest definition, among the 518 builders, film-VFX backgrounds are under 1%, and they surface only sporadically at Runway / Luma. The R&D core is built from machine learning and Big Tech engineering, and even the creative / design hires come mostly from product design rather than the film pipeline.
Note. The "Israeli defense intelligence ≈24" is almost entirely concentrated in one company, Decart (24 of its 38 builders) — that reflects "Decart is an Israeli-rooted company," not a sector-wide pattern; likewise, Yandex is concentrated at Higgsfield. See the next section for details.
Five Talent Geographies
04One sector, five disconnected markets
Split by location, the seven companies simply aren't hiring in the same market. The chart below shows each company's geographic distribution, and the cards give the underlying talent profile and hiring advice.
USUK / EuropeIsraelKazakhstanCanadaOther
Luma AI
Runway
HeyGen
Decart
Higgsfield
Synthesia
Pika small sample
Each company's builders by location (totals to 100%). Source: Metix AI
① US labs · Luma / Runway
US · cinematic generation
83 / 87builders
26.5% · 12.6%PhD rate
71% · 62%in the US
The model core. Feeders are Meta / Google / NVIDIA, plus a hidden pipeline — self-driving 3D vision (7 of Luma's people came from Waymo / Cruise / NVIDIA). Luma is 55% research and 26.5% PhDs, the most research-leaning of all.
② Israel · Decart
Tel Aviv · real-time generation
38builders
63%defense-intelligence background
76%in Israel
The leanest team: 91 listed members, only 8 of them community tags. 24 of its 38 builders have Unit 8200 / IDF backgrounds, layered with Technion. A textbook Israeli deep-tech profile.
③ Kazakhstan · Higgsfield
Almaty · growth product
50builders
80%engineering roles
68%in Kazakhstan
The team is in Kazakhstan, not Silicon Valley. Feeders are Yandex plus local incubators (nFactorial, Aviata). Engineering-driven and the youngest of the group (median tenure 11 months), with a search / growth foundation.
④ US / Canada · HeyGen
San Francisco + Toronto · digital humans
93builders
67% + 20%in the US / Canada
ByteDance 6 · Huawei 4China pipeline
The engineering core sits in the US and Canada, not China. But there's a clear China Big-Tech pipeline: ex-Snap 9 + ByteDance 6 + Huawei 4. A product-engineering shape, with a 3.2% PhD rate.
⑤ UK / Europe · Synthesia
London · enterprise digital humans
150builders
23 monthsmedian tenure
92%in the UK / Europe
The most senior and the most B2B-SaaS-like. Feeders are Google / Amazon / Microsoft plus UCL, with 92% in the UK and Europe. Its large listed count comes from a 265-person sales team, not a community.
＋ San Francisco squad · Pika
San Francisco · small sample
17builders
35%Creative / design
76%in the US
A tiny elite team (17 people; percentages are indicative only). The highest creative / design share of the seven, with feeders including Google and ByteDance, and founders out of Stanford / Meta AI.
Credentials & Hiring Pace
05Education and hiring cadence
The education mix confirms the research-vs-product divide: Luma has the most PhDs, Higgsfield is mostly bachelor's degrees. ("Not listed" = no education info in public records, which doesn't mean no degree.)
PhDMaster'sBachelor'sOther degreesNot listed
Luma AI
Runway
Decart
Synthesia
HeyGen
Higgsfield
Each company's builders by education (totals to 100%; Pika omitted for small sample). Source: Metix AI
Hiring cadence: 70% joined in the past two years, only 6.8% new grads, and a median career length of 7–14 years — overwhelmingly lateral hiring. The chart below shows each company's hires in the past 12 months.
Higgsfield
51%
Luma AI
45%
Decart
40%
HeyGen
38%
Runway
31%
Pika small sample
31%
Synthesia
26%
Share of builders who joined in the past 12 months (Higgsfield's 51% = 100%). Source: Metix AI
External benchmark. The builder PhD rate (among those with a degree) is 13.7%, on par with OpenAI (14.4%) and Anthropic (13.7%). What drags down the overall listed PhD rate is community and sales, not low-caliber engineering.
The China pipeline is in the feeders, not the locations. By employer alone: ByteDance 15 + Huawei 10 + Tencent, flowing mainly to HeyGen and Luma.
How To Use This
06How HR / recruiters / VCs can use this
HR: benchmark on an R&D basis
When benchmarking team size, strip out creator communities and sales first — a competitor's "hundred-person team" may have real R&D of only a third. By profile: for cinematic generation, hire from Big Tech plus self-driving CV; for enterprise digital humans, hire from B2B SaaS.
Recruiters: follow the feeders
Almost no new grads, and 70% joined in the past two years — a large pool of talent is in its mobility window right now. The biggest feeders are Big Tech; the underrated ones are self-driving 3D vision, and regionally, Israel's Unit 8200 and Yandex.
VCs: use talent structure for diligence
Function mix, PhD rate, and feeders read straight off whether a company is "build-your-own-model" or "application-layer." The "listed headcount" must be split into three layers — how much community and sales is mixed in determines the real R&D capacity.
FAQ
Questions this report answers
How many builders sit inside the seven AI-video companies?
Seven AI video companies, 1,687 listed members — but only 518 are actually building. They come from Big Tech and self-driving — film VFX is under 1%.
How are “builders” defined versus listed members?
Metix AI global talent pool, data through mid-2026. We count each of the seven companies' listed members and isolate the current "engineering + research + creative design" core (the builders). All figures are aggregate, with no personal information.
How should this report be cited?
Metix AI Talent Intelligence, 2026-06-22. AI Video Generation Talent Map 2026 | Metix AI. https://metix.ai/reports/mapping/ai-video-generation-talent-2026
Want the full list for one company, or your own target company instead?
Population cleanup, function mix, feeders, and geography can all be generated on demand for any single AI video / generative-media company, and connected to reachable candidates.
Aggregate report · no personal information shown · provided by Metix AI · Mira
Note: This report is based on the Metix AI global talent pool, counting the listed members of seven AI video / generative-media companies (taking current members, then isolating "builders" by engineering + research + creative design roles), with data through roughly mid-2026. Every figure is an aggregate result over the visible sample and is indicative only; companies with smaller samples (such as Pika, with just 17 builders) should be read with caution; the report shows no individual names, contact details, or sensitive attributes. Funding / valuation and other public information is used only as background.
Metix AI · Mira | AI Video Generation Talent Map 2026 | 2026-06-22Talent analytics powered by Metix AI
