Updated quarterly
In-Demand Skills & Salary Premiums 2026
The 20 skills with the strongest combination of posting growth and pay premium right now. Higher demand index = bigger YoY growth in postings.
| Skill | Category | Demand | Salary premium | Prevalence | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LLM Engineering | AI / ML | 98 | +32% | 6% | |
| Python | Engineering | 95 | +7% | 42% | |
| PyTorch | AI / ML | 92 | +22% | 9% | |
| TypeScript | Engineering | 90 | +8% | 38% | |
| RAG / Vector DBs | AI / ML | 90 | +28% | 3.5% | |
| Rust | Engineering | 88 | +18% | 4.2% | |
| AWS | Cloud | 88 | +10% | 36% | |
| Kubernetes | Engineering | 85 | +16% | 18% | |
| React | Engineering | 84 | +5% | 32% | |
| Cybersecurity | Security | 84 | +17% | 9% | |
| Go | Engineering | 82 | +14% | 8.5% | |
| dbt | Data | 81 | +15% | 8% | |
| Next.js | Engineering | 80 | +10% | 12% | |
| Snowflake | Data | 79 | +14% | 11% | |
| Azure | Cloud | 79 | +9% | 22% | |
| Terraform | Engineering | 78 | +12% | 14% | |
| IAM / Zero-trust | Security | 78 | +19% | 5% | |
| Figma | Design | 76 | +4% | 60% | |
| GCP | Cloud | 75 | +11% | 14% | |
| Product strategy | Product | 72 | +12% | 18% |
By category
Engineering
- Python+7%
- TypeScript+8%
- Rust+18%
- Kubernetes+16%
- React+5%
- Go+14%
- Next.js+10%
- Terraform+12%
AI / ML
- LLM Engineering+32%
- PyTorch+22%
- RAG / Vector DBs+28%
Data
- dbt+15%
- Snowflake+14%
- SQL+3%
Cloud
- AWS+10%
- Azure+9%
- GCP+11%
Design
- Figma+4%
Product
- Product strategy+12%
Security
- Cybersecurity+17%
- IAM / Zero-trust+19%
Frequently Asked Questions
We combine the number of active job postings mentioning a skill with year-over-year growth and normalize across all skills to a 0–100 scale. Sources: Indeed, LinkedIn Talent Insights, and BLS JOLTS — measured quarterly.