🇺🇸 United States Hiring Trends

How startup hiring in United States is changing and which roles are in demand, measured as shares of startup job postings so it reflects hiring rather than how many startups we track.

Share of startup postings: 48.1%; Last 12 months
Change in share: +9.2%; From 44.1% the 12 months before
Most in-demand role: Software Engineer; 5.3% of postings here

United States's share of startup hiring

The United States accounted for 48.1% of startup job postings in the last 12 months, up from 44.1% in the 12 months before.

United States share of startup job postings

Per quarter since Q1 2017.

Show the data

Quarter	Share of postings
Q1 2017	62.2%
Q2 2017	60.4%
Q3 2017	62.1%
Q4 2017	63.0%
Q1 2018	61.7%
Q2 2018	60.9%
Q3 2018	60.7%
Q4 2018	59.7%
Q1 2019	60.1%
Q2 2019	59.8%
Q3 2019	58.5%
Q4 2019	58.8%
Q1 2020	55.4%
Q2 2020	55.5%
Q3 2020	55.1%
Q4 2020	50.9%
Q1 2021	52.1%
Q2 2021	51.8%
Q3 2021	52.5%
Q4 2021	52.9%
Q1 2022	49.3%
Q2 2022	47.4%
Q3 2022	45.0%
Q4 2022	45.2%
Q1 2023	44.6%
Q2 2023	44.0%
Q3 2023	43.4%
Q4 2023	42.1%
Q1 2024	41.5%
Q2 2024	41.3%
Q3 2024	41.1%
Q4 2024	40.5%
Q1 2025	44.0%
Q2 2025	44.4%
Q3 2025	44.8%
Q4 2025	44.7%
Q1 2026	46.8%
Q2 2026	48.2%
Q3 2026	49.2%

Roles in demand in United States

Software Engineer is the most in-demand startup role in the United States, with 5.3% of postings in the last 12 months.

Largest roles

Role	Share, prior 12 months	Share, last 12 months	Change
Software Engineer	5.5%	5.3%	-4.4%
Account Executive	3.6%	3.5%	-3.2%
Product Manager	2.5%	2.5%	+2.7%
Customer Service	2.4%	2.1%	-10.1%
Account Manager	1.8%	1.9%	+1.0%
Senior Software Engineer	1.8%	1.7%	-8.0%
Finance/Accounting	1.4%	1.5%	+4.9%
Marketing Manager	1.4%	1.3%	-9.8%
Program Manager	1.1%	1.2%	+11.9%
Head of Human Resources	0.90%	1.2%	+31.8%
H.R.	1.2%	1.2%	+2.6%
Business Development	1.2%	1.1%	-7.9%
Project Manager	1.0%	0.92%	-10.6%
Recruiter	0.70%	0.88%	+26.2%
Operations Manager	0.83%	0.84%	+0.9%

Roles gaining share

Role	Share, prior 12 months	Share, last 12 months	Change
Field Service Technician	0.13%	0.25%	+98.5%
AI Engineer	0.17%	0.34%	+97.6%
Electrical Engineer	0.21%	0.38%	+80.7%
Mechanical Engineer	0.29%	0.50%	+74.8%
Platform Engineer	0.18%	0.32%	+73.8%

Methodology

Trends come from job postings on startup.jobs, sourced from startups' career pages and jobs posted directly by employers. Employers our vetting rejected or couldn't confirm as startups are left out.
We keep adding startups, so posting counts grow even when hiring doesn't. Every trend is therefore a share of all startup postings in the same period, which stays comparable as coverage grows.
Broad catch-all titles such as Manager or Specialist are left out of role rankings.
Quarterly shares start in 2017 and cover complete quarters. Changes compare the last 12 full months with the 12 before.

You are welcome to cite these figures with a link: Source: Startup Jobs, startup.jobs/locations/united-states/trends

For salaries, remote work, and AI hiring, see the startup hiring statistics.