After years of layoffs, businesses are hiring more software engineers — but the rebound is spread unevenly.
As of the first quarter of this year, nearly 70% of US software development job postings on Indeed were for senior-level roles, rather than mid- or entry-level. That’s up from 55% in early 2019.
Of the more than 40 employment sectors that Indeed analyzed across the economy, software development had the highest share of senior-level postings.
As AI reshapes the economy, software engineering has become a closely watched test case for what the technology could mean for workers. After surging during the early pandemic years, software development job postings began to plummet in 2022. The downturn overlapped with the release of ChatGPT and other AI models, raising questions about whether AI was reducing demand for software engineers.
But over the past year and a half, the trend has started to reverse. Software development postings remain below pre-pandemic levels, but were up roughly 15% in June from early 2025.
In Indeed’s analysis, senior engineers appear to be finding their footing in the age of AI, while less-experienced engineers aren’t seeing the same recovery.
AI could be giving senior engineers an edge
Sneha Puri, economist at Indeed Hiring Lab, said the recent rebound in software development postings has been tied in part to a return to more normal hiring levels in the tech sector after years of slower hiring.
But she said perhaps the likeliest explanation for the uptick is that companies still need people to direct AI tools and review the code they churn out, especially for more complex projects. That need tends to favor senior engineers.
“AI tools can increasingly handle the routine, well-defined coding tasks that used to be assigned to junior engineers,” she said. “That shifts hiring demand toward workers who can direct AI output, catch its mistakes, and make the judgment calls AI can’t — skills that typically come with experience.”
Some software engineers say they’ve seen that shift firsthand.
Manoj Aggarwal, a software engineer with more than a decade of experience, said he noticed more openings for senior engineering roles than junior ones during a job search last year. In his current role, Aggarwal said AI has transformed his workflow, with much of his coding time now spent prompting AI tools and reviewing their output.
“I think companies will continue to rely on experienced engineers working with AI tools,” he said. “That’s one reason I’m making sure I stay up to date with those tools.”
The pipeline for future senior engineers could be shrinking
The challenges facing early-career engineers aren’t entirely new. Puri said that even before the AI boom, software development had a relatively small share of entry-level postings, in part because of the sector’s advanced technical requirements.
Indeed is more likely to classify roles as mid-level when employers seek qualifications beyond the typical baseline — in the case of software development, that’s a bachelor’s degree. These added qualifications, which can include specialized skills, an advanced degree, or prior experience such as internships, have long been common in software development postings.
Software development jobs classified as mid-level haven’t necessarily been out of reach for early-career workers. But with the share of mid-level postings falling considerably in recent years, there may be fewer paths for them into the field.
That could pose a challenge not just for early-career engineers, but for employers down the road, Puri said, even if they can get by with fewer junior engineers in the short term.
“Today’s entry-level workforce becomes tomorrow’s senior-level experts,” she said, “and if employers want senior talent capable of managing AI down the line, they need to keep investing in junior talent through entry-level roles now.”
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