The 2026 IT Job Market: What Should IT Job Seekers Expect in 2026?

As we move into the new year, the UK’s 2026 IT job market is expected to display strong demand for IT job seekers skilled in areas such as Data, AI, and Cyber Security, as well as for professionals working in niches with particular industry experiences and technical skill sets. Despite a challenging permanent IT job market and limited economic growth predicted for 2026, it is still expected that organisations will continue to invest in several core areas of technology.

Successfully navigating the IT job market in 2026 means understanding the job landscape, knowing where demand is, and also how to pivot and upskill in order to improve employment prospects in 2026 and beyond.

How has the permanent IT job market performed in 2025?

The UK IT job market has seen both improvements and challenges this past year. The start of 2025 showed strong signs of future growth, but activity slowed down in the second half of 2025. However, according to the latest data from KPMG and REC, we are not finishing 2025 on a negative note. Although permanent job vacancies in October 2025 fell, they did so at a slower rate than earlier in the year.

The state of the 2025 IT job market can be explained partly through the increasing adoption of AI across the tech industry. A recent survey found that 66% of enterprises are reducing their entry-level hiring due to AI. This corroborates with general IT job trends seen this year, where tech professionals with niche and specialist skills have seen opportunities increase, but non-specialist and junior tech professionals have seen opportunities fall.

What should IT job seekers expect to see in the 2026 IT job market?

Whilst the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has predicted an economic growth of 1.4% for 2026, this is a downgrade from their previous assessment of 1.5% and does not suggest sustained or significant growth.

Other political factors will also influence the IT job market in 2026. The most significant is the Employment Rights Bill, announced in 2024 and expected to receive Royal Assent in 2026, has given employers another reason to be cautious with their permanent workforce planning strategies for the next few years. Whilst changes to the Employment Rights Bill during the consultation stage, such as altering unfair dismissal from a proposed Day 1 right to a right after 6 months, may give more businesses confidence to hire permanent employees, the bill may still affect businesses’ hiring plans in 2026 and beyond.

Furthermore, automation will also affect the IT job market in 2026. With companies looking to reduce hiring for junior IT job roles, such as 1^st line support and junior developers, to replace them with AI technologies and tools, IT job seekers will need to look at their skills and assess what tasks and responsibilities could be replaced by AI, in order to work out what they can do to upskill and remain employable.

Although adjustments to the Employment Rights Bill may encourage some employers to expand their permanent tech hiring, labour costs have increased and using AI for entry-level work has been made more accessible to organisations.

Despite this, the UK IT job market will continue to offer great opportunities, with the strongest demand in 2026 expected to be concentrated in AI, data and cyber security.

What tech skills will be in high demand in 2026?

Certain skills and roles are expected to see significant and sustained increases in demand throughout 2026. This is due to technological developments, such as AI, which is driving innovation and opportunities. At the same time, businesses are grappling with significant technological skill shortages, which is accelerating the need for highly skilled talent.

Cyber security

Cyber attacks have consistently hit the headlines this year, with several high-profile attacks targeting household businesses, such as M&S, Harrods, Adidas and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). According to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), attacks have risen by 50% in the past year, and the centre has had to deal with 4 “nationally significant” attacks every week of 2025. Evidence from M&S and JLR showed that ransomware attacks stalled their operations for months and led to multi-million-pound losses in revenue. In response to this, as we’ve moved through 2025, we have witnessed a 12% increase in cyber security vacancies due to these growing threats.

In the 2026 IT job market, demand is expected to remain high for cyber security professionals as organisations prioritise risk mitigation and protection against increasingly sophisticated attacks. With 49% of UK businesses reporting that they lack a basic level of cyber security skills internally, delaying investment in cyber security in 2026 could leave businesses vulnerable to attacks. These attacks have vast consequences, ranging from loss of reputation and revenue to regulatory fines.

As AI adoption and cloud migration projects continue across businesses, organisations are increasingly looking for cyber security professionals with expertise in AI and cloud security. According to PWC, businesses are listing the following priorities as the most important to address with their cyber security budgets in 2025 and 2026:

• AI (36%)
• Cloud security (34%)
• Network security (28%)
• Data protection (26%)

As businesses expand their technologies, there are increasing vulnerabilities and opportunities for cyber criminals to target, making a cyber security hiring strategy vital for organisations in 2026 and an area of particular growth in the IT job market.

Data

In 2025, the World Economic Forum listed Big Data as one of their top technological skills of the year. This move was driven by the exponential rise of data within businesses, the importance of data-driven decision-making, and the increasing adoption of AI, which has made data skills a highly sought-after hiring trend in the past year.

As we move into 2026, data IT job seekers will continue to see high demand in the 2026 IT job market, as organisations still need significant support and guidance in managing their data. A major factor in this is the amount of unstructured data that is still held by organisations. Unstructured data forms around 80-90% of all enterprise data. However, in its unstructured form, it presents very little advantage to businesses. In order to leverage data effectively, data professionals, such as data scientists and engineers, are needed to clean and sort data, which can then be used for making data-informed decisions or to help train tailored AI models that can drive revenue and innovation within organisations.

Data professionals of all levels and specialisms are desired by businesses. However, as more organisations migrate their networks to the cloud, there is a particular demand for data professionals with experience in cloud platforms, such as Databricks, Microsoft Fabric, and Snowflake.

AI

In the IT job market, AI skills will remain as one of the most desired skillsets in 2026. With 92% of companies looking to increase their investment in AI, both in the development of AI technology and in its implementation over the next 3 years, AI professionals, such as AI/ Machine Learning Engineers, are expected to see sustained growth.

AI engineers are professionals who can create intelligent systems and predictive models for AI tools within businesses. These can be tailor-made to each business’s specifications, based on customer behaviour, industry requirements and more. As more businesses adopt AI in 2026, AI engineering professionals will see their demand increase.

Furthermore, even professionals outside of AI-focused roles can help to increase their chances of securing a role in the IT job market in 2026 by training to gain AI skills and knowledge of AI tools that are relevant to their role/industry. By combining AI knowledge with their tech stack and specialism, they can future-proof themselves over the next few years.

What actions will improve IT job seekers’ prospects in the 2026 IT job market?

Specialising in a technology or industry

Moving into more specialist roles is one way tech professionals can improve their chances in the 2026 IT job market. Whether that’s through training in a particular tech stack or remaining within one industry to develop extensive specialist experience, gaining deep industrial/ technical knowledge can help job seekers secure better roles and give them an edge over their competition.

Working on soft skills

Beyond technical skills, employers are placing more importance on soft skills, such as communication, stakeholder management and teamwork.

In the AI age, where AI tools are increasingly taking over repetitive tasks, IT job seekers who excel in these key soft skills will be the ones who will stand out. These are the tasks that require human connection and one aspect that AI and robots cannot replace. By using AI to automate easier and repetitive tasks and demonstrating skilled knowledge and excellent soft skills, candidates can succeed in the 2026 IT job market.

Updating CV and online presence

In order to secure new opportunities in the 2026 IT job market, candidates need to ensure that their CVs and online presences, such as their LinkedIn profiles, are optimised to raise their visibility to recruiters and hiring managers.

To increase their chances of having their CV seen in the 2026 IT job market, candidates will need to be careful about how they format their CVs. As AI tools, such as Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), become more widespread amongst recruiters and hiring managers, IT job seekers need to understand how to write their CVs with ATS in mind. In order to be easily identified by ATS, CVs should be formatted in plain text with short bullet points that include measurable data and keywords relevant to the candidate’s specialist skills and experience.

Additionally, job seekers should maintain an up-to-date LinkedIn profile that references their previous employers, projects and keywords relevant to their role. LinkedIn offers an extra layer of visibility and can help recruiters find them beyond just their CV.

If you are looking to find your next opportunity in the IT job market in 2026, VIQU IT are IT recruitment specialists that can help you navigate the next step in your career. If you would like to stay informed of any new jobs which are relevant to you in 2026, send in your CV here or click here to view our latest IT roles.