We index job listings from 21 applicant tracking systems across 214 countries, then analyze every position for tech stack, salary, remote policy, and seniority. Here is what we found.
Python dominates the market, appearing in over 25% of all indexed listings. Cloud infrastructure skills (AWS, Azure, GCP) collectively appear in over 43% of roles, reflecting the industry's deep shift to cloud-native architectures. Notably, LLM-specific roles have surged to 3,382 listings, a category that barely existed 18 months ago.
Full tech stack analysisThe return-to-office movement is clearly reflected in the data: 44% of software engineering roles now require full onsite presence, up from estimates of around 30% in early 2024. However, remote work remains a strong force with 29% of all listings offering fully remote arrangements. Hybrid work accounts for the remaining 25%, often with 2-3 days per week in-office requirements.
Deep dive into remote work trendsOf the 77,480 jobs in our index, 29,442 (38%) include explicit salary information. The US market remains the highest-paying globally, with senior software engineers commanding a median of approximately $180,000. Staff and principal roles regularly exceed $250,000, while early-career positions start around $85,000 in major tech hubs. These figures represent base compensation and typically exclude equity, bonuses, and benefits.
Complete salary guideThe market skews heavily toward experienced engineers. Senior roles account for 59% of all listings, while junior positions make up just 2.8%. This reflects both the industry's maturation and companies' preference for engineers who can deliver autonomously. The staff-plus segment (staff, principal, and director) represents 22% of the market — a significant and growing share that signals investment in technical leadership.
The United States dominates with 56% of all indexed positions, followed by India at 18%. Europe collectively accounts for roughly 20%, with France, Germany, and Poland leading the region. Notably, Poland's strong showing (3,572 listings) reflects its emergence as a nearshore engineering hub for Western European companies. Brazil's 3,617 listings make it the largest Latin American market by a wide margin.
City-by-city hiring guideFinancial technology leads all sectors with 9,905 listings, driven by the ongoing digitization of banking, payments, and lending. Insurance (8,432) ranks second — perhaps surprisingly — fueled by massive legacy modernization efforts. Developer tools companies (7,171) remain aggressive hirers, building the infrastructure layer that other companies depend on. The AI/ML category (3,878) is growing fastest in absolute terms.
Industry hiring analysisDeeper explorations of the software engineering job market, drawn from the same dataset that powers this report.
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From Python's dominance to the rapid rise of LLM-focused roles, we break down which technologies appear most in job listings, how they correlate with salary, and which stacks are growing fastest.
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The data in this report is drawn from findjobs.dev's live index of software engineering job listings. We aggregate positions from 21 applicant tracking systems and company career pages, covering the full spectrum from early-stage startups to public companies. Each listing is analyzed using a combination of structured field extraction and natural language processing to produce a standardized fingerprint that includes location, seniority, tech stack, salary range, remote policy, and industry classification.
Salary figures are reported only when the original listing includes explicit compensation data. We do not estimate or impute salaries. All salary figures represent annual base compensation in USD. Listings in other currencies are converted at the time of indexing. The data reflects a snapshot of active listings and is updated continuously as new positions are posted and expired listings are removed.