Engineering Jobs Show Resilience Amid AI Layoffs, SignalFire Data Suggests

Contrary to the prevailing narrative that artificial intelligence (AI) is set to displace engineering jobs, new research from venture firm SignalFire suggests that engineering roles are demonstrating remarkable resilience within the tech industry. This finding comes at a time when AI is frequently cited as a primary reason for tech layoffs.

SignalFire’s analysis, which tracks the career paths of millions of employees across over 80 million companies, indicates that engineering was the most resilient job function during 2025. Rather than focusing on layoff figures, which can be difficult to track accurately, SignalFire examined hiring data as a more precise indicator of real-time workforce trends.

Hiring Trends Defy Expectations

While overall hiring across major tech companies saw a 25% drop compared to 2019 levels, engineering roles experienced a significantly smaller decline of just 11%. This data, detailed in SignalFire’s latest “State of Talent Report,” challenges the assumption that AI-powered coding tools would lead to a dramatic reduction in engineering demand.

Engineers are also making up a larger proportion of new hires at leading tech firms. In 2025, engineers constituted 55% of all new recruits across 12 “Tech Majors”—including Alphabet, Meta, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix, Nvidia, Tesla, Uber, Airbnb, Block, and Stripe. This marks a notable increase from 2019, when engineers represented 46% of new hires.

Early-Stage Startups and Engineering Demand

The sustained demand for engineers is even more pronounced within early-stage startups. SignalFire’s data shows that these companies collectively hired 7% more engineers in 2025 compared to 2019. This trend contradicts the idea that AI adoption would lead to a decrease in the need for engineering talent, especially in innovation-driven environments.

Asher Bantock, SignalFire’s head of research, noted that while AI is often cited as the rationale for layoffs, the ground-level data presents a different picture. He argued that if AI were truly substituting for engineering talent, engineering hiring would be the first to suffer during a tech hiring contraction. Instead, engineering headcount is growing faster than most other job functions in tech.

Industry Leaders Weigh In

The findings align with statements from prominent industry figures. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei had previously warned of AI potentially eliminating half of all entry-level white-collar jobs. However, Peter McCrory, Anthropic’s head of economics, clarified in March that he had yet to observe any significant AI-driven effects on the workforce. He noted no material difference in unemployment rates between workers highly exposed to AI tools and those in less exposed roles.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has gone further, directly refuting the notion that AI will replace engineers. In an April interview, Huang stated that with the integration of agentic AI, Nvidia engineers are “busier than ever.” He explained that while AI agents are rapidly generating code, they are simultaneously pushing engineers to innovate and generate “the next idea,” suggesting that AI enhances, rather than diminishes, the role of human engineers.

The Jevons Paradox in Action

This dynamic illustrates what is known as the Jevons paradox: increased efficiency does not necessarily reduce demand for a resource but can, in fact, amplify it, as work expands to fill new capacities. In the context of engineering, AI tools appear to be making engineers more productive, leading to an “endless” amount of new work for them to undertake, as Bantock described.

Key facts:
| Metric | 2019 | 2025 |
|—|—|—|
| Engineering share of new hires (Tech Majors) | 46% | 55% |
| Total tech hiring decline (vs. 2019) | – | 25% |
| Engineering hiring decline (vs. 2019) | – | 11% |
| Early-stage startup engineer hiring increase (vs. 2019) | – | 7% |

For Indian readers, these findings offer a crucial perspective. India’s vibrant tech ecosystem, a global hub for engineering talent, could see its engineers benefit from AI integration rather than face displacement. The resilience of engineering roles, coupled with the potential for increased productivity through AI tools, suggests a future where Indian engineers remain highly sought after, driving further innovation and economic growth in the country’s technology sector.

Source: TechCrunch AI, https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/24/ai-was-supposed-to-kill-engineering-jobs-but-new-data-suggests-theyre-the-most-resilient/

Datos clave

Punto	Detalle
Fuente	TechCrunch AI
Fecha	2026-06-24T21:56:41+00:00
Tema	AI was supposed to kill engineering jobs, but new data suggests they’re the most resilient