Dive Brief:
- Demand for generative AI-related roles soared in the last year, according to an analysis from Indeed published Thursday. Jobs with generative AI terms in the role description, while still a small number, jumped 170% year-over-year in January, Indeed analysis found.
- Management consulting roles rose to the top, making up 12.4% of generative AI job titles. Machine learning engineers, software architects, data scientists and other core technology roles composed the rest of the top 10.
- Though the increase in management roles "can be traced back to the hiring behavior of a select number of large employers," it signals ongoing business demand for AI implementation services and potential increases in AI adoption, according to Cory Stahle, economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab.
Dive Insight:
Core tech professions related to AI — including data scientists and machine learning engineers — were already hard to come by prior to the enterprise adoption wave of recent years. The rush to deploy generative AI applications exacerbated the problem, putting pressure on talent attraction and development strategies.
Companies are grappling with looming talent gaps in machine learning, AI and generative AI, according to a Revature report published in February. More than half of leaders said their organizations planned upskilling and training efforts in response.
Generative AI has permeated the requirement list for technical roles, according to Indeed. Mentions of the technology increased by nearly 10 percentage points for machine learning engineer postings, and nine percentage points for data scientist roles.
"As companies implement GenAI and transform, many knowledge work roles are also likely to change," said Stahle. "For workers whose skills overlap with GenAI capabilities, these shifts represent a significant opportunity to invest in AI skills now, and stay ahead of the curve."
To address the gap in skills, consulting firms have leaned into generative AI, launching products and offerings to help boost enterprise AI adoption.
KPMG began experimenting with AI agents last year, shortly after expanding its partnership with Google Cloud to stand up industry-focused product offerings around generative AI. PwC also rolled out a customer-facing generative AI solution for its tax practice last year and partnered with AWS to build by-industry AI applications.
