India’s Top AI and Tech Roles for 2025

News

1. India Faces Lower Risk of AI Job Disruption Than the West, Says IT Secretary

2. Tata Steel Discloses $1.6 Billion Dutch Class Action Over Emissions

3. Nvidia Licenses Groq’s Inference Tech, Hires Leadership

4. HCLTech Deepens Software Push With Three Acquisitions in a Week

5. Isro Launches BlueBird Block 2 in Heaviest Commercial Mission Yet

6. OpenAI Softens ChatGPT’s Tone While Scaling for an AI Showdown

India’s AI job market crossed an inflection point in 2025. After years of pilots, proofs of concept, and exploratory hiring, enterprises finally moved decisively into execution mode. The result: a sharp rise in demand for engineers who can deploy, scale, govern, and secure AI systems in production environments.

Recruiters and talent leaders agree that 2025 marked the year AI stopped being a side project and became core to business operations, reshaping not just which roles were hired, but how companies defined “tech talent” itself.

“In 2025, hiring across the AI and technology sector clearly moved from experimentation to execution. Demand was led by AI and machine learning engineers, data scientists, MLOps professionals, and cloud and DevOps engineers as organizations focused on deploying AI at scale rather than running pilots,” said Tarun Sharma, Chief Product and Technology Officer at foundit.

AI Roles of 2025

AI and machine learning engineers:

At the top of the hiring pyramid in 2025 were AI and machine learning engineers, accounting for the largest share of job demand. These roles alone made up nearly a fifth of AI-related hiring, reflecting the need for professionals who could build, fine-tune, and productionise models across industries, from BFSI and retail to manufacturing and healthcare.

Data scientists:

Data scientists followed closely, though their role continued to evolve. Instead of relying solely on analytics, companies are increasingly seeking data scientists who can work alongside engineers, understand model performance in real-world environments, and collaborate with product teams.

AI solutions architect:

Another major gainer was the AI solutions architect. As enterprises stitched together multiple models, cloud platforms, APIs, and enterprise systems, the need for professionals who could design end-to-end AI architectures became critical.

“GenAI-linked roles such as prompt engineers and AI product managers also saw strong momentum. This reflects the growing need to translate AI capability into business impact,” Sharma said. 

Others:

Prompt engineers and GenAI specialists, unheard of until a few years ago, accounted for a significant share of hiring. Their growth underscores a broader shift: AI skills were no longer confined to research teams but embedded deeply into product development, customer experience, and operations.

Supporting this AI-first stack were MLOps engineers, cloud engineers, and DevOps specialists, roles essential for monitoring models, managing data pipelines, and ensuring reliability at scale.

Salaries Rise as Supply Falls Behind Demand

According to Neeti Sharma, CEO of TeamLease Digital, the supply-demand gap in AI talent has become one of the defining features of India’s tech market.

“In 2025, high-demand roles were GenAI engineers, MLOps specialists, cloud architects, cybersecurity talent, and advanced data engineers. Senior GenAI and MLOps salaries touched ₹58–60 lakh, with AI skills growing at nearly 18–22% a year,” she said. 

Global capability centres (GCCs) mirrored this trend. Over 64% of GCCs reported growth in tech hiring, particularly in AI, cloud, and data. Many also began creating entirely new roles, such as AI orchestration, prompt engineering, and AI governance, signalling that AI had moved from experimentation into core delivery.

Yet even with aggressive hiring, the talent gap remains stark. “There is roughly one qualified AI engineer for every ten openings,” Sharma points out, a mismatch that continues to push salaries upward.

Value of ‘Traditional’ Tech Skills

Despite the surge in AI, traditional software skills are far from obsolete. Rajesh Chandran Sogasu, Head of Talent Acquisition and L&D at Happiest Minds, noted that Java and .NET full-stack developers remained among the most in-demand roles in 2025.

“Generative AI skills are becoming essential across most technical roles,” he said, “but core Python coding demand stayed consistently strong through the AI wave.”

The most sought-after professionals had five to 12 years of experience and combined solid engineering fundamentals with hands-on experience in AI. Roles spanning AI/ML engineering, data engineering, MLOps, NLP, computer vision, and cybersecurity dominated hiring.

Looking ahead to 2026, Sogasu believes developers who can effectively work with AI tools and apply AI for multiskilling will stand out. “The industry will open new opportunities in AI governance, AI reliability, real-world AI integration, and autonomous AI systems,” he added.

What Changes in 2026

If 2025 was about building and scaling AI, 2026 will be about controlling, securing, and sustaining it.

“Looking ahead to 2026, we expect demand to deepen and diversify. Hiring will accelerate for specialized positions in AI governance, compliance, and cybersecurity as enterprises prioritize responsible and secure AI adoption,” said Tarun Sharma.

Forecasts indicate that some of the fastest growth rates in 2026 will come from prompt engineering and GenAI specialist roles, followed closely by AI governance, AI solutions architecture, and compliance-focused positions. This reflects growing regulatory scrutiny, enterprise risk concerns, and the need for explainable and auditable AI systems.

Cybersecurity roles, already in high demand, are expected to become even more closely tied to AI deployments, protecting models, data pipelines, and AI-driven decision systems from misuse or attack.

Neeti Sharma expects GCCs to increasingly build AI capabilities internally by 2026, potentially filling up to half of new AI roles from within their own organizations. However, specialist talent in AI, cloud, and cybersecurity will remain scarce, particularly in regulated sectors such as BFSI, pharma, and manufacturing, where domain-led AI adoption is accelerating.

A Mature AI Talent Market

By 2026, India’s AI job market is expected to look markedly different from the experimental years of the past. Hybrid roles, blending technical depth with product thinking, risk management, and governance, will become the norm rather than the exception.

Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities are also set to play a larger role, as companies expand hiring beyond traditional tech hubs and deploy AI tools for talent selection, assessment, and performance management.

“The next phase of growth will be defined by hybrid roles that combine technical expertise with strategic and risk management skills,” said Tarun Sharma. “This signals a more mature and sustainable AI talent market.”

In short, India’s AI hiring story is no longer just about who can build models, but about who can make AI work, responsibly and at scale.