Weekly Skills Pulse — May 16, 2026

Product & Design leads this week's hiring activity as the most volatile category in a market showing 14,129 active listings across 147 companies. A total of 4,611 new listings hit the board this week, with Stakeholder Management emerging as the standout skill — demand jumped to 45.6%, up 6.4 percentage points week-over-week.

Key Movements This Week

• Stakeholder Mgmt: 45.6% demand (up 6.4pp from last week) — A sharp jump in Product & Design suggests teams are actively reprioritizing this skill.
• Stakeholder Mgmt: 16.9% demand (up 3.8pp from last week) — This upward move in Security reflects consistent, not one-off, hiring demand.
• SQL: 21.3% demand (up 3.1pp from last week) — This upward move in Data & Analytics reflects consistent, not one-off, hiring demand.
• AWS: 24.5% demand (up 3.1pp from last week) — This upward move in Product & Design reflects consistent, not one-off, hiring demand.
• AWS: 25.1% demand (up 2.9pp from last week) — This upward move in Security reflects consistent, not one-off, hiring demand.
• Stakeholder Mgmt: 20.4% demand (up 2.8pp from last week) — Momentum is building in Software Engineering, with employers asking for this skill more often.
• AWS: 25.8% demand (up 2.8pp from last week) — This upward move in DevOps & Infrastructure reflects consistent, not one-off, hiring demand.
• Python: 16.9% demand (up 2.6pp from last week) — Steady growth in Data & Analytics indicates widening adoption.

Category Spotlight: Product & Design

1. Stakeholder Mgmt — 45.6% (↑ 6.4pp)
2. Excel — 27.1% (↑ 2.6pp)
3. AWS — 24.5% (↑ 3.1pp)
4. Node.js — 16.1% (↑ 2.4pp)
5. Scala — 15.6% (↑ 1.2pp)
6. A/B Testing — 12.1% (↑ 1.8pp)
7. Prototyping — 11.5% (↑ 1.9pp)
8. LLMs / GenAI — 11.1% (↑ 2.0pp)
9. Go — 7.7% (↑ 1.0pp)
10. Figma — 7.6% (↑ 0.9pp)

Rising Signals

Skills with the strongest upward momentum across all categories:

• Stakeholder Mgmt +6.4 percentage points — now at 45.6% in Product & Design
• Stakeholder Mgmt +3.8 percentage points — now at 16.9% in Security
• SQL +3.1 percentage points — now at 21.3% in Data & Analytics
• AWS +3.1 percentage points — now at 24.5% in Product & Design
• AWS +2.9 percentage points — now at 25.1% in Security

Declining

• Agile / Scrum -2.1 percentage points — down to 3.4% in AI & Machine Learning
• Machine Learning -2.0 percentage points — down to 6.1% in Product & Design
• Agile / Scrum 1.6pp — down to 7.3% in Product & Design

What This Signals

Stakeholder Management is the standout skill to prioritize this week, surging 6.4 percentage points in Product & Design and 3.8 points in Security — hiring managers in both categories are clearly weighting communication and cross-functional coordination over purely technical credentials. SQL gained 3.1 points in Data & Analytics, making it a reliable skill to highlight on applications, while Agile/Scrum and Machine Learning each slipped roughly 2 points, signaling that recruiters are deprioritizing those as differentiators right now. With 4,611 new listings entering a market of 14,129 active roles this week and Full Stack Developer leading at 4,687 postings, job seekers should move quickly and tailor applications to emphasize stakeholder and data skills over methodology certifications.

By the Numbers

• Total active listings: 14,129
• New listings this week: 4,611
• Most-hired role: Full Stack Developer (4687 listings)
• Top skill overall: Stakeholder Mgmt (45.6%)

Frequently Asked Questions

What tech skills are trending this week?

The fastest-rising skills this week are Stakeholder Mgmt, Stakeholder Mgmt, SQL. These showed the largest week-over-week demand increases across 14,129 active listings.

How many tech jobs were posted this week?

This week saw 4,611 new postings added, bringing the total active listings to 14,129 across 147 companies.

Which tech category has the most hiring activity?

Product & Design showed the most hiring activity this week, with the largest aggregate skill movement across all tracked categories.

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Data sourced from 147 company career pages via Greenhouse, Lever and Ashby APIs. Updated daily. About our data & methodology.