As AI continues to weave itself deeper into daily work, employees worldwide have begun to dismiss their fear of losing jobs and instead started to embrace and adapt to emerging technologies to safeguard their jobs and relevance against redundancy.Conceding that AI has become an integral part of professional lives, both job seekers and employers today are placing greater emphasis on upskilling and reskilling programmes, while increasing AI usage to make the workforce future-ready and more productive.
Widespread AI adoption across industries
This shift is reflected in a recent PwC report, ‘The Fearless Future: 2025 Global AI Jobs Barometer’, which analysed nearly a billion job ads and thousands of company financial reports across six continents. continents.
The study found that AI adoption has risen across almost 100% of industries, including sectors less obviously tied to the technology, such as mining and construction. Rather than erasing jobs, the report shows that companies are deploying AI to make workers more productive and valuable, with employment levels and wages rising in nearly every AI-exposed occupation, even in roles once considered highly automatable.With AI becoming increasingly embedded across industries, it is worth rethinking which AI roles are most in demand, and which generate the greatest value not only for organisations but also for the employees who fill them.
To answer this, Yijin Hardware analysed a range of factors, including salary levels, hiring activity, growth rates, and visibility, to identify the most sought-after AI roles for 2025. Building on these metrics, the company determined jobs into a single score, ranging from 1 to 99, and provided a clear view of which AI roles offer the greatest opportunity in today’s evolving workplace.
Here are the most sought-after AI jobs in 2025:
1. Data scientists (Score: 99): The most in-demand AI professionals, data scientists attract 1.8 million searches annually, three times more than any other role. With an average salary of $117,000 and 11,000 job postings, they are central to helping organisations turn raw data into actionable insights.
2. Data engineers (Score: 80): With 23,300 openings, more than double any other AI role, data engineering offers the most accessible entry point into the field. The role commands an average salary of $109,000 and has seen a 34% job growth rate, driven by organisations’ need to build and maintain data pipelines.
3. AI solutions architects (Score: 66): Among the highest-paid in the list, AI solutions architects earn upwards of $166,000 a year. Their 35% growth rate reflects rising demand for professionals who can design scalable AI systems that align with business needs.
4. AI product managers (Score: 65): With a base salary of $128,000 and the shortest hiring time, just 23 days on average, AI product managers are highly sought after. Their role bridges technical and business functions, ensuring AI solutions translate into tangible value.
5. Machine learning engineers (Score: 51): Earning $123,000 on average, this role has seen a 36% growth rate as companies move AI projects from pilot phases into production. They play a critical role in operationalising models at scale.
6. AI consultants (Score: 48): With salaries averaging $136,000, AI consultants are among the best-paid professionals. Their expertise is helping organisations design and deploy AI strategies, a demand that has grown 36% in the past year.
7. AI research scientists (Score: 45): These highly specialised experts earn $146,000 on average, second only to AI solutions architects. Despite just 1,400 job openings, their work in advancing AI capabilities makes them highly sought after.
8. MLOps engineers (Score: 44): This niche role has seen the fastest growth, 40% year-on-year, though with just 124 openings. With salaries of $126,000, MLOps engineers ensure machine learning models run smoothly in production environments.
9. Robotics engineers (Score: 32): With 2,000 openings and salaries averaging $111,000, robotics engineers are increasingly in demand. Their roles are filled in just 29 days on average, highlighting the urgency in sectors such as manufacturing and logistics.
10. Reinforcement learning engineers (Score: 31): Though more specialised, these roles are growing at the same 36% rate as data scientists. With 1,800 openings and salaries around $106,000, they are becoming valuable in areas such as automation, robotics, and advanced decision-making systems.
The rising demand for AI roles: How the workforce should respond
The surge in demand for these AI roles highlights that the future of work will not be defined by job losses to automation, but by the ability to adapt, upskill, and take on new responsibilities. Both organisations and employees must prioritise continuous learning to stay relevant, while embracing AI as a tool to enhance productivity and career growth. In this evolving landscape, those who proactively develop the skills most sought after will be best positioned to thrive in 2025 and beyond.