AI/ML jobs in 2026 — demand, top roles hiring, and related skills

As of 2026-09-30, AI/ML appears in 1,850 job postings indexed by Skillenai over the past 90 days — Product Manager has the most postings mentioning AI/ML, with demand share down 2.5% vs the prior 4 weeks.

Last updated · 90d ending 2026-09-30

Postings · last 90 days
1,850
Demand vs prior month
down 2.5% vs the prior 4 weeks
Top role · 17.1% of skill postings
Top hiring metro
San Francisco

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Frequently asked questions about AI/ML

+Is AI/ML in demand in 2026?

Yes. AI/ML appears in 1,850 job postings indexed by Skillenai over the 90 days ending 2026-09-30. Product Manager accounts for the most postings mentioning AI/ML (17.1% of all postings mentioning AI/ML).

+What jobs require AI/ML?

According to the Skillenai jobs index over the 90 days ending 2026-09-30, among roles with at least 20 postings, the highest shares mentioning AI/ML are Software Product Manager (25.0% of that role’s postings mention AI/ML), AI Deployment Strategist (21.6% of that role’s postings mention AI/ML), CTO (20.5% of that role’s postings mention AI/ML).

+What skills are commonly paired with AI/ML?

Across job postings indexed by Skillenai (90 days ending 2026-09-30), AI/ML most often appears alongside Python, machine learning, SQL, Product Management, AWS.

+Where is AI/ML most in demand?

As of 2026-09-30, the metro areas posting the most jobs requiring AI/ML are San Francisco, New York City, San Jose, Bengaluru, London, according to the Skillenai jobs index.

+How can I keep up with new AI/ML content and jobs?

Skillenai indexes news, blog posts, and research papers mentioning AI/ML alongside the jobs index. You can subscribe to a daily email digest of new AI/ML content from your Skillenai account.

+Which skills come before and after AI/ML?

The skill-flow chart shows skills documented in adjacent positions across observed employer changes. An outgoing skill is documented in the following position but not the preceding one. These are ideas to explore, not proven prerequisites, acquisition dates, or levels of mastery. Each ribbon counts employer moves with that skill pair; one move can contribute several pairs.

Weekly indexed postings requiring AI/ML — last 90 days

Salary distribution

Box = 25th–75th percentile · tick = median · whisker = 10th–90th · USD, annualized

Career paths around AI/ML

Skills documented before and after this skill across employer changes.

Historical career profiles · all locations

Skills before AI/ML

Before AI/MLPower BI → AI/ML: 4 observed employer moves with this skill pairkubernetes → AI/ML: 4 observed employer moves with this skill pairpython → AI/ML: 3 observed employer moves with this skill pairsql → AI/ML: 3 observed employer moves with this skill pairTableau → AI/ML: 3 observed employer moves with this skill pairJavaScript → AI/ML: 3 observed employer moves with this skill pairci/cd → AI/ML: 2 observed employer moves with this skill pairETL → AI/ML: 2 observed employer moves with this skill pairAI/MLPower BI: 4 movesPower BI4 moveskubernetes: 4 moveskubernetes4 movespython: 3 movespython3 movessql: 3 movessql3 movesTableau: 3 movesTableau3 movesJavaScript: 3 movesJavaScript3 movesci/cd: 2 movesci/cd2 movesETL: 2 movesETL2 moves

Skills after AI/ML

After AI/MLAI/ML → S3: 3 observed employer moves with this skill pairAI/ML → analytics: 2 observed employer moves with this skill pairAI/ML → Java: 2 observed employer moves with this skill pairAI/ML → PostgreSQL: 2 observed employer moves with this skill pairAI/ML → Salesforce: 2 observed employer moves with this skill pairAI/ML → C#: 1 observed employer moves with this skill pairAI/ML → ci/cd: 1 observed employer moves with this skill pairAI/ML → ETL: 1 observed employer moves with this skill pairAI/MLS3: 3 movesS33 movesanalytics: 2 movesanalytics2 movesJava: 2 movesJava2 movesPostgreSQL: 2 movesPostgreSQL2 movesSalesforce: 2 movesSalesforce2 movesC#: 1 movesC#1 movesci/cd: 1 movesci/cd1 movesETL: 1 movesETL1 moves
How to read this chart · view counts

Each side is an independent set of observed employer moves, not the same people followed through three stages. Ribbon widths compare move counts within that side. Internal moves are not included.

The following position documents a skill that the preceding position does not. Skills must be linked to both positions, with clear dates and no overlap. One move can connect several skill pairs. These patterns suggest skills to explore; they do not establish prerequisites, when a skill was learned, or a higher skill level.

Source: Skillenai talent graph, historical career profiles. Historical descriptions and coverage can change. Only the leading published connections are shown.

Observed connections and move counts
ConnectionMoves
Before: Power BI4
Before: kubernetes4
Before: python3
Before: sql3
Before: Tableau3
Before: JavaScript3
Before: ci/cd2
Before: ETL2
After: S33
After: analytics2
After: Java2
After: PostgreSQL2
After: Salesforce2
After: C#1
After: ci/cd1
After: ETL1

Roles most likely to require AI/ML

Among roles with at least 20 postings in the same period.

RolePostings mentioning skill% of role postings mentioning skill
Software Product Manager925.0%
AI Deployment Strategist1121.6%
CTO920.5%
Developer Relations Manager617.1%
Technical Success Manager416.0%
AI Security Researcher314.3%
Product Director613.0%
Chief Technology Officer612.8%
Partner Solutions Architect310.7%
AI Product Owner39.7%

Roles with the most AI/ML postings

RolePostings mentioning skillShare of skill postings
Product Manager31617.1%
Software Engineer1779.6%
ML Engineer864.6%
Data Scientist512.8%
Solutions Architect482.6%
AI Engineer422.3%
Technical Program Manager422.3%
Systems Engineer321.7%
Engineering Manager251.4%
Forward Deployed Engineer221.2%

Top companies posting jobs requiring AI/ML

Employers ranked by indexed job postings in the last 90 days.

Top companies posting jobs requiring AI/ML
CompanyPostings · 90 days
Cisco57
Zscaler42
Google19
Adobe19
Databricks16
Snowflake16
CACI14
Anduril14
Scale AI14
JPMorgan Chase & Co.14

Job postings indexed over the past 90 days, grouped by resolved employer. Counts are postings, not hires. Companies without a published page appear without a link.

Top metros hiring for AI/ML

NamePostingsShare
San Francisco643.5%
New York City603.2%
San Jose583.1%
Bengaluru512.8%
London432.3%
Boston281.5%
Hyderabad281.5%
Toronto261.4%
Washington211.1%

Skills commonly paired with AI/ML

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How this was computed

Counts derive from the Skillenai jobs index over the 90 days ending 2026-09-30. Skills are resolved against the Skillenai canonical taxonomy, so the same entity is counted whether a posting writes 'Python', 'Python 3', or 'python'. Role prevalence divides postings mentioning AI/ML by all postings for each role in the same window, ranking roles with at least 20 postings. Role distribution divides each role’s AI/ML postings by all AI/ML postings, including postings without a role. Shares need not sum to 100% for the displayed roles. Pages refresh weekly (or daily for the top-50 most-requested skills). Adjusted posting share: 0.9% to 0.9%. Demand share change is the relative percentage change between these adjusted shares. Each employer-and-ATS group has at least 10 postings in each 90-day window; its earlier posting count supplies the same weight in both windows. The panel includes 2,596 identified employers and covers 68% of earlier and 72% of latest indexed postings. Windows: 2026-06-02 to 2026-08-31 and 2026-06-30 to 2026-09-28 (UTC; end dates excluded). The windows overlap by 62 days. Dates reflect indexing, not the employer’s posting date. This measures posting mix, not total hiring or market-wide demand. Matching excludes entrants and exits; changes in crawl completeness within an employer or ATS can still affect the result.

source
Skillenai jobs index, deduplicated daily
entity_id
87e0daefb2180be5
data_as_of
2026-09-30
window_days
90
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Compiled by Jared Rand · Data sourced from the Skillenai labor market index