LinkedIn says AI engineer is fastest-growing job for young workers again

LinkedIn says the hottest job title for young workers is AI engineer for the second year in a row, a sign that employers are still racing to hire people who can build and run artificial intelligence systems. The platform said it added 639,000 AI-related U.S. job postings between 2023 and 2025, including 75,000 AI engineer roles, and Kory Kantenga, LinkedIn’s head of economics for the Americas, said companies are “gorging on AI talent.”

That role is not just about coding. AI engineers build and operate AI products, including AI agents and large language models, and plug them into business workflows so companies can solve problems faster, improve efficiency and cut repetitive manual work. LinkedIn said the tech industry hires the most AI engineers, followed by financial services, although its search results also showed entry-level openings at defense contractors, universities and consulting firms.

For young Americans, the timing is mixed. The unemployment rate for people ages 20 to 24 stood at 6.4% in March 2026, above the overall U.S. rate of 4.3%, and LinkedIn found that entry-level hiring in the United States fell 6% between December 2025 and February 2026 from a year earlier. That means the AI surge is arriving inside a labor market that is still cooler for new entrants than for established workers.

LinkedIn’s Blake Lawit said the company has not yet seen clear evidence that AI itself is driving the slowdown, pointing instead to higher interest rates. He also said the decline in hiring for college-aged workers has not been falling more sharply than for midcareer or later-career workers. Even so, Lawit warned that the average job’s required skills have changed 25% in recent years and could change 70% by 2030, which means many workers will not be displaced so much as reshaped by the technology.

That tension runs through the broader debate. A Harvard Business School study found that jobs involving structured and repetitive tasks fell 13% after ChatGPT launched in 2022, fueling concern that employers may be using AI instead of younger workers for some entry-level work. But MIT Sloan research co-authored by Lawrence Schmidt found that AI adoption can lift revenue, profits and employment, while a World Economic Forum analysis based on LinkedIn data said AI has already added 1.3 million jobs globally.

For young workers, the message is less about chasing a fad than building usable skills. Kantenga said getting started in today’s labor market likely requires a certain amount of AI aptitude, because employers want people who can help companies scale and identify the best use cases. The AI job market is real, but it is still concentrated, competitive and increasingly tied to whether applicants can translate technical knowledge into business value.