Navigating IT Hiring & Salary Trends in 2027
Excerpt from Addison Group’s 2027 WORKFORCE PLANNING & SALARY GUIDE
Key Takeaways
- In 2027, companies prioritize AI skills for IT hiring, with AI job postings growing significantly faster than traditional jobs.
- Entry-level software positions have declined by 25%, while demand for AI and machine learning specialists remains high.
- Employers are offering competitive salaries, with roles in AI and machine learning potentially reaching $200,000.
- Over half of U.S. companies have dropped degree requirements, focusing instead on skills assessments and live interviews.
- Job seekers prioritize compensation, job stability, and career progression as key factors in job changes.
Navigating IT Hiring & Salary Trends in 2027
AI Skills Become the Price of Entry
As companies race to modernize their tech infrastructures to support AI integration and data initiatives, IT hiring will remain steady for 2027, especially for AI/machine learning specialists, IT infrastructure, and system administration specialists. As automation rises, demand for entry-level data entry and coding positions continues to shrink.
Addison Group has found that AI integration skills are quickly becoming the price of entry for IT job candidates.1 Globally, jobs requiring AI skills are growing roughly eight times faster than the overall jobs market, up 69% year-over-year, with the number of AI jobs nearly doubling since 2024.2 Fluency in Claude, GitHub Copilot, and Cursor now appears on tech job descriptions alongside core programming languages.
Employers are offering top salaries to candidates with proven AI experience. Yet skills gaps in IT operations, cloud architecture, data management, and software development are triggering real delays. Nearly two-thirds of organizations report digital transformation setbacks of up to 10 months because of them, and AI proficiency is now the single most prized and hardest-to-source IT skill, cited by 45% of business leaders.3
A Tale of Two IT Hiring Markets
IT candidates face a very different job market depending on their role. Companies are scaling back on generalist and routine operational roles while still competing intensely for high-impact talent. Entry-level software engineering positions have declined 25 percent in the past few years,4 while 46% of business leaders say that AI skills gaps are creating a major barrier to filling AI and Machine Learning Specialist positions.
Open IT roles still outnumber qualified, available candidates by roughly 3-to-1.5 Major markets including Chicago, Houston, and Denver continue to see more job openings while Traditional IT and entry-level software jobs have slowed significantly on the West Coast, particularly in tech hubs such as San Francisco, Seattle, and Los Angeles.6
Wages remain steady across all tech occupations with the median U.S. tech wage estimated at $105,990. That’s about 126% higher than the median wage across all occupations.7 While overall tech salaries are expected to remain flat into next year, some companies are willing to pay a premium salary of up to $200,000 for some roles with machine learning skills.8
Cybersecurity job openings, which boomed from 2020-2022, continue at a steady pace with information security analyst roles projected to grow 29% through 2034, roughly seven times faster than the average occupation.9
“We’re seeing two completely different hiring conversations depending on the role. For specialized talent, it’s a bidding war. For generalist roles, candidates are competing against dozens of equally qualified applicants.” — Lori Wohl, National Direct Hire Consultant, IT, Digital Marketing, & Engineering, Addison Group
Screening for Skills AI Can’t Fake
More than half of U.S. companies dropped degree requirements for some roles by 2023, with technology and software among the leading industries — a trend recruiters expect to continue into 2026 as skills assessments and portfolio reviews replace the four-year degree as a primary filter.10
To verify skill levels, companies still lean on live technical interviews and automated coding tests as early screens of candidate problem-solving capability.11 However, 71% of engineering leaders say that AI is making it more challenging to assess a candidate’s skills through these tests mostly because the tools are changing while assessments have not kept pace.12 Some companies are now getting creative with skills tests, even hosting hands-on ‘capture the flag type competitions that are used as a recruiting and career advancement tool.13
Yet most IT professionals are still actively learning AI much like the broader workforce. Employers looking for top talent should remember that not all great candidates will come with specific machine learning or AI experience. As tech professionals work to learn these new skills, they will certainly gravitate towards companies that are visibly investing in next-level AI training.
“There will always be a shortage of talented technical candidates. The employers who win aren’t the ones with the longest checklist — they’re the ones who know which boxes actually matter.” — Miranda Moore, National Direct Hire Consultant, Addison Group
Related content
- 5 IT Roles Your Growing Organization Should Consider Hiring
- IT Hiring Solutions When Budgets Are Tight and Work is Ramping Up
- How to Choose the Best IT Recruitment Agency: A Practical Checklist for Hiring Faster
Slow to Move, Clear on Why
Persistent uncertainty is keeping many IT professionals in place rather than actively job hunting. But when candidates do move, it’s rarely a casual decision. Compensation that keeps pace with inflation, job stability, and a clear path for career progression are the primary drivers pulling them off the sidelines.14
That selectivity cuts both ways. Employers aren’t just looking for technical depth. They also want candidates who can translate technical work into business impact and communicate clearly with non-technical stakeholders. Beyond that, aptitude to learn and the ability to work autonomously are rising fast on the priority list, as employers bet on candidates who can pick up new tools quickly and run with less oversight.
Top IT Salaries
| Chief Technology Officer | $259,863 |
| Chief Information Officer (CIO) | $256,170 |
| VP of IT | $258,845 |
| VP of Development | $256,785 |
| Chief Information Security Officer | $247,732 |
| VP of Infrastructure | $200,939 |
| Cloud Architect | $198,582 |
| Artificial Intelligence (AI) Engineer | $195,855 |
| Data Architect | $187,388 |
| Machine Learning Engineer | $187,158 |
Contact us today to optimize your workforce strategy and secure the skilled talent your business needs.
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- Addison Group, Lori Wohl, Information Technology, National Direct Hire Consultant, 2026
- https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/news-room/press-releases/2026/pwc-2026-ai-jobs-barometer.html
- https://www.ciodive.com/news/tech-talent-skills-gaps-cost-trillions-idc/716523/
- https://www.aei.org/technology-and-innovation/technology-innovation/are-software-jobs-collapsing/
- Addison Group 2026
- https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/28/economy/tech-job-search-california-callout
- https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/
- https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-companies-recruit-pay-bonuses-higher-salaries-ai-experience-report-2025-7
- https://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/information-security-analysts.htm
- https://www.highereddive.com/news/nearly-half-of-companies-plan-to-eliminate-bachelors-degree-requirements/702277/
- https://insight.ieeeusa.org/articles/three-ways-ai-is-reshaping-traditional-technical-interviews-in-2026/
- https://insight.ieeeusa.org/articles/three-ways-ai-is-reshaping-traditional-technical-interviews-in-2026/
- https://www.darkreading.com/cybersecurity-careers/capture-the-flag-leads-cybersecurity-careers
- Addison Group, Miranda Moore, Information Technology National Direct Hire Consultant, 2026
FAQ
Candidates with proven AI, machine learning, cloud, security, data engineering, and infrastructure skills are best placed. The article points to AI/ML Engineers, Cloud Engineers/Architects, Security Engineers, Data Engineers, and Product Managers as in-demand roles, and says employers are still competing hard for niche talent that can support AI and digital change.
The market is split between high-demand niche roles and slower general roles. Employers still compete for top talent, especially in AI and machine learning, while entry-level software, data entry, coding, and routine ops jobs face more pressure from automation, tighter budgets, and changing workforce needs.
In many cases, yes. The article says more than half of U.S. companies had already dropped degree rules for some jobs by 2023, with tech and software among the leaders. Employers are using skill checks, portfolio reviews, live technical interviews, coding tests, and hands-on contests instead of leaning mainly on a four-year degree.
AI makes old screening harder because candidates may use AI tools during coding tests, and many tests have not kept up. As a result, employers are looking for ways to test problem-solving, judgment, how people adjust, and real technical depth that AI cannot easily fake.
IT workers are cautious because uncertainty keeps many in place. When they do move, the main pull is pay that keeps up with inflation, job security, and a clear path to grow. Employers also need to show that they invest in AI training and value candidates who can learn fast, work on their own, and connect tech work to business results.
