The Demand for Telerik Developers Continues to Rise
As digital applications become the primary touchpoint for customers and partners, delivering high-performance, user-friendly experiences is more critical than ever, especially across diverse platforms and devices. Telerik helps teams meet this challenge with a suite of UI components, reporting tools, and developer productivity features for building scalable applications within the Microsoft ecosystem. With support for ASP.NET Core MVC, .NET, Blazor, WPF, .NET MAUI, and modern JavaScript frameworks like Angular and Vue, Telerik equips developers to streamline application development across complex, cross-platform environments.
In the second quarter of 2025, Progress, Telerik’s parent company, reported $237 million in revenue, increasing 36% year over year, and annualized recurring revenue of $838 million, a 46% increase. With Telerik and Kendo UI among its flagship tools, this growth reflects a global uptick in demand for developers who can leverage these platforms to deliver enterprise-grade solutions. While Telerik accelerates development with prebuilt UI components, delivering high-quality, maintainable applications still requires seasoned developers. It can be challenging to find professionals who can extend core functionality, optimize performance, and integrate with cloud services like Azure.
This guide will help you navigate the hiring process by identifying what sets great Telerik developers apart, what complementary skills matter, and how to choose the right specialist for your team.
What Attributes Distinguish Quality Telerik Developers From Others?
The best Telerik developers are problem-solvers who combine deep technical knowledge with an understanding of user experience, application performance, and long-term maintainability. Strong Telerik developers recognize that applications must serve business goals as much as technical requirements. Rather than relying solely on default configurations, they evaluate how grids, forms, charts, and reporting modules support user journeys and organizational needs.
Top-tier engineers are comfortable extending the platform through custom code, whether in ASP.NET Core, Blazor, or JavaScript frameworks. When working with large data sets, they know how to fine-tune performance, connect front-end parts to SQL Server or MySQL databases, and combine APIs and Azure-based services. Additionally, they know how Kendo UI and Telerik Reporting work in tandem with other tools to keep apps responsive and consistent across desktop, mobile, and web environments.
What sets seasoned developers apart is their holistic approach. They think like front-end designers and back-end developers at once, balancing usability with system performance, optimizing for responsiveness, and maximizing consistency across devices. Their solutions go well beyond attractive interfaces; they deliver high-performance applications that can adapt and scale as your business grows.
Equally important, expert Telerik developers communicate well with cross-functional teams. They can translate requirements into functional designs, explain trade-offs between custom code and native features, and collaborate with designers, product managers, and back-end developers. Instead of simply assembling components, they build user-friendly applications that solve real problems and deliver measurable value.
Complementary Technology Skills for Telerik Developers
Beyond core Telerik expertise, standout developers also bring a broader set of technical and creative skills that enable them to build more versatile, high-performing applications.
Advanced CSS and HTML Customization: Experienced developers extend Telerik themes through custom CSS and semantic HTML, creating precise layouts, responsive designs, and consistent branding.
JavaScript, Angular, and Vue: Kendo UI integrates with major front-end frameworks. Developers who know JavaScript deeply can build dynamic applications that make full use of Angular or Vue.
ASP.NET Core and .NET: Many Telerik projects depend on Microsoft frameworks. Proficiency in ASP.NET Core MVC and .NET enables developers to handle back-end logic, API integration, and secure workflows.
Blazor and Cross-platform Development: Telerik UI for Blazor, along with .NET MAUI, provides tools for cross-platform app development. Specialists who know these frameworks can easily build desktop and mobile applications with shared codebases.
Database Integration: Most Telerik components rely on data binding. Developers who are fluent in SQL Server, MySQL, or other databases and can optimize queries, manage schemas, and connect data sources.
Telerik Reporting and Visualization: Beyond UI elements, strong developers implement dashboards and reporting tools, turning raw data into user-friendly insights while promoting high performance.
API and Web Services: Proficiency in building and consuming APIs is absolutely essential. Telerik developers often connect applications with REST or SOAP services, Azure Functions, or external business systems.
Performance Optimization: Skilled professionals refine workflows, reduce overhead, and tune front-end and back-end interactions to ensure applications remain fast and responsive.
How Can You Identify the Ideal Telerik Developer for Your Project?
Hiring the right Telerik developer begins with understanding your project’s unique technical and strategic requirements. Whether you’re building a data-intensive enterprise dashboard, modernizing a legacy system, or developing a cross-platform app, the ideal candidate must align with your goals and development environment.
Match Experience to Project Complexity
The scope of your project determines the level of expertise required. Are you building a modern ASP.NET Core web application, a WPF desktop tool, or a cross-platform mobile app with .NET MAUI? For basic UI integration, a mid-level developer may suffice. But for enterprise-scale solutions—such as complex reporting, API-driven applications, or large-scale performance optimization—you’ll need developers with years of experience across multiple Telerik products and Microsoft technologies.
Prioritize Technical Skills, Communication, and Ownership
While junior developers may handle straightforward UI work, senior specialists should demonstrate confidence in extending the framework, managing back-end workflows, and prioritizing performance optimization. The best candidates ask insightful questions, document clearly, and always strive to strike the right balance between built-in functionality and custom development. Since many Telerik projects involve distributed teams, look for developers who collaborate effectively and provide reliable support through deployment and beyond.
How to Write a Telerik Developer Job Description
Instead of launching immediately into technologies and tools, a compelling Telerik job description should start by highlighting your company’s goals and describing the purpose of the application being built. Are you modernizing legacy applications to .NET or Blazor? Building a high-performance Blazor web app? Developing a mobile application with .NET MAUI? Candidates should quickly understand the project’s scope and objectives.
Be explicit about the technologies in use. Specify whether you need experience with Kendo UI for Angular, Telerik UI for ASP.NET Core MVC, Telerik Reporting, or Blazor components. Mention database requirements, such as SQL Server or MySQL, and clarify whether the role involves Azure integration or API development.
Describe how the developer will fit into your development team. Will they work closely with back-end developers and software engineers, or own the entire application stack as a full-stack developer? Will they collaborate with designers to improve user experience, or implement wireframes into fully functional interfaces?
Finally, define what success looks like. Is it delivering a high-performance application that scales smoothly? Improving user experience with responsive UI components? The clearer you are about expectations, the easier it will be to find the right Telerik developer who aligns with your technical and business needs.
What Are the Most Important Telerik Developer Interview Questions?
A well-structured interview will reveal how well Telerik developers understand the platform, how they approach performance and maintainability, and how effectively they collaborate with cross-functional teams. Below are key interview questions that can help you uncover both technical depth and practical problem-solving ability.
Can you describe a project where you customized Telerik components beyond their default functionality?
Strong candidates won’t just list the components they used; they’ll explain why customization was necessary. They’ll share examples that illustrate how they identified limitations in default platform controls, such as complex grid filtering, custom chart behaviors, or reporting dashboards. They should discuss how they balanced performance with usability, integrated the components with back-end services or APIs, and maintained reusable code. Exceptional candidates also describe collaboration with designers, product managers, or QA teams to be sure that customizations meet business requirements while remaining user-friendly.
This question reveals a candidate’s depth of technical understanding and real-world problem-solving. The best candidates will discuss strategies for improving responsiveness, such as implementing lazy loading for grids, optimizing database queries, and minimizing client-side rendering overhead. They may describe batching API calls, using virtualization in tables and lists, or optimizing how charts and reports are rendered. Developers who understand the balance between front-end and back-end processing and who can articulate how they use profiling tools and iteratively optimize code should be at the top of your list. Answers should reflect practical, hands-on experience rather than theoretical knowledge.
Have you built applications using Telerik UI for Blazor, ASP.NET Core, or WPF?
Telerik offers specialized UI libraries for each Microsoft development platform, including Blazor for modern web apps and WPF for desktop applications. Candidates should be able to demonstrate their ability to select the right technology based on project requirements and user needs without forgetting system constraints. Be on the lookout for explanations of how they handled integration across multiple frameworks, managed state and data binding, and delivered engaging user experiences. Strong developers will describe challenges such as cross-platform compatibility, accessibility considerations, or complex workflows, and explain how they used Telerik tools to address them effectively.
How do you ensure an application remains maintainable for non-developers after handoff?
Maintainability is a key indicator of an experienced Telerik developer. Candidates should describe strategies for creating reusable components, enforcing coding standards, and documenting both workflows and configurations. They might explain how they organize projects to separate UI logic from business logic, how they name and structure components for clarity, and how they implement automated tests or sample scripts to assist future teams. The most talented candidates also discuss training or knowledge transfer processes, ensuring that other developers or even nontechnical staff can make updates safely without breaking functionality.
What do you see as Telerik’s current limitations, and how do you work around them?
No platform is without constraints, and qualified candidates should be able to discuss Telerik’s documented limitations, such as limited default styling flexibility, large component payloads, or specific challenges in mobile responsiveness. More importantly, they will be able to explain how they creatively address these issues, for instance by extending components with custom CSS/JavaScript, optimizing API calls, or combining Telerik features with third-party libraries. Look for developers who offer specific examples of technical and practical problem-solving, thereby demonstrating that they understand Telerik’s strengths and limitations and can deliver solutions that maintain performance, usability, and long-term maintainability.
Why Do Companies Hire Telerik Developers?
Organizations hire Telerik developers to bridge the gap between prebuilt UI components and fully customized, business-ready applications. While Telerik tools accelerate development, leveraging them effectively—and avoiding performance, scalability, or usability pitfalls—requires specialized expertise. These developers combine technical depth with user experience awareness, helping companies deliver applications that are not only visually consistent but also robust, efficient, and easy to maintain.
Just as important, experienced developers help future-proof investments. By optimizing applications, training internal teams, and ensuring seamless integration with existing workflows, they create digital assets that support long-term growth. In an environment where digital applications define customer interactions and competitive advantage, Telerik developers enable organizations to deliver better user experiences faster and maximize the value of their technology stack.
