Pave’s new Hot Jobs Index ranks AI Engineer as the #1 hottest job and Web Development as the coldest, based on real-time data from 9,000+ companies.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, UNITED STATES, May 13, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Pave, the AI compensation platform used by more than 9,000 companies, today launched the Pave Hot Jobs Index, a monthly ranking of the hottest and coldest jobs across the technology workforce. The inaugural edition, covering Q1 2026, finds that AI Engineer is the hottest job, with a score of 97 out of 100, while Web Development ranks as the coldest, at -83.
The index is drawn from Pave’s real-time dataset spanning 9,000-plus companies, connected directly via integrations with employers’ human capital management systems. Unlike survey-based labor market reports, the Hot Jobs Index measures actual hiring momentum and changes in workforce composition as they occur.
Each role receives a Hot Jobs Score ranging from -100 (cooling fast) to +100 (heating fast). The score combines two signals: hiring momentum, which accounts for 65 percent of the score and tracks how a role’s share of new hires trends over time, and workforce prevalence, which accounts for the remaining 35 percent and tracks how a role’s share of total headcount changes.
The 10 hottest jobs in Q1 2026 are AI Engineer, Internal Audit, Information Security Operations, Machine Learning Engineer, Data Governance, Field Marketing, Deal Desk, Treasurer, Technical Account Management, and Firmware Engineering.
The 10 coldest jobs are Web Development, Content Marketing, Digital Marketing Generalist, HR Generalist, Marketing Technology Management, Network Systems Administration, Applications Engineering, Media Production, Art, and HR Operations.
“The labor market is being reshaped in real time by AI, and the data makes that unmistakable,” said Matt Schulman, Founder and CEO of Pave. “AI Engineers are being hired at a rate unlike anything else in the workforce right now, while roles like web development and content marketing are declining quarter over quarter. Companies and workers alike need to see these shifts as they happen, not six months after the fact.”
Among the notable trends in the inaugural index, the AI boom is beginning to spill into hardware. Chipmaking roles such as Layout and Mask Design and ASIC Engineering appear among the rising jobs, reflecting growing demand for the semiconductors that power AI infrastructure.
The index also tracks a new class of emerging roles that do not yet have enough data for a formal score but are growing rapidly. Among them is the AI Transformation Lead, a role focused on identifying where AI can generate the most value within an organization and leading the change management efforts required to realize it. According to Pave’s data, more than 2.0 percent of companies in its dataset now have at least one AI Transformation Lead on staff, up from 0.2 percent three years earlier, with hiring accelerating sharply since mid-2025.
“Companies that were experimenting with AI in 2023 are now building dedicated internal teams to scale it,” said Schulman. “The AI Transformation Lead is one of the clearest signals of that shift. These are not pilot programs anymore. Organizations are investing in permanent leadership to manage the transition.”
The index’s macro labor market section reveals a parallel demographic shift. At large public technology companies, the share of employees aged 21 to 25 has been cut in half since January 2023, falling from 15.0 percent to 6.8 percent. Over the same period, the average age of employees at those companies rose from 34.3 years to 39.4 years.
In addition to the job rankings, the Hot Jobs Index includes macro labor market trends powered by Pave’s dataset, including hiring rates, annualized turnover, workforce age demographics, gender representation, and global talent arbitrage data identifying the countries and U.S. metro areas with the highest leverage for employers and workers.
Pave will publish the Hot Jobs Index monthly. https://pave.com/hot-jobs-index
Charles Knuth
Pave
charles.knuth@pave.com
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