Weekly Skills Pulse — April 19, 2026

Software Engineering leads this week's hiring activity, with 9,017 new listings added across 18,708 active roles from 126 companies in the week of April 19, 2026. Agile / Scrum is the biggest mover in the market, with demand surging to 7.7% in Software Engineering — a jump of 2.8 percentage points week over week, making it the most volatile category to watch right now.

Key Movements This Week

• Stakeholder Mgmt: 40.3% demand (down 10.0pp from last week) — Demand cooled materially in Product & Design, likely due to changing implementation preferences.
• Excel: 25.2% demand (down 6.9pp from last week) — Demand cooled materially in Product & Design, likely due to changing implementation preferences.
• AWS: 18.7% demand (down 6.1pp from last week) — Demand cooled materially in Product & Design, likely due to changing implementation preferences.
• AWS: 22.1% demand (down 6.1pp from last week) — This pullback in Security suggests employers are reducing emphasis on this skill.
• AWS: 20.0% demand (down 5.9pp from last week) — Demand cooled materially in Software Engineering, likely due to changing implementation preferences.
• Python: 12.2% demand (down 5.5pp from last week) — A sizable decline in Security may point to stack consolidation or tooling shifts.
• Excel: 14.7% demand (down 5.1pp from last week) — A sizable decline in Software Engineering may point to stack consolidation or tooling shifts.
• Scala: 22.7% demand (down 4.9pp from last week) — This skill slipped in Software Engineering, though the move is not yet a structural break.

Category Spotlight: Software Engineering

1. Scala — 22.7% (↓ 4.9pp)
2. AWS — 20.0% (↓ 5.9pp)
3. Stakeholder Mgmt — 17.5% (↓ 2.0pp)
4. Excel — 14.7% (↓ 5.1pp)
5. Python — 13.6% (↓ 3.0pp)
6. React — 13.3% (↓ 2.2pp)
7. Java — 12.1% (↓ 2.4pp)
8. Node.js — 11.3% (↓ 3.9pp)
9. TypeScript — 11.2% (↓ 2.3pp)
10. SQL — 11.1% (↓ 3.3pp)

Rising Signals

Skills with the strongest upward momentum across all categories:

• Agile / Scrum +2.8 percentage points — now at 7.7% in Software Engineering
• Agile / Scrum +2.4 percentage points — now at 6.9% in AI & Machine Learning
• CI/CD +1.6 percentage points — now at 19.3% in DevOps & Infrastructure
• Statistical Analysis +-1.6 percentage points — now at 4.4% in Data & Analytics
• Databricks +-1.6 percentage points — now at 4.0% in Data & Analytics

Declining

• Stakeholder Mgmt -10.0 percentage points — down to 40.3% in Product & Design
• Excel -6.9 percentage points — down to 25.2% in Product & Design
• AWS -6.1 percentage points — down to 18.7% in Product & Design

What This Signals

Agile and Scrum skills are the clearest signal to act on this week, rising 2.8 percentage points in Software Engineering and 2.4 points in AI and Machine Learning job listings simultaneously — candidates who can demonstrate sprint-based delivery across both disciplines are well-positioned in a market showing 18,708 active roles. Hiring managers posting in DevOps should prioritize CI/CD experience, which gained 1.6 points, while pulling back on Stakeholder Management requirements, which dropped a sharp 10.0 points suggesting employers are deprioritizing softer coordination skills in favor of technical execution. With 9,017 new listings added this week and Full Stack Developer the single most in-demand role at 5,965 postings, job seekers should move fast — particularly those who can pair Agile methodology with hands-on pipeline or full-stack experience.

By the Numbers

• Total active listings: 18,708
• New listings this week: 9,017
• Most-hired role: Full Stack Developer (5965 listings)
• Top skill overall: Machine Learning (41.5%)

Frequently Asked Questions

What tech skills are trending this week?

The fastest-rising skills this week are Agile / Scrum, Agile / Scrum, CI/CD. These showed the largest week-over-week demand increases across 18,708 active listings.

How many tech jobs were posted this week?

This week saw 9,017 new postings added, bringing the total active listings to 18,708 across 126 companies.

Which tech category has the most hiring activity?

Software Engineering showed the most hiring activity this week, with the largest aggregate skill movement across all tracked categories.

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Data sourced from 126 company career pages via Greenhouse, Lever and Ashby APIs. Updated daily. About our data & methodology.