<p>By developing a firm-centred framework that links the supply of employment opportunities with the demand for urban amenities, this study examines how surrounding intra-urban amenities shape emerging high-tech employment in Guangzhou, China. Drawing on original firm-level survey data, street-view imagery, and point-of-interest (POI) datasets, and combining interpretable machine learning with statistical and causal analyses, the study investigates the directionality and heterogeneity of amenity-employment relationships at the firm scale. The finding shows that urban amenities are important drivers of the spatial emergence of high-tech employment in Guangzhou, lending support to the “jobs follow people” argument in this context. However, these causal relationships are highly differentiated across amenity subcategories and firm groups. Constructed and green amenities exert positive causal influences, whereas commercial amenities negatively affect the emergence of high-tech employment; public service amenities show no significant causal effects. By foregrounding firm-centred supply-demand interactions and locally specific urban contexts, this research advances a more nuanced understanding of the spatial interplay between intra-urban amenities and emerging high-tech employment.</p>