Hiring cools but leaders remain prized

Tech hiring has cooled in many companies, but demand for senior artificial intelligence leaders is rising as employers look for people who can turn pilots into operating systems. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) Executive search firms told The Economic Times that mandates for director, vice president and higher-level technology roles in India are up about 20% from the cautious first half of fiscal year 2025. The jobs include chief technology, digital and artificial intelligence officers, heads of engineering, data and product, and leaders for cybersecurity, cloud and platform teams. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) The hiring is coming from multinational corporations and Indian firms, including financial institutions expanding global capability centers, plus airlines, aerospace groups, consumer goods companies, retailers and drugmakers. Search executives said some global technology roles are being shifted to India, and compensation for these leadership jobs runs from about 1 crore rupees to more than 5 crore rupees a year. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) The backdrop is wider adoption of artificial intelligence inside workplaces, not a return to broad-based hiring. Gallup said on April 13 that half of United States workers now use artificial intelligence at work, and 41% said their organization has integrated the tools to improve how it operates. (gallup.com, abcnews.com) Gallup’s February 4-19, 2026 survey of 23,717 employed adults found adoption is linked to disruption and to productivity gains more than wholesale job redesign. About two-thirds of workers at organizations using artificial intelligence said it had a somewhat or extremely positive effect on their own productivity and efficiency. (gallup.com, wdbo.com) That helps explain why companies are paying up for people who can apply the tools across a business, manage data and risk, and lead teams through the change. Deloitte said worker access to artificial intelligence rose 50% in 2025, but the biggest barrier to integration remains the skills gap, and education was the top talent response. (deloitte.com) The broader labor market is not collapsing so much as narrowing. CompTIA said United States net tech employment fell about 0.3% in 2025, or roughly 33,600 workers, and is projected to grow 1.9% in 2026 to about 9.8 million, with businesses still adding roles selectively. (comptia.org) In that market, companies appear less interested in mass junior hiring than in a smaller number of leaders who can connect artificial intelligence spending to products, operations and revenue. The result is a two-speed jobs picture: slower overall hiring, but a live bidding war for people who already know how to run applied artificial intelligence at scale. (economictimes.indiatimes.com, deloitte.com)