The Most In-Demand Job Skills of 2026: Skill-Demand Frequencies from 360,336 Job Postings

This dataset reports how often each skill was requested across 360,336 job postings collected by Qarera between 27 December 2025 and 16 June 2026. Skills were extracted and standardized from each job description; every figure is the share of postings naming a skill (a posting lists many skills, so figures do not sum to 100%). Three files are included: the top 250 skills overall, the top 30 skills within each of 15 role families, and AI-skill demand by seniority level. Key finding: "AI" was the second most-requested skill overall (19.77% of postings), behind only communication (23.09%) and ahead of Python, SQL, AWS and Java — the most-requested hard skill of the period. AI demand was cross-functional (the #1 skill for product managers, 37%) and peaked at Principal level (39.51%), roughly twice the market average. Full report and charts: https://www.qarera.com/reports/most-in-demand-skills-2026