Updated July 10, 2026
Recent headline-making layoffs in big tech are often attributed to increased AI adoption. While that is true, AI adoption is also creating a talent gap for skilled IT and engineering professionals who can build, deploy and run AI-based systems, especially in highly regulated industries like aerospace and defense (A&D), energy, life sciences and more. The bottom-line result of this shift is that hiring for the remainer of the 2026 labor market is more selective than ever before, but it’s not frozen.
Key Takeaways
- Artificial intelligence continues to disrupt markets, impacting automation, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure and sustainable energy needs.
- Technology boosts innovation in bioengineering and life sciences areas such as AI-enhanced diagnostics and gene therapy.
- Demand surges for human-centered soft skills that can lead AI adoption, digital transformation and infrastructure projects by bridging business and tech.
Technology Trends in Embedded Artificial Intelligence and Agentic AI
The rise of agentic AI is leading to the replacement of repetitive tasks by AI tools, augmentation of employees with AI sidekicks and the creation of a hybrid workforce that blends human judgment with autonomous digital labor.
Agentic AI
Agentic AI is swiftly turning software into a digital coworker that can execute repetitive multi-step workflows, including the triage of service requests and 24/7 operations support. While it may not outright replace jobs, agentic AI has the potential to redesign many jobs from hands-on task completion to a higher-value type of work focused on judgment, oversight, governance and overall AI management.
Robotics and Automation
Robotic installations reached an all-time high of $16.7 billion in global market value last year, according to the International Federation of Robotics. Organizations are shifting human workers toward maintenance, supervision and technical support, while robots and automation are used to keep production moving, improve consistency and address labor shortages.
Data Maturity
As much as 40% of North American companies have implemented digital transformation. These organizations have become better at managing data and analytics, making their workforce decisions more evidence-based and proactive, rather than intuitive or reactive. This digital maturity means they can forecast staffing needs, track productivity, measure skill gaps and train more effectively and efficiently. In practice, labor strategies can be more precise: hiring, scheduling, retention and upskilling are increasingly driven by data instead of guesswork.
Human-centric Leadership
The coalescence of agentic AI, robotics and automation plus digital maturity — compounded by a tight labor market — points toward increasing value in human-centric leadership. Organizations will need to turn to the well-being, development and engagement of employees during this technological transformation as the lynchpin to meet performance goals, enable digital transformation and outdo the competition.
AI Technology Labor Market Outlook
These trends reinforce that AI continues to make waves throughout the job market. In many cases, it is creating new jobs and boosting productivity. However, it is also displacing some tasks and roles, especially in routine office functions. The overarching sentiment for 2026 is about figuring out which jobs can be best augmented with AI, and determining which organizations can adapt fast enough.
In-demand AI jobs and skills to look for:
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning
- Change management
- Data analysts
- DevOps
- Digital transformation
- Prompt engineering
- Project management
Technology Trends in Modernized IT Security and Cloud Infrastructure
For the remainder of the year, IT will see labor needs move from centralized, manual infrastructure management to a distributed model built around cybersecurity, hybrid and sovereign cloud, and edge-enabled computing.
Data and Cybersecurity
AI-driven threats and tighter technology regulations mean IT teams must be constantly assessing risk and building resilience into their systems — instead of simply reacting to immediate threats. There is an increasing demand for skills in cloud security, threat analysis and governance. Cybersecurity roles are growing, with job openings increasing as much as 20% each year. But those same positions are also expanding their job descriptions to require greater data, cloud and automation fluency.
Hybrid and Sovereign Cloud
The hybrid cloud market notably grew from $172 billion to $194 billion in just the last year. This evolving cloud model offers organizations a hybridization of local operational control (to follow state- or country-specific sovereign cloud regulations) with the system power and speed necessary to support generative AI use. Cloud architects, platform engineers and compliance-focused IT professionals who can manage on-premises systems as well as private cloud and public cloud networks are in high demand.
Cloud and Edge Computing
Cloud and edge computing distribute processing in closer proximity to where data is created, lowering latency and supporting use in real time. This IT specialization requires team members who can design, deploy and maintain hybrid distributed systems and is especially important in sectors like logistics, manufacturing and healthcare, where immediate decision-making is critical.
Technology Labor Market Outlook
Together, these trends point to a strategic operating approach that prioritizes security, compliance and AI-enabled business performance, thus expanding the need for architecture, automation and risk oversight specialization in IT roles.
In-demand IT jobs and skills to look for:
- Cloud solutions architects
- Compliance professionals
- Cybersecurity
- Delivery leads
- Network administrators
- Platform engineers
- Project managers
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Technology Trends in Cutting-edge Engineering
Engineering work — particularly its sub-specialties within aerospace and defense, bioengineering, life sciences and energy — is becoming ever more data-driven, interdisciplinary and regulated. Big shifts are moving the industry away from strictly hands-on technical execution and leaning more into AI-enabled design, systems integration and problem-solving in these compliance-heavy environments.
AI-enhanced Diagnostics and Monitoring
Shaped by the development of biosensor technology and advances in materials engineering, many medical devices are turning into smart systems that can detect, interpret and act on biological data in real time. Moving forward, healthcare professionals have an enhanced ability to monitor disease progression aided by AI-enhanced diagnostics and medical imaging, and consumers can more easily track their own health with next-generation wearables. This reduces reliance on time-consuming manual testing and increases demand for engineers who can design complex algorithms embedded with accuracy, safety and regulatory compliance, then integrate them into medical devices and wearable technology.
Bioengineering
Bioengineering is expanding life sciences engineering work beyond traditional devices and infrastructure into living systems, with a special emphasis on scaling and compliance. Professionals in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering must be able to work across biomaterials, cell systems, 3D bioprinting and clinical translation. The role of bioengineered meat is adding demand for food science experts with the know-how to design fermentation systems, optimize cell-growth environments and improve production efficiency at commercial scale. As gene therapy becomes more scalable, despite a current staff shortage, there are high-demand opportunities in process engineering, analytical development, clean-room operations and advanced manufacturing.
Green and Nuclear Energy
The push for green and nuclear energy is moving the industry toward power grid modernization, decentralized energy infrastructure and software-heavy operations, especially as electricity demand rises from data centers. Today’s energy engineering workforce is tasked with doing fewer one-off equipment designs and more systems-level planning. AI optimization, including the development of digital twins, is often adopted to support engineering planning and operations in the energy space.
Aerospace and Defense
The intersection of the country’s investment in homeland security, the strategic advantage of space exploration, supply chain constraints and the aerospace and defense (A&D) industry’s digital transformation is pushing engineering work toward readiness, secure manufacturing, end-to-end supply coordination and faster acquisition cycles. It will be data science, data engineering, AI, data analysis, machine learning and statistical analysis that rise to the top as the fastest-growing skills between 2024 and 2028 in A&D. And companies with government contracts need specialized, security-cleared engineers who can deliver under tight material capacity and within regulatory limits.
Engineering Labor Market Outlook
This year, engineering labor in the U.S. is being reshaped by AI-driven monitoring, bioengineering innovation, clean-energy expansion and defense demand. This combination elevates the need for compliance-ready, data-literate, security-aware talent.
In-demand engineering jobs and skills to look for:
- Bioengineers
- Civil engineers
- Data scientists
- Electrical engineers
- Food scientists
- Hardware engineers
- Industrial engineers
- Supply chain coordinators
To learn more about how Actalent can support your organization in all of these endeavors with best-in-class engineering and sciences talent solutions and services, contact us today.
*The original version of this article was published on February 23, 2024
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