[April 2026] Tech Job Market Trends Monthly

Welcome to the 4th issue of Tech Job Market Monthly! If you missed the previous months, you can check out the previous issues of Tech Job Market Monthly here.

So, a quick recap of how this works:

Each month, we sit down and check out the US job market for each major field in tech, so that you can get a mile-high view of how each industry is looking.

Why the US?

Mainly because it's the biggest market and because a lot of the other markets trail the US by a few months. This means it's fairly indicative of upcoming trends in other regions as well, although there may be specific geographic factors where you're based.

How do we come up with this information?

For now, we do this by evaluating data from 2 sources:

1. LinkedIn, and

2. Google trends

This way, we can see the number of open jobs available and compare that against previous months, as well as current search trends to see if there are any spikes or dips in public interest.

One more thing to note is that LinkedIn by no means has all of the job postings that are available for any of these roles. There are many other job sites (broad and niche) with many more postings.

However, since LinkedIn has openings for all the major roles, it's very helpful for us to see directional changes month-over-month and see how many jobs are roughly available relative to others.

With all that out of the way, let's get into the data for April 2026.

Current Job Trends in the Tech Industry for April 2026

I know some of you just want the hard data, so I've made a handy dandy table here to show you the total # of job openings for each role and month-over-month ("MoM") change:

As you can see, Software Engineer roles fell a massive 39%, which is the single biggest drop we've seen for any major role since we started tracking, but more on that in a moment.

In terms of growth, it was a strong month for the specialist roles. AI Engineer, ML Engineer, Data Scientist, DevOps, BI Analyst, and UI/UX all posted solid-to-strong gains, with DevOps up 58% and ML Engineer up nearly 41%.

We're also seeing wild swings in the smaller roles again, with Blockchain Developer job openings jumping up 215% and Game Developer jumping an eye-watering 305%. As always, bear in mind that both of these roles have small absolute numbers, so large percentage swings are par for the course, and a handful of companies posting or pulling listings in a given month can move the needle dramatically.

Before I get into the role-by-role breakdown, let's take a quick dive into why all this is happening...

The big April story: "AI is eating its own workforce"

Now obviously, just like last month, there's a lot going on in the world. Add in the fact that we're possibly in the middle of an AI-driven industrial revolution, and it's easy to see why it's having such a big impact on both the drops and the growth we're seeing.

Here are just a few things that happened this month:

• Oracle laid off somewhere between 10,000 and 30,000 employees in early April, despite posting strong earnings the same week. This wasn't because of financial distress, but a straight reallocation of budget toward AI data centers and development

• At the same time, Meta announced it was cutting 8,000 jobs (around 10% of its workforce) while also cancelling 6,000 open positions it had been actively hiring for

• Microsoft offered buyouts to around 7% of its entire US workforce, the first time in the company's 51-year history that it has done so

• Snap laid off 16% of its staff, with CEO Evan Spiegel explicitly citing AI as the reason, saying "rapid advances in AI technology now allow small squads to do what larger teams used to"

All told, over 100,000 tech workers have been laid off so far in 2026, averaging around 837 job losses per day, which is already running at a higher pace than all of 2025.

Yeesh!

But before you think this is purely a tech problem, it really isn't.

Since January 2026, over 1,600 companies across all industries in the US have announced mass layoffs, spanning retail, manufacturing, healthcare, energy, and more. However, when compared to other industries, tech still has more open jobs, higher salaries, and more paths back in than pretty much anywhere else right now.

In fact, some areas are actively growing thanks in part to this push towards AI, with the big players still actively hiring specialists who have the desired skills. Now more than ever, it seems a great time to either add in some Prompt Engineering into your current skillset to stand out as a 10x employee, or look into training in these consistent growth fields like AI and Machine Learning.

Speaking of which, we're currently hosting a free access week to every course in our library from April 30th until May 10th.

That's 10 days of access to any course, no card required!

So if you want to pick up some of these in-demand skills like Machine Learning, AI Engineering, Data Science, and more, go ahead and grab access for free now, and then come back and keep reading, and we'll break down the data for each role.

1. Software Developer and Software Engineer

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - April 2026:

• 37,478 Software Engineer (-39%/monthly)

• 47,435 Software Developer (+10.5%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graphs:

Right, so the Software Engineer number needs some unpacking, because a 39% drop is eye-catching and we don't want anyone panicking unnecessarily.

As I covered above, April was the month that Oracle, Meta, and Microsoft all pulled massive amounts of open roles in a single move. These are exactly the kinds of companies that post huge volumes of Software Engineer listings, so when they pause hiring across the board, this role will almost always be hit harder and faster than almost anything else in our dataset.

However, even after that drop, we're still looking at over 80,000 combined Software Engineer and Software Developer openings on LinkedIn alone. That's still the largest pool of open jobs in our entire dataset by a long way.

Add in the fact that the Software Developer role grew by 10.5% tells an interesting story too.

Why?

Well, smaller and mid-sized companies, which weren't caught up in the big April restructuring wave, kept hiring. That split between what the giants are doing and what the rest of the market is doing is worth keeping an eye on over the next couple of months. (Not every company will have the funds to move devs into AI roles, etc., so there will always be a demand).

And don't forget, when things calm down, and the big players finish their restructuring and start posting again, these numbers should bounce back fairly quickly. One difficult month doesn't change the long-term picture for either of these roles.

Want to get started in these roles? Check out the career path below. It will help you get set up in both Software Development and Software Engineering roles:

2. AI and Machine Learning Engineer

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - April 2026:

• 10,413 AI Engineer (+33.8%/monthly)

• 6,343 ML Engineer (+40.9%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graphs:

Every single month since we started tracking, both AI Engineer and ML Engineer have grown, and this month they posted some of their strongest numbers yet. Given everything happening in the broader market right now, that kind of consistency is remarkable. Companies are cutting costs everywhere, but AI engineering headcount isn't on the chopping block.

If anything, it's where the money is going.

The long-term picture backs this up, too. Dedicated AI roles have grown 81% year on year, and that growth is showing up across industries well beyond just the big tech players, including healthcare, finance, manufacturing, and more.

If you're looking for a signal on where to focus your energy, four consecutive months of uninterrupted growth in the middle of a turbulent market is about as clear as it gets.

Want to get started in these roles? Check out the career path below:

3. Data Scientist

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - April 2026:

• 7,713 Data Scientist (+29.5%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graph:

Another strong month for Data Scientists, and another month of consistent growth. That's now four months in a row of gains!

And when you think about why, it actually makes a lot of sense, because when budgets are tight, and every decision carries more risk, the people who tell you exactly where your money is working and where it isn't become more valuable, not less.

Data Scientists are essentially the people leadership turns to when they can't afford to get things wrong, and right now, nobody can afford to get things wrong.

The long-term picture is just as encouraging. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 33% employment growth for this role through 2034, putting it among the fastest-growing occupations in the country.

Four months of our own data and a decade of projections pointing in the same direction. Hard to argue with that.

Want to get started in this role? Check out the career path below:

4. Cybersecurity Analyst and Cybersecurity Specialist

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - April 2026:

• 2,911 Cybersecurity Specialist (-7.4%/monthly)

• 2,870 Cybersecurity Analyst (+9.2%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graph:

With companies across every industry accelerating their AI adoption, the attack surface for bad actors is growing just as fast. More AI means more systems, more data, and more potential vulnerabilities to exploit. Cybersecurity professionals are the ones keeping all of that safe, and that's not a job that's going away anytime soon.

There's also a growing need for cybersecurity professionals to learn how AI affects their role, which is why we just dropped a brand new course on this:

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Not only is this important for both defence and red teaming, but it's definitely a skill that employers are going to look for if they start to downsize.

Want to get started in this role? Check out the career path below:

5. AI Developer and Prompt Engineer

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - April 2026:

• 271 AI Developer (+19.4%/monthly)

• 59 Prompt Engineer (-39.9%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graphs:

These two are still the wildcards of the dataset, and that's not going to change anytime soon.

The AI Developer bounce back to 271 is encouraging after last month's dip, but with a pool this small, a handful of companies posting or pulling listings can swing the percentage dramatically either way. Don't read too much into any single month here.

The Prompt Engineer drop is a similar story. 59 openings sounds low, and it is, but the standalone job title has always been a bit of a moving target. Right now, there are still around 4,000 jobs actively asking for prompting skills, but that's just one search term, and the way companies describe what they want varies wildly.

For example

Some ask for "prompt engineering", others list "LLM skills", "AI experience", or even "ChatGPT" specifically. There's no standardisation yet, which makes it hard to track as a single role.

What's actually happening is that prompting is becoming a required skill inside other roles rather than a standalone job title in its own right. The demand is there, and it's growing; it's just getting absorbed into the broader job market rather than sitting in its own box.

Either way, if you're not already building prompting into your skillset regardless of your current role, now is a really good time to start. It's quickly becoming one of those things employers just expect you to know, and are prioritising for when hiring.

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6. UX and UI Designer

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - April 2026:

• 1,281 UX/UI Designer (+17.5%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graph:

Three months of consecutive growth for UI/UX, and the story here hasn't really changed. Companies keep investing in design talent despite everything going on around them, and that's worth paying attention to.

The narrative you hear a lot right now is that AI design tools are going to replace human designers. The job data just isn't supporting that. If anything, it's going the other way. As more companies churn out AI-generated interfaces and content, the gap between what AI can produce and what actually looks and feels good is becoming more obvious, not less. Someone still has to close that gap, and that's a human job.

It's also worth thinking about what's driving a lot of the AI investment we've talked about throughout this newsletter. Every new AI product, every redesigned workflow, every consumer-facing tool being rebuilt around AI needs a designer behind it. The wave of AI development isn't replacing design work, it's creating more of it.

Want to get started in this role? Check out the career path below:

7. DevOps Engineer

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - April 2026:

• 5,394 DevOps Engineer (+58.1%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graph:

Another role with four months of consistent growth. However, this month, DevOps posted its strongest number yet with a 58% jump!

The reason isn't hard to figure out. Every AI product that gets built needs infrastructure behind it, and that's what DevOps engineers do. So as AI investment keeps growing, so does the demand for the people maintaining the foundations it runs on.

Want to get started in this role? Check out the career path below:

8. Data Engineer

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - April 2026:

• 9,531 Data Engineer (+12.7%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graph:

Another good month for Data Engineers, thanks in part to its relationship with a lot of what's driving growth elsewhere in the dataset.

Simply put, as companies pour money into AI products, machine learning pipelines, and business intelligence, someone has to make sure the data powering all of it is clean, accessible, and reliable. That's the Data Engineer's job, and it's not one you can automate away easily, because bad data in means bad results out, regardless of how good your AI is.

Want to get started in this role? Check out the career path below:

9. Data Analyst

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - April 2026:

• 16,757 Data Analyst (+0.9%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graph:

After two consecutive months of decline, Data Analysts are back in positive territory this month, albeit just barely, with a 0.9% gain. It's not a barnstormer, but given the broader context, stabilising is actually a decent result.

This is still probably the role on this list feeling the impact of AI tools most directly. A lot of the work that entry and mid-level analysts do, things like pulling reports, building dashboards, and summarising data, is exactly what AI-powered analytics tools are getting genuinely good at. So the pressure on this role isn't going away.

That said, there's a ceiling to how much you can automate here. You still need someone who understands what the numbers actually mean for the business, knows when something looks wrong, and can turn an insight into a decision. That part isn't going anywhere.

If you're heading into this field, focus on the business judgment side as much as the technical side, and make sure you're comfortable working with AI tools rather than around them. Because if you're the person who catches the mistake that saves the company money, they're going to keep you around.

Want to get started in this role? Check out the career path below:

10. Blockchain Developer

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - April 2026:

• 3,733 Blockchain Developer (+215.3%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graph:

Before you get too excited about that number, let's put it in context. This role has swung wildly every single month since we started tracking. Down 71% in January, up 70.9% in February, up 183.9% in March, and now up another 215% in April. This is just what this role does, and when the total pool is small, a few dozen companies posting or pulling listings can move the percentage dramatically.

That said, 3,733 is the highest we've seen this role reach across all four months of tracking, so it's not all noise either.

The underlying tailwinds are genuinely interesting right now. The growing conversation around AI agents using crypto infrastructure to transact autonomously is creating real demand for people who can build in this space. Add in the fact that periods of economic uncertainty historically push more interest toward decentralised financial systems, and there are real reasons why this number could keep climbing.

Just don't make any career decisions based on a single month of data here. Watch it over the next few months and see if the growth has legs.

Want to get started in this role? Check out the career path below:

11. Business Intelligence Analyst

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - April 2026:

• 2,261 Business Intelligence Analyst (+31.8%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graph:

Another strong month for BI Analysts, and a continuation of what has been one of the more consistent upward trends in the whole dataset.

It's worth noting that this role sits in an interesting position relative to Data Analyst, which we just covered above. While Data Analysts are feeling some pressure from AI automation at the entry level, BI Analyst seems to be holding up better, likely because the work skews more toward strategic reporting and executive decision making rather than day-to-day data pulling. That's a harder thing to hand off to a tool.

With budgets under pressure across the board right now, the demand for people who can tell leadership exactly what's working and what isn't, clearly and quickly, isn't going away. If anything, this kind of economic environment is exactly where this role tends to prove its value.

Want to get started in this role? Check out the career path below:

12. Game Developer

LinkedIn/Job Data (US) - April 2026:

• 4,343 Game Developer (+304.6%/monthly)

Google Keywords Trend graph:

A 304% jump sounds incredible until you remember where this role started. Back in February we were looking at just 465 openings, so even with this month's surge, we're still talking about a relatively small pool of jobs compared to most other roles in the dataset.

That said, 4,343 is by far the highest we've seen this role reach, and given what the gaming industry has been through over the past couple of years with significant studio layoffs and consolidation, any sustained upward movement is genuinely encouraging for anyone looking to break into this space.

Whether this is the start of a real recovery or just another swing in a volatile role is hard to say after one month. But it's the right direction, and worth keeping an eye on.

Want to get started in this role? Check out the career path below:

What's next?

So that's April 2026. A wild month, but an interesting one.

The biggest names in tech cut tens of thousands of roles in a single month, and the generalist end of the market felt it immediately. But zoom out a little, and the picture is actually more nuanced than the headlines suggest.

Specialist roles kept growing. AI, ML, DevOps, Data Science, BI, UI/UX are all up. While at the same time, the exact same companies that are doing the cutting are the same ones pouring hundreds of billions into AI infrastructure, and they still need the people who can actually build and maintain it. That gap between generalist and specialist has never been more obvious than it is right now.

Four months in, and the data keeps pointing in the same direction. That's not something to ignore.

What does this mean for you?

If you're already in a tech role, this probably isn't the moment to make a big move. Sit tight, keep building skills, and watch how the next couple of months play out as the big players finish their restructuring.

If you're just getting started or upskilling, the signal has been consistent all year. AI, data, and security are where companies are still hiring and still investing when budgets get tight.

We'll be back next month with the May numbers. Subscribe below so you don't miss it.

And don't forget, we're opening up our entire course library for free for 10 days, from April 30th until May 10th. If you haven't joined yet, go ahead and get access now.