As new professions and new types of work continue to emerge in China, they have become fresh momentum driving vigorous economic and social development.

Recently, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security released 11 new professions, including embodied intelligent robot application technicians, corporate sustainable development planners, microgrid administrators, satellite navigation equipment assemblers and adjusters, and water electrolysis hydrogen production workers.

The release of these new professions has opened new space for workers to find employment and start businesses, becoming a "source of living water" supporting employment growth.

What skills do these new professions require? What kind of technological appeal do they demonstrate? In this issue of the Economic Weekly, reporters approached workers in five new professions and asked them to tell their career stories.

Microgrid administrator: calculating green benefits between energy supply and demand

In the autumn sunlight of Liyang Chuangzhi Park in Changzhou, Jiangsu, photovoltaic panels stretch out quietly.

Inside the energy control room of the net-zero carbon park, data such as real-time electricity spot prices and weather forecasts flicker continuously on the smart energy screen, while Chen Chang, an employee of State Grid Liyang Power Supply Company, moves his eyes quickly across the display.

From time to time, he lightly clicks the mouse to fine-tune, verify and optimize the park's microgrid AI control strategy.

A microgrid administrator is the "actuary" and "dispatcher" of the park's energy system, a profession marked by both "green" and "digital" characteristics.

Although it is a newly released profession, in Jiangsu, a leading province in building a new type of power system, this work was already in place long ago.

In August this year, Jiangsu became the first province in China to surpass 100 million kilowatts of installed photovoltaic capacity, including 69.29 million kilowatts of distributed photovoltaic capacity, ranking first nationwide in scale.

Jiangsu's microgrid construction and application are at the forefront of the country.

The province's 13 prefecture-level cities are exploring differentiated paths according to local conditions, 101 virtual power plants have been connected to the new-type power load management system, and 95 user-side smart microgrid demonstration projects are playing a positive role.

Relying on its advantages in the new energy industry, Liyang took the lead in building the province's largest near-zero-carbon park smart microgrid, forming a replicable and scalable operation model integrating source, grid, load and storage.

Behind these scenarios stands a group of microgrid administrators like Chen Chang.

Chen Chang previously worked for a long time in traditional positions such as electricity inspection and customer service, with a focus on safety inspections, hidden danger investigations and business consultation, and a core mission of ensuring the safe and stable operation of the power grid and reliable electricity use by customers, with a relatively fixed service model.

As zero-carbon parks and smart microgrids were implemented and new energy-use scenarios kept emerging, his responsibilities were upgraded accordingly.

In the morning, when electricity spot market prices are low, Chen Chang leads his team to optimize AI algorithms and adjust storage and charging strategies on a rolling basis every 15 minutes, charging when electricity prices are at a trough and discharging when prices are high, bringing the park nearly 10,000 yuan in additional revenue each month.

By using microgrid energy management systems and other tools, microgrid administrators can monitor, forecast and analyze microgrid power data, formulate and execute microgrid operation strategies, implement grid-connected and islanded switching, grid-connected and islanded operation, and black starts, and analyze and evaluate microgrid performance.

From a traditional electricity service worker to a microgrid administrator, Chen Chang's work is no longer simply "ensuring power supply and safety," but has shifted toward intelligent regulation, market-oriented operation and refined energy conservation of the power grid.

He not only has to guide park staff in standard operation of photovoltaic and storage equipment and help them master the operation and maintenance logic of new energy systems, but also continuously iterate AI energy management strategies, optimize the pace of energy storage charging and discharging, participate in electricity spot market adjustment, and use manual intervention to make intelligent systems adapt to complex and changing production energy-use scenarios.

From a traditional power service post to a specialized green new profession, Chen Chang's growth trajectory is a vivid portrayal of the transformation and upgrading of the energy industry in the new era and the iterative expansion of green professions.

The inclusion of microgrid administrators in the national new profession system not only fills the occupational gap in the field of smart energy operation and maintenance, but also precisely matches the urgent talent needs of building a new type of power system.

Tangible green efficiency gains have followed.

In 2025, the microgrid at Liyang Chuangzhi Park saved 7.2 million yuan in annual energy costs, reduced carbon emissions by 16,800 tons, and lowered the park's cost per kilowatt-hour by 0.21 yuan.

Since 2026, Chen Chang has continued to refine the operation plan, further optimizing the park's comprehensive cost per kilowatt-hour to 0.25 yuan, continuously releasing the economic and ecological value of the new type of power system.

"This operation and maintenance management model has already been proven, and next we plan to replicate and promote it in more parks and key manufacturing enterprises," Chen Chang said, adding that the team will also continue to cultivate compound microgrid management talent who understand technology, markets and operations.

The 15th Five-Year Plan period is a key period for comprehensively promoting green transformation of economic and social development and a critical period for peaking carbon emissions.

As an important component of the new type of power system, microgrids play an irreplaceable role in enhancing the flexible regulation capacity of the power grid, improving the reliability of power supply in remote areas, and promoting the efficient consumption of distributed energy.

Embodied intelligent robot application technician: making robots automatically "get to work"

Transporting materials, explaining exhibitions, caring for people with disabilities.

With the development of embodied intelligence technology, robots are beginning to enter more real-world scenarios.

The people who truly make these robots "move" and "work" are a group of technical personnel responsible for assembly, debugging and maintenance.

They have a profession name that is becoming better known: embodied intelligent robot application technician.

He Minghui, head of the embodied intelligent maintenance and assembly project at Dalian DIASTE Technology Development Co., Ltd., is one of them.

What exactly does this profession do? "Simply put, it is installing, debugging and repairing humanoid robots to ensure their stable operation," He Minghui said.

He Minghui studied mechanical manufacturing and began working in embodied intelligence-related work three years ago.

Unlike programmers responsible for algorithm development, he mainly handles physical complete-machine assembly, hardware maintenance, and coordinated debugging of software and hardware.

"Most faults in traditional equipment come from mechanical or circuit problems. Embodied intelligent robots also carry intelligent systems, and some faults are difficult to attribute simply to one link," he said.

When a robot becomes abnormal, it may stem from mechanical structure or poor software-hardware adaptation.

In daily work, new machines must complete assembly and inspection, while faulty prototypes need to be disassembled and investigated.

In addition, they also handle customer repair requests, manage spare parts, and organize maintenance training.

The most energy-consuming part is troubleshooting intermittent faults, which do not reproduce continuously and can only be traced through repeated testing.

In He Minghui's view, the real test is not in the laboratory, but in real implementation scenarios.

"The laboratory has constant temperature and little vibration, and prototype testing is stable. But once it comes to exhibitions and other scenarios, prototypes need to be disassembled, transported and reassembled on site, while environmental changes and temperature fluctuations may cause loose wiring, overheating joints and other problems," he said.

Even if software interaction is normal, a robot may still malfunction due to hardware failure.

An experience at a New Year's Eve gala left a deep impression on him.

At the "Set Sail 2026—China Media Group New Year's Eve Gala," five robots named "Xiaoqi" from the company were to perform on the same stage with singers.

That day, the outdoor temperature dropped sharply.

According to the original design, after the robots entered standby mode, they would automatically cut off the power supply to the signal board of the steering gear, which is a motor capable of precisely controlling rotation angle, to prevent overheating.

But in the low-temperature environment, the signal boards in the robots' hands and heads failed one after another after losing power.

On-site engineers urgently modified the debugging program to keep the signal boards continuously powered, relying on heat generated by the circuit boards to resist the low temperature.

During the official performance, the robots completed the entire set of movements smoothly.

Similar troubleshooting is very common in He Minghui's work.

He believes this job most tests hands-on ability, troubleshooting logic and patience.

Some problems can only be completely solved through repeated disassembly, testing and observation.

At present, the company's robots mainly target scenarios with high demand for human-robot interaction, landing in cultural tourism scenic areas, science and technology exhibition halls, elderly care, medical care and other fields.

In his view, engaging in this profession requires mastering mechanical structure and circuit knowledge, being able to read equipment drawings, and possessing strong hands-on ability, troubleshooting thinking and on-the-spot adaptability.

"Embodied intelligent robots are becoming smarter and smarter, which cannot be separated from high-quality hardware, nor from technicians' practical operation and judgment," He Minghui said, adding that one must practice hands-on as much as possible and accumulate frontline practical experience.

Corporate sustainable development planner: planning that "grows" into the entire production and operation process

September, Beijing.

In the meeting room of Responsibility Cloud Group, Lan Siqi pushed a stack of project materials aside, picked up a pen and drew five boxes on a blank sheet of paper.

She spoke quickly, and when she mentioned "closed loop," the tip of her pen pressed heavily on the last box.

As consulting general manager of Responsibility Cloud Group, she has seen too many companies begin promoting sustainable development by "writing a report," only to stop inside the "report."

What she cares about is another matter: how ESG, meaning environmental, social and corporate governance, can move from paper into operations and from concept into action.

Responsibility Cloud Group is a leading institution in the field of corporate sustainable development planning in China.

Over 20 years, Lan Siqi and her team have served more than 150 Fortune Global 500 companies and more than 100 listed companies, formulated more than 100 social responsibility and ESG management measures, and prepared more than 120 various development plans.

Behind the numbers is her long-term observation of the path of sustainable development for Chinese companies.

"Corporate sustainable development planning is a systematic project. It cannot start from scratch, but must connect to the company's existing strategy and business context," Lan Siqi said.

She breaks this line into five steps.

The first step is strategy formulation: analyze and formulate the company's sustainable development strategy and incorporate it into the company's medium- and long-term development plans and annual business plans, so that they are deployed, advanced and assessed together, avoiding a "two skins" problem.

The second step is topic assessment: comprehensively study regulatory requirements, market expectations and stakeholder demands to form management priorities.

The third step is system building: promote the establishment of a three-level governance structure and consultation and coordination mechanism among the decision-making, management and execution levels, so that strategy execution has a basis.

The fourth step is business integration: embed strategic requirements into core value chain links such as investment, research and development, procurement and production, and translate them into specific management actions and business behaviors for each business unit.

The fifth step is implementation: decompose strategic goals layer by layer into annual tasks, budget arrangements and responsibility lists, carry out regular operation monitoring of key indicators, conduct regular execution evaluations, and iterate goals and measures in line with business changes to form a management closed loop.

"What is planning most afraid of? Most afraid that once written, it is locked in a drawer," Lan Siqi said.

"ESG must 'grow' in the processes of investment, research and development, procurement and production, rather than 'grow' in the public relations department's PowerPoint."

Different types of companies face different sustainable development exams.

Lan Siqi said large state-owned enterprises must closely follow the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission's requirements to "enhance core functions and improve core competitiveness" and the task of building world-class enterprises.

The demands of listed companies mostly come from the capital market.

Corporate ESG performance directly affects index inclusion, financing costs and market recognition, and planning mostly uses information disclosure and rating evaluation as the starting point.

For multinational companies, the core of ESG is the localized implementation of global standards, forming a positive cycle in environmental protection, labor rights and community communication.

"State-owned enterprises are like weaving a net, listed companies are like fighting a battle, and multinational companies are like building a bridge," Lan Siqi said by way of analogy.

"But in the end, all must return to the same question: can this plan become business action?"

Another important part of Lan Siqi's work is combining international ESG standards with the actual operations of Chinese companies.

She told reporters that Chinese companies following some international sustainable development standards helps improve the international comparability and recognition of their disclosed information, but the priority order of topics must be placed back in the Chinese context.

The "dual carbon" goals, rural revitalization and the Belt and Road Initiative are sources of substantive topics that distinguish Chinese companies from international peers.

Ultimately, an indicator foundation of "one system, multiple mappings" should be formed, allowing one report to simultaneously meet the differentiated needs of regulators, rating agencies and international investors.

In Lan Siqi's view, ESG strategy building among Chinese companies is currently undergoing a historic turning point from "voluntary" to "self-conscious" and from "information disclosure" to "system building," but differentiation is quite obvious.

Central state-owned enterprise listed companies and leading "going global" enterprises are at the forefront, while the large number of small and medium-sized enterprises are mostly in the initial and wait-and-see stages.

For the future, she judges that the scope of mandatory corporate information disclosure will continue to expand, extending from listed companies to broader market entities, while further moving toward standardization and unification.

Key topics will move from qualitative description to quantitative disclosure, and the focus of ESG will shift from compliance orientation to value creation.

ESG talent will gradually become more specialized and professional.

Some scholars predict that from 2025 to 2030, China's demand for sustainable development planning talent will exceed 2.2 million people, with short-term market supply falling short of demand.

"The inclusion of corporate sustainable development planner as a new profession will help promote the standardization and systematization of the supply and cultivation system for sustainable development planning talent," Lan Siqi said.

Technicians from the satellite navigation specialty department of the China Electronics Technology Network Communication Research Institute are setting up interference equipment and preparing for field test testing.

Photo by Yu Runna / Guangming Picture

Satellite navigation equipment assembler and adjuster: craftsmanship guarding BeiDou's interconnection of all things

The BeiDou Satellite Navigation System is a national-level spatiotemporal infrastructure independently developed and operated by China, shouldering the important mission of national spatiotemporal information security.

After decades of independent tackling of key problems, the BeiDou system has been fully completed and operates stably.

Today, BeiDou services have been deeply integrated into the national economy and daily life.

From transportation, agriculture, forestry and fisheries to meteorological monitoring and emergency rescue, high-precision, all-weather BeiDou signals cover all walks of life, becoming an important spatiotemporal cornerstone supporting the digital and intelligent development of society.

Stars form a network in the sky, while craftsmanship empowers from the ground.

A mature navigation system is not limited to satellites in the sky, but also inseparable from the precise operation of supporting products such as ground terminals, receiving base stations and navigation boards.

The vigorous development of the BeiDou industry has placed extremely high demands on the precision, stability and anti-interference capability of ground equipment.

Against this background, the new profession of satellite navigation equipment assembler and adjuster emerged, becoming an indispensable key link in the industrial chain.

At the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 54th Research Institute, a technically comprehensive and courageous assembly and adjustment team is quietly holding its ground.

On clean workbenches, instruments hum softly and data flicker; this is their main battlefield.

Unlike ordinary electronic work, BeiDou assembly and adjustment is a refined, specialized and compound task.

Wearing anti-static work clothes and relying on precision instruments such as spectrum analyzers and navigation signal simulators, they complete the entire process from component welding, precision assembly and simulation debugging to full-domain testing.

Carefully calibrating parameters, observing signals in real time, simulating complex working conditions, and investigating hidden risks—every procedure directly affects the stability and reliability of navigation positioning accuracy.

Improvements in precision come from bravely tackling difficulties through thorns and thistles.

Facing occasional signal fluctuations and positioning deviations in trial production of new navigation terminals, the assembly and adjustment team took the initiative.

They stood watch day and night continuously, reproduced fault scenarios, sorted through signal links one by one, compared massive amounts of data, investigated hardware assembly and software algorithms layer by layer, and finally identified the root cause, providing solid backing for product optimization.

Improvements in precision also come from field verification across mountains and rivers.

To adapt to China's complex and diverse geographical environments, the team travels to the front lines all year round: going deep into the extreme cold of Mohe to record satellite signals, stationed on Hainan Island to collect ocean characteristics, traveling to the western Gobi to capture terrain patterns, and moving through eastern cities to improve anti-interference parameters.

These measured data from all directions provide solid support for algorithm optimization and parameter matching, continuously improving the practical capability of BeiDou equipment.

Looking up at the starry sky, BeiDou shines; standing at one's post, craftsmanship builds dreams.

The high-level technological self-reliance and self-strengthening of the BeiDou industry requires not only high-tech talent to overcome core problems, but also the deep cultivation and persistence of frontline assembly and adjustment talent.

Liu Zhongying, 31, is a member of this team.

Since joining the BeiDou navigation equipment assembly and adjustment team five years ago, he started from zero, gradually mastered theories such as the BeiDou signal system and radio frequency circuits, and became proficient in various precision testing instruments.

He told reporters: "Every screw I hold and every set of parameters I check are connected to the vast starry sky."

No matter how harsh the field conditions are, they must face difficulties head-on, with no room for negligence.

Liu Zhongying and his colleagues guard their original aspiration with craftsmanship, making every assembly and adjustment and every set of parameters solid and reliable in ordinary posts.

It is precisely this silent persistence on the ground that makes BeiDou signals more stable and builds a solid technical foundation for China's satellite navigation cause.

The Qinghai solar-storage and photovoltaic hydrogen production project helps the green transformation of "desert, Gobi and wasteland" areas.

Photo by Xinhua News Agency

Water electrolysis hydrogen production worker: turning "wind and solar" into "green hydrogen"

In Chicheng, Hebei, among the vast mountain ridges, wind turbines stand in continuous rows, steadily converting strong wind energy into clean electricity that flows into the power grid.

Not far away, at the Chicheng hydrogen production plant of CHN Energy Guohua Investment, a green electricity-coupled water electrolysis hydrogen production line operates stably and continuously.

The prepared green hydrogen, after separation, purification and pressurization, is transported outward in an orderly manner to supply various application scenarios such as industry and transportation.

Behind this new artery pulsing with green energy is a group of workers engaged in the trendy and little-known work of water electrolysis hydrogen production.

On the green hydrogen production line at the Chicheng hydrogen production plant, Han Hong, a water electrolysis hydrogen production worker, is focusing on monitoring on-site production conditions.

Every hour he must conduct inspections to check whether equipment is operating normally and whether hidden risks exist, and formulate and take corrective measures.

"Water electrolysis hydrogen production, simply put, uses green electricity generated by wind power and photovoltaics to decompose water through electrolysis and produce hydrogen," Han Hong told reporters.

"When wind and solar resources are good, unused green electricity would be wasted. We take this clean green electricity to 'decompose water' and produce hydrogen. Hydrogen is a clean energy source. After combustion, it only produces water and does not cause environmental pollution."

Water electrolysis hydrogen production may look simple, but it is not simply "electrifying water to decompose it." It is an intersection of electrochemistry, chemical processes, electrical engineering, automatic control, hydrogen safety and multiple other disciplines.

In addition, unlike traditional chemical installations, water electrolysis hydrogen production needs to frequently adjust unit load according to wind and solar resource conditions, and when necessary, operate the entire unit for startup and shutdown.

This requires water electrolysis hydrogen production workers to possess both advanced and comprehensive skills.

"We need to master the process principles of water electrolysis hydrogen production and be familiar with the supporting systems for water electrolysis. At the same time, we must master electrical and chemical engineering knowledge, and adjust equipment operating status in a timely manner based on parameters such as electrolyzer current, voltage, temperature and pressure," Han Hong said.

"Some emergencies in practical operations have brought us challenges and also given me a deeper understanding of the work," Han Hong said.

One late autumn afternoon, the weather changed suddenly.

The wind power curve on the central control system fluctuated greatly, and the wind turbine output instantly surged.

He closely watched the real-time output and power forecast data of the wind farm, simultaneously monitored electrolyzer voltage, hydrogen and oxygen liquid levels, and lye temperature, and gradually adjusted the electrolyzer load in tiers to avoid severe system power fluctuations.

"Seizing every gust of wind and converting fleeting green electricity into storable and transportable clean energy—this is the value of our work," Han Hong said with emotion.

Risk identification and safety judgment ability are also qualities that water electrolysis hydrogen production workers must possess.

Hydrogen has a difficult "temper": small molecules, a wide explosion limit and low ignition energy, making it highly prone to leakage-induced combustion or explosion and posing high risks.

"Careful on-site inspections and identifying and predicting hidden risks are especially important," Han Hong said.

Having worked in this position for four years, from design, civil construction and equipment installation, through repeated debugging and rectification, to the stable and continuous production of qualified green hydrogen by the entire unit, Han Hong has witnessed green hydrogen move from a conceptual, abstract term to a product produced from project facilities with all indicators meeting standards.

"Hydrogen energy is clean energy and belongs to an emerging industry with good development prospects, in line with the national energy transition trend. As a water electrolysis hydrogen production worker, being able to stand on the track of national strategy and personally participate in hydrogen energy projects is a rare growth opportunity," Han Hong said.

"When green hydrogen is continuously transported out and provides clean energy for hydrogen refueling stations and industrial users, I truly feel the value of this profession."