Dive Brief:
- Demand for AI talent is fast outpacing hiring in other tech positions, according to a Dice report published Wednesday. The company analyzed 7 million tech job postings in the U.S. for its report.
- Job postings for roles with AI in the title jumped 173% year over year in Q1 2026, according to the report. Software development jobs, by contrast, dipped 22% in the same time frame.
- Tech hiring growth is uneven across different industries, with tech job postings in finance and banking jumping 47% year over year, compared to just 23% year over year in overall tech job postings.
Dive Insight:
CIOs are navigating a shifting tech hiring ecosystem as business priorities change. Workers with coveted AI skills, now at a premium in the market, are finding a home outside of big tech providers.
“Hiring demand has shifted away from the sectors that drove the 2021–2022 boom and toward newer industries and roles, many of which barely existed at scale two years ago,” the company said in its report.
In just over two years, the share of tech job postings highlighting at least one AI skill jumped significantly, from 15% in January 2024 to 73% in May 2026, according to the report.
The overall findings align with the latest release of official labor data, which found unemployment for tech professions had dipped below 3% for the first time this year, a CompTIA review found. Seth Robinson, VP for industry research at CompTIA, attributed the boost in hiring to ongoing AI efforts.
“Even as some tech companies announce layoffs, employers in other industries are accelerating digital transformation initiatives and moving from AI experimentation to implementation,” Robinson said in a release accompanying CompTIA’s report.
Hiring managers are trying to move quickly in this market to find talent that can help deliver key projects, largely around AI, cybersecurity and modernization efforts, according to Megan Slabinski, district president of technology talent solutions at Robert Half.
“We’re also hearing that technology leaders don’t simply need more people, but they need people with the right expertise,” Slabinski told CIO Dive in an email. “Many organizations are under pressure to move faster on automation and modernization efforts, but professionals with those skill sets can be difficult to find.”
