Weekly Skills Pulse — April 20, 2026

Software Engineering leads hiring activity for the week of April 20, 2026, with 8,991 new listings added across 20,065 active roles from 121 companies. Agile / Scrum is the biggest mover in the market, with demand climbing 2.6 percentage points week-over-week to reach 7.5% within Software Engineering — the most volatile category tracked this week.

Key Movements This Week

• Stakeholder Mgmt: 38.4% demand (down 10.4pp from last week) — This pullback in Product & Design suggests employers are reducing emphasis on this skill.
• Excel: 24.1% demand (down 6.6pp from last week) — This pullback in Product & Design suggests employers are reducing emphasis on this skill.
• AWS: 19.2% demand (down 6.2pp from last week) — This pullback in Software Engineering suggests employers are reducing emphasis on this skill.
• AWS: 17.8% demand (down 6.0pp from last week) — This pullback in Product & Design suggests employers are reducing emphasis on this skill.
• Scala: 21.8% demand (down 5.5pp from last week) — This pullback in Software Engineering suggests employers are reducing emphasis on this skill.
• Excel: 14.1% demand (down 5.4pp from last week) — Demand cooled materially in Software Engineering, likely due to changing implementation preferences.
• AWS: 21.7% demand (down 5.3pp from last week) — A sizable decline in Security may point to stack consolidation or tooling shifts.
• Python: 11.6% demand (down 5.1pp from last week) — Demand cooled materially in Security, likely due to changing implementation preferences.

Category Spotlight: Software Engineering

1. Scala — 21.8% (↓ 5.5pp)
2. AWS — 19.2% (↓ 6.2pp)
3. Stakeholder Mgmt — 16.8% (↓ 2.4pp)
4. Excel — 14.1% (↓ 5.4pp)
5. Python — 13.3% (↓ 3.0pp)
6. React — 12.9% (↓ 2.6pp)
7. Java — 12.3% (↓ 2.1pp)
8. SQL — 11.3% (↓ 3.0pp)
9. TypeScript — 10.9% (↓ 2.6pp)
10. Node.js — 10.9% (↓ 4.2pp)

Rising Signals

Skills with the strongest upward momentum across all categories:

• Agile / Scrum +2.6 percentage points — now at 7.5% in Software Engineering
• CI/CD +2.3 percentage points — now at 19.7% in DevOps & Infrastructure
• Agile / Scrum +2.2 percentage points — now at 8.4% in AI & Machine Learning
• CI/CD +-1.6 percentage points — now at 5.9% in Software Engineering
• Go +-1.6 percentage points — now at 6.5% in Product & Design

Declining

• Stakeholder Mgmt -10.4 percentage points — down to 38.4% in Product & Design
• Excel -6.6 percentage points — down to 24.1% in Product & Design
• AWS -6.2 percentage points — down to 19.2% in Software Engineering

What This Signals

Agile/Scrum and CI/CD are the skills to prioritise right now — Agile/Scrum gained 2.6 percentage points in Software Engineering and 2.2pp in AI & Machine Learning this week, while CI/CD rose 2.3pp in DevOps & Infrastructure, signalling that hiring managers across multiple disciplines are actively filtering for delivery-focused candidates. Job seekers should audit their CVs for these terms immediately, as Software Engineering is the most volatile category in a market showing 8,991 new listings from a total of 20,065 active roles. Hiring managers can act on the other side of the data: Stakeholder Management dropped 10.4pp and Excel fell 6.6pp, suggesting those requirements are being quietly deprioritised — trimming them from job descriptions may widen the candidate pool for the 6,309 Full Stack Developer roles currently competing for attention

By the Numbers

• Total active listings: 20,065
• New listings this week: 8,991
• Most-hired role: Full Stack Developer (6309 listings)
• Top skill overall: Machine Learning (42.9%)

Frequently Asked Questions

What tech skills are trending this week?

The fastest-rising skills this week are Agile / Scrum, CI/CD, Agile / Scrum. These showed the largest week-over-week demand increases across 20,065 active listings.

How many tech jobs were posted this week?

This week saw 8,991 new postings added, bringing the total active listings to 20,065 across 121 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 121 company career pages via Greenhouse, Lever and Ashby APIs. Updated daily. About our data & methodology.