LinkedIn shares data on rising job roles

LinkedIn has published its annual report The ‘Jobs on the Rise’ reportwhich looks at which jobs generate more interest, based on related activity on LinkedIn.

The data is based on role changes as reported on LinkedIn user profiles, with trend notes reflecting relative changes in cumulative roles between 2023 and 2025. This includes new appointments, updated information, new roles, etc.

LinkedIn also includes related skills for each role, including based on LinkedIn profile changes, location formats, gender differences and more.

So what are the big jobs emerging in 2026?

If you suspected AI-related roles, you were right.

According to LinkedIn:

“This year’s list highlights continued momentum in both technical and strategic AI roles, including AI engineers, AI consultants and data annotators. The rise of founders and independent advisors also points to a shift towards self-employment and gig work as professionals adapt to uncertainty.”

The actual top 10 features that saw the biggest increase in listings (in the US) are:

1. AI engineers – Engineers developing and implementing AI models that perform complex tasks
2. AI consultants and strategists – Helping organizations plan and implement AI technologies to improve business operations
3. Specialists in the sale of new homes – That sounds like a rebranding or ‘real estate agent’
4. Data annotators – Label and review data for AI projects
5. AI/ML researchers – Designing new AI models and systems
6. Healthcare reimbursement specialists – Ensure that healthcare providers receive accurate and timely payments
7. Strategic advisors and independent consultants – That seems like a pretty broad segment
8. Specialists in advertising sales – You are reading a marketing blog, I assume you know this one
9. Founders – I’m not sure if this can be listed as a job title on its own, but LinkedIn likes to highlight how people are transitioning into their own company
10. Sales leaders – See 8

So yes, AI roles are seeing a big increase in LinkedIn mentions, which makes perfect sense considering the latest wave of AI tools didn’t exist three years ago.

Does this mean you should go out of your way to learn how AI systems work if you want to maximize your employment potential?

Well, it depends. The main value of the latest AI tools is that they can provide you with alternative angles and ideas based on conversational questions, which can increase your capacity to cover more angles with your work and potentially deliver better results.

But you also have to know what you’re looking at. One of the big misconceptions about AI is that it will eventually replace most humans in many roles, because AI systems can do essentially all the same things as human workers. But that’s not really what these systems are designed for. For example, ChatGPT can only help someone who is not a lawyer to represent themselves in court to some extent.

Of course, you can just not use a graphic designer and go for AI output instead. But without understanding the nuances of image composition, you’re likely to miss important details, which could lead to subpar results.

That’s the same in all applications, which you could achieve by letting AI tools do a lot of the work for you, but these systems don’t think, they don’t have any understanding of the results they deliver.

So while it may look good, and it seems like AI tools can replicate real professionals, the devil is in the details. And the collective knowledge of the Internet can often be confused about the exact right information for a given question.

Essentially, if you understand what the output should be, AI tools can provide additional benefit by guiding you to the best outcome, helping you dive into relevant elements. But if you don’t have that knowledge in the first place, relying on AI outputs is risky and can get you into trouble.

As such, it may not be the best way to learn about AI tools on their own, but it’s definitely worth learning more about them and seeing how they can help with your process.

Plus, until February 6, you can take free LinkedIn Learning courses on AI or other skills listed in the Jobs on the Rise report.

It may be worth taking a look at the full list and discovering what is most relevant to your sector.

You can consult the American “Jobs on the Rise Report”. herewhile there are also regional ‘Jobs on the Rise’ reports Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, SingaporeAnd Europe.