Huang began to rank highly at global level in 2015. A best of indoors placed him seventh on the seasonal rankings, then he went further to outdoors, placing in the top 25 globally. He was selected for the 2015 Asian Athletics Championships held on home turf in Wuhan, but failed to record a valid mark in the qualifying round. He was slightly better at the 2016 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, but was some way off his best in fifth place. Huang gained his first global call up the following year (having missed the 2015 World Championships in Athletics held in China) after strong performances on the Chinese National Indoor Grand Prix circuit, which included a new best of . One of two Chinese entrants alongside Wang, he matched his best in the third round before improving to in the final round, earning himself the bronze medal.