Weekly Skills Pulse — April 21, 2026

Software Engineering dominated hiring activity in the week of April 21, 2026, as the job market logged 21,075 active listings from 163 companies, with 9,395 new postings added in a single week. In DevOps & Infrastructure, CI/CD emerged as the biggest mover, with demand climbing to 19.9% — up 1.6 percentage points week-over-week.

Key Movements This Week

• Stakeholder Mgmt: 37.9% demand (down 9.3pp from last week) — A sizable decline in Product & Design may point to stack consolidation or tooling shifts.
• Excel: 23.5% demand (down 6.1pp from last week) — A sizable decline in Product & Design may point to stack consolidation or tooling shifts.
• AWS: 18.9% demand (down 5.3pp from last week) — This pullback in Software Engineering suggests employers are reducing emphasis on this skill.
• Machine Learning: 42.2% demand (down 5.2pp from last week) — This pullback in AI & Machine Learning suggests employers are reducing emphasis on this skill.
• AWS: 17.6% demand (down 5.1pp from last week) — This pullback in Product & Design suggests employers are reducing emphasis on this skill.
• Scala: 21.4% demand (down 4.8pp from last week) — This skill slipped in Software Engineering, though the move is not yet a structural break.
• Stakeholder Mgmt: 16.4% demand (down 4.7pp from last week) — This skill slipped in Software Engineering, though the move is not yet a structural break.
• Excel: 13.8% demand (down 4.6pp from last week) — Hiring signals in Software Engineering weakened this week for this skill.

Category Spotlight: Software Engineering

1. Scala — 21.4% (↓ 4.8pp)
2. AWS — 18.9% (↓ 5.3pp)
3. Stakeholder Mgmt — 16.4% (↓ 4.7pp)
4. Excel — 13.8% (↓ 4.6pp)
5. Python — 13.2% (↓ 2.5pp)
6. React — 12.7% (↓ 2.4pp)
7. Java — 12.2% (↓ 1.8pp)
8. SQL — 11.2% (↓ 2.6pp)
9. Node.js — 10.7% (↓ 3.6pp)
10. TypeScript — 10.7% (↓ 2.2pp)

Rising Signals

Skills with the strongest upward momentum across all categories:

• CI/CD +1.6 percentage points — now at 19.9% in DevOps & Infrastructure
• SIEM +1.6 percentage points — now at 11.5% in Security
• GCP +-1.6 percentage points — now at 5.7% in Software Engineering
• Kotlin +-1.6 percentage points — now at 4.5% in Software Engineering
• AWS Security +-1.6 percentage points — now at 4.5% in Security

Declining

• Stakeholder Mgmt -9.3 percentage points — down to 37.9% in Product & Design
• Excel -6.1 percentage points — down to 23.5% in Product & Design
• AWS -5.3 percentage points — down to 18.9% in Software Engineering

What This Signals

CI/CD, SIEM and GCP each gained 1.6 percentage points this week, signalling that hiring managers are prioritising DevOps automation, security monitoring and cloud infrastructure over softer business skills. Job seekers should note that Stakeholder Management dropped 9.3pp and Excel fell 6.1pp — the steepest declines in the market — so leading with those skills on applications is a liability right now. With 9,395 new listings entering a pool of 21,075 and Full Stack Developer commanding 6,566 postings alone, the volume is there, but candidates who can demonstrate GCP or CI/CD experience are best positioned to convert it.

By the Numbers

• Total active listings: 21,075
• New listings this week: 9,395
• Most-hired role: Full Stack Developer (6566 listings)
• Top skill overall: Machine Learning (42.2%)

Frequently Asked Questions

What tech skills are trending this week?

The fastest-rising skills this week are CI/CD, SIEM, GCP. These showed the largest week-over-week demand increases across 21,075 active listings.

How many tech jobs were posted this week?

This week saw 9,395 new postings added, bringing the total active listings to 21,075 across 163 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 163 company career pages via Greenhouse, Lever and Ashby APIs. Updated daily. About our data & methodology.