[1] His family was originally from Yixing (義興, in modern Wuxi, Jiangsu), but had moved to the eastern capital Luoyang at least by the time that his father Jiang Ai (蔣乂) was serving in governmental service.
Jiang Shen himself passed the imperial examinations in the Jinshi class, and thereafter served on the staffs of various regional governors.
He later served as Jiabu Langzhong (駕部郎中), a supervisory official at the ministry of rites (禮部, Libu) and was put in charge of drafting edicts.
[3] In 851, when the chancellor Bai Minzhong was put in charge of overseeing the campaign against Danxiang rebellions, Bai was allowed to retain a number of imperial officials to serve on his staff, and he chose Jiang to serve as his deputy in his role as the military governor (Jiedushi) of Binning Circuit (邠寧, headquartered in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi).
)[7] Four months later, he was relieved of his director of taxation responsibilities, and given the additional title of Zhongshu Shilang (中書侍郎, deputy head of the legislative bureau).
[6] Jiang Shen remained chancellor and was also made the minister of justice (刑部尚書, Xingbu Shangshu) and put charge of overseeing the editing of the imperial history.