April 2026
Jobs Report

Tech job postings increased 9% month-over-month in March, building on the recovery that began earlier in the year. March’s growth extends a multi-month upward trend and reflects organizations moving from planning and budget-setting into broader talent acquisition. The market also posted a 15% gain on a year-over-year basis compared to March 2025, the second consecutive month of positive year-over-year performance and a meaningful indicator that the broader market is on stable footing.

AI skills requirements continued their upward trajectory in March, reaching 67% of U.S. tech job postings — up from 61% in February. Year-over-year, AI skill requirements have increased 167% from March 2025, reflecting how deeply AI capabilities have become embedded in role expectations across the technology sector. This figure is no longer confined to dedicated AI roles. The data suggests that employers across industries increasingly treat AI fluency as a baseline expectation rather than a differentiating credential, as organizations move production-scale AI deployments from early experimentation into ongoing, operationalized systems.

March hiring growth showed notable strength across several key industries. Insurance led month-over-month gains at +108%, a figure that reflects the sector’s sustained push to operationalize AI across underwriting, claims processing, and risk modeling. Software (+42%) and Aerospace/Defense (+36%) also posted notable month-over-month gains, with Aerospace/Defense reflecting continued investment in operational systems, autonomous technologies, and defense IT modernization.

Year-over-year trends reinforce sustained demand in several sectors. Insurance again led all industries with 175% year-over-year growth, consistent with the multi-year arc of technology investment now translating into active hiring. Finance and Banking posted 66% year-over-year growth, reflecting ongoing investment in fintech infrastructure, regulatory technology, and AI-powered risk and compliance tooling. Aerospace/Defense (+48%) and Software (+43%) maintained strong year-over-year momentum, while Healthcare (+39%) continued to reflect the steady pace of digital transformation and AI integration in clinical and administrative systems.

Regional hiring patterns show continued recovery

At the state level, Illinois, California, North Carolina, and New Jersey posted month-over-month gains in March. Illinois and California reflect broad-based demand across financial services, healthcare technology, and AI-focused employers. Maryland’s continued strength is anchored by its high concentration of cybersecurity and defense technology work tied to proximity to federal agencies. Year-over-year, all states below posted positive growth:

At the metro level, San Francisco led March month-over-month growth, followed by Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta, Boston, Washington D.C., and Dallas — a broad recovery across markets rather than strength concentrated in any single region. Year-over-year, nine of the ten largest metros posted positive growth, led by New York, Boston, and Chicago.

March hiring patterns reflected strong demand for roles spanning insurance technology, AI engineering, software quality, and operations. Job title growth above 150% month-over-month included Guidewire Consultants, Distinguished Engineers, Software Product Engineers, Software Quality Assurance Consultants, Modeling Engineers, Directors of AI Engineering, Lead DevOps Engineers, Data Operations Analysts, IT Applications Analysts, and Directors of Cyber Security.

The skills landscape this month tells a coherent story across two interconnected themes: AI production infrastructure and enterprise workforce transformation.

Month-over-month skills growth

The fastest-growing skills in March by month-over-month change in tech job postings:

Vector Database, Prompt Engineering, RAG, and LangChain form the core technical stack for deploying LLM-based applications in production and are growing together for that reason. Responsible AI, Operational Performance Management, and Cybersecurity Compliance reflect the governance layer organizations must build alongside that infrastructure, particularly in regulated industries.

Talent Management, Business Transformation, and Document Management may appear out of place, but they point to a parallel wave of HR platform and ERP modernization happening simultaneously — especially in insurance and financial services — that is generating its own demand for technical talent.

Year-over-year skills growth (300%+)

The skills posting 300% or greater year-over-year growth represent an even sharper signal about where employer expectations have shifted over the past twelve months:

The concentration of Agentic AI, AI Agents, RAG, Vector Database, and Prompt Engineering reflects the shift from assistive AI tools toward agentic systems capable of completing multi-step tasks autonomously. Responsible AI and Cybersecurity Compliance are growing alongside them for the same reason: autonomous systems introduce risks that require governance infrastructure.