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AI Career Compass · role
AI postings that ask for AI skills but fit none of our role families. They are counted in the sample and shown here, not ranked.
Measured In our tracked sample, 150 of 1,694 AI postings, about 9%, do not fit one clear role family, and this page groups them as other AI roles.1
Measured The skills these postings ask for most are backend services and APIs (asked for in 47 of 150), large language models (41 of 150) and communication (41 of 150).123
Written by an AI analyst (claude-opus-5-5) and checked by code against the numbers it cites.
What these postings say the work involves, counted from their lists of duties. A posting can list several.
Out of these 150 postings. “Asked for” adds required, one of several options, and listed; preferred is counted apart.
Programming, data, maths and statistics, and domain knowledge
| Skill | Asked for | Required | One of several | Listed | Preferred |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Python | 32 of 150 | 9 | 5 | 18 | 2 |
| Software engineering practice | 26 of 150 | 5 | 0 | 21 | 2 |
| SQL | 11 of 150 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 4 |
| TypeScript or JavaScript | 11 of 150 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Data analysis | 10 of 150 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| Go | 7 of 150 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Rust | 5 of 150 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Finance | 4 of 150 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
Modelling, training, retrieval, agents, evaluation and other methods
| Skill | Asked for | Required | One of several | Listed | Preferred |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Large language models | 41 of 150 | 11 | 2 | 28 | 29 |
| Machine learning | 38 of 150 | 8 | 2 | 28 | 8 |
| AI agents | 33 of 150 | 7 | 5 | 21 | 28 |
| Evaluation (evals) | 15 of 150 | 4 | 0 | 11 | 20 |
| Training data and human feedback | 8 of 150 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| Retrieval and RAG | 6 of 150 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 20 |
| Reinforcement learning | 6 of 150 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Building AI-powered products | 6 of 150 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
Deployment, infrastructure, reliability, security, monitoring and cost
| Skill | Asked for | Required | One of several | Listed | Preferred |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backend services and APIs | 47 of 150 | 8 | 0 | 39 | 5 |
| System design and architecture | 31 of 150 | 2 | 0 | 29 | 1 |
| Distributed systems | 19 of 150 | 4 | 1 | 14 | 1 |
| Cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) | 15 of 150 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 9 |
| Data pipelines (Spark, Airflow, Kafka) | 13 of 150 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 5 |
| Databases and data warehouses | 10 of 150 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
| Kubernetes and containers | 9 of 150 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 4 |
| Frontend (React) | 9 of 150 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
Publishing and leading research
| Skill | Asked for | Required | One of several | Listed | Preferred |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research publications | 4 of 150 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| Open-source contributions | 2 of 150 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Leading research | 1 of 150 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Customers, communication, product thinking and leadership
| Skill | Asked for | Required | One of several | Listed | Preferred |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Communication | 41 of 150 | 12 | 1 | 28 | 6 |
| Technical writing | 27 of 150 | 5 | 0 | 22 | 1 |
| Leading and mentoring | 22 of 150 | 6 | 0 | 16 | 2 |
| Product thinking | 17 of 150 | 4 | 0 | 13 | 3 |
| Working with customers | 14 of 150 | 6 | 0 | 8 | 4 |
AI rules, policy and trust and safety
| Skill | Asked for | Required | One of several | Listed | Preferred |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Risk and compliance | 7 of 150 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 6 |
| AI governance and regulation | 1 of 150 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Measured Large language models are listed as preferred (nice to have, not asked for) in 29 of 150 postings we track.1
Measured AI agent skills are listed as preferred (nice to have, not asked for) in 28 of 150 postings we track.1
Employers list these as preferred. That they ask does not show that these skills decide who is hired.
The systems these postings expect people to build, run or work within.
Only what the postings state. Most do not say everything, so each number has its own count of postings.
65 of 150 postings state a minimum; the median is 5 years.
39 of 150 postings state a degree; 22 of them accept equivalent experience instead.
2 more postings list a PhD as preferred.
17 postings are remote. Of these, 17 name where you must live or work from, 0 do not say, and 0 say anywhere.
What employers advertise, grouped only when the ranges are comparable. Not a prediction of what you would earn.
Measured In full-time US postings with base pay in US dollars per year, the median of advertised range midpoints is $245,000, based on 32 comparable disclosures out of 150 postings.12
112 of 150 postings (75%) advertise a pay range. Employers that publish ranges may differ from those that do not, and some places require it by law, so these ranges do not describe all pay.
| Group of alike ranges | Postings | Median of range midpoints | Middle half of midpoints |
|---|---|---|---|
| USD, a year, base pay, United States, full-time10 employers | 32 | $245,000 | $225,000 to $297,250 |
| USD, a year, base pay, United States, employment type not stated3 employers | 10 | $270,000 | $235,000 to $337,375 |
This is advertised pay, not what anyone earns. We pool ranges only when currency, pay period, pay type, country and employment type are the same, and only with at least 10 of them. Nothing is converted. 70 other ranges could not be pooled (period not stated, several countries, or too few alike).
Advice built from what these 150 postings ask for. Tick what you can already do; we suggest up to three steps and one portfolio project, each with the requirement behind it and a way to show the result.
Analysis Tracking began on 6 October 2026, so this is one reading of open listings, not a trend; many are not new, as only 48 of 150 were first published in the 30 days up to the data cutoff.1
Measured The 150 postings on this page come from 38 employers that publish their jobs through public feeds, so this is a tracked sample, not the whole market.12
Measured All 150 postings on this page have an uncertain role family, because their titles and duties point two ways, so this group mixes different kinds of jobs.1
How everything is counted: our method. All roles: AI Career Compass.