Software engineers remain among the most resilient workers in the technology industry, even as companies increasingly cite artificial intelligence when announcing job cuts.
New research from venture capital firm SignalFire found that engineering hiring declined much less sharply than hiring across other business functions. The findings suggest coding tools are changing engineering work without removing companies’ need for experienced technical staff.
Engineers Account for a Larger Share of Hiring
SignalFire analysed career and hiring data covering millions of workers and more than 80 million companies. Rather than relying mainly on layoff announcements, it examined recruitment activity to measure where technology companies continue adding talent.
Overall hiring among 12 companies classified as Tech Majors was 25% below its 2019 level. The group includes Alphabet, Meta, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix, Nvidia, Tesla, Uber, Airbnb, Block, and Stripe.
Engineering hiring fell by a smaller 11% over the same period. Software engineers accounted for 55% of all new hires at the companies, up from 46% in 2019.
Early-stage startups showed an even stronger result. Their engineering hiring was 7% above 2019 levels, while hiring in design fell 22% and marketing declined 18%.
The figures do not indicate that engineering recruitment is booming across the industry. Instead, technical hiring has held up better while companies have reduced product, marketing, design, and management positions more aggressively.
AI Is Still Frequently Cited in Layoffs
The findings contrast with the reasons companies publicly give for workforce reductions. A May report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas recorded 97,006 announced US job cuts, including 38,242 in the technology industry.
Employers attributed 38,579 cuts to AI, representing 40% of all reductions announced during the month. AI was the leading stated reason for job cuts for a third consecutive month.
However, a company citing AI does not establish that software directly replaced every affected employee. Workforce reductions may also reflect restructuring, lower hiring after pandemic-era expansion, cost controls, and investment shifting toward AI infrastructure.
Experienced Engineers Remain in Demand
SignalFire found that engineers were hired faster and left companies less frequently than workers in many other functions. Engineering recorded an attrition rate of about 9%, compared with approximately 13% for sales and design.
The composition of engineering teams is also changing. Since 2022, the share of AI and machine-learning engineers has increased by 39%, while research engineers have grown by 28%.
Demand appears weaker at the beginning of the career ladder. Entry-level hiring was approximately 65% below 2019 levels at major technology companies and 76% lower at early-stage startups.
The data suggests AI coding tools may increase the output expected from experienced engineers while reducing some junior tasks. Companies are maintaining smaller, more senior technical teams that use AI to produce and test more software rather than eliminating engineering work altogether.
Featured image credits: Real Professors
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