Every year, the job search site Indeed publishes a report based on trends and data analysis of the top AI jobs and highest salaries in the tech industry. As per the 2019 report, there is an overall slowdown in growth — if you consider 29% growth a slowdown.
The number of artificial intelligence job listings on the site from May 2018 to May 2019 increased by 29% in comparison to the previous report. However, that’s less when you compare it to the massive 58% increase in AI job listings from 2016 to 2017.
We can say that the AI domain is flourishing but it is also reaching a maturity phase which explains the slump in its graph. While Indeed didn’t put an exact number between job postings and job seekers, the report suggests that there are more jobs than candidates.
Now, this is good news for AI engineers but bad news for companies who are looking to hire. Let us take a closer look at the rankings now:
Top 10 AI Job Roles
| Rank | Job Roles | % of postings containing AI or Machine Learning |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Machine Learning Engineer | 75.00% |
| 2 | Deep Learning Engineer | 60.90% |
| 3 | Senior Data Scientist | 58.10% |
| 4 | Computer Vision Engineer | 55.20% |
| 5 | Data Scientist | 52.10% |
| 6 | Algorithm Developer | 46.90% |
| 7 | Junior Data Scientist | 45.70% |
| 8 | Developer Consultant | 44.50% |
| 9 | Director of Data Science | 41.50% |
| 10 | Lead Data Scientist | 31.70% |
Machine Learning Engineer is the most highly demanded AI job on the basis of job postings as well as the average salary.
The second and third positions are occupied by Deep Learning Engineer and Senior Data Scientist, but there isn’t a lot of difference in the requirement for these positions by tech companies.
It is worth noting that Deep Learning Engineer is a new name in the top 10 list. The job involves developing programming systems that can simulate brain functions. These engineers are mostly required for autonomous driving, facial recognition, and robotics companies.
Data Scientist is a role that seems to have split into several levels as companies are now hiring candidates right from junior to director levels. Indeed says that hiring for different experience levels appeals to a wider base and that in turn can help companies compete better in a tight market.
Highest Paying AI Job Roles
As discussed above, the Machine Learning Engineer is the highest paying AI job. In fact, it is the third-highest paying job on Indeed’s 2018 and 2019 reports for all industries.
And the best part is that the average annual salary for Machine Learning Engineer is $8,409 higher than last year’s. So if you are looking for a career in this line of work, the future is bright.
| Rank | Job Roles | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Machine Learning Engineer | $142,859 |
| 2 | Data Scientist | $126,927 |
| 3 | Computer Vision Engineer | $126,400 |
| 4 | Data Warehouse Architect | $126,008 |
| 5 | Algorithm Engineer | $109,313 |
The next three positions, that is, Data Scientist, Computer Vision Engineer, and Data Warehouse Architect surprisingly have the same pay scale.
In addition to this data, Indeed also highlighted the top cities to be in if you are looking for AI jobs. In comparison with the previous year’s report, 2019’s ranking of metropolitan cities with the largest number of AI jobs hasn’t changed much:
Top Cities for AI Jobs
- New York, New York
- San Francisco, California
- Washington, DC
- San Jose, California
- Seattle, Washington
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Los Angeles, California
- Chicago, Illinois
- Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
- Atlanta, Georgia
The cities mentioned above are from the US, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities in other places. Artificial intelligence is a rising industry and there are still a lot of opportunities for interested job seekers.
However, it does beg the most important question:
Will AI take away more jobs than it creates?
There’s been a lot of debate on this topic and there’s this general belief that AI will render several humans jobless. But studies suggest that AI, as a matter of fact, will create more jobs than it kills.
The “Future of Jobs” report published by the World Economic Forum in 2018 says that by 2022, AI will snatch away around 75 million human jobs but it will also generate 133 million new ones.
While all of that is speculation, we’ll probably have to wait for the truth as the future unfolds itself.
