foundation models jobs in 2026 — demand, top roles hiring, and related skills
As of 2026-09-28, foundation models appears in 645 job postings indexed by Skillenai over the past 90 days — Machine Learning Engineer has the most postings mentioning foundation models, with demand flat vs the prior 4 weeks.
Last updated · 90d ending 2026-09-28
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Frequently asked questions about foundation models
+Is foundation models in demand in 2026?
Yes. foundation models appears in 645 job postings indexed by Skillenai over the 90 days ending 2026-09-28, with demand flat vs the prior 4 weeks. Machine Learning Engineer accounts for the most postings mentioning foundation models (10.5% of all postings mentioning foundation models).
+What jobs require foundation models?
According to the Skillenai jobs index over the 90 days ending 2026-09-28, among roles with at least 20 postings, the highest shares mentioning foundation models are Machine Learning Infrastructure Engineer (24.2% of that role’s postings mention foundation models), Applied ML Engineer (19.0% of that role’s postings mention foundation models), Deep Learning Engineer (15.2% of that role’s postings mention foundation models).
+What skills are commonly paired with foundation models?
Across job postings indexed by Skillenai (90 days ending 2026-09-28), foundation models most often appears alongside Python, machine learning, PyTorch, Generative AI, fine-tuning.
+Where is foundation models most in demand?
As of 2026-09-28, the metro areas posting the most jobs requiring foundation models are Mountain View, San Francisco, Sunnyvale, New York City, London, according to the Skillenai jobs index.
+How can I keep up with new foundation models content and jobs?
Skillenai indexes news, blog posts, and research papers mentioning foundation models alongside the jobs index. You can subscribe to a daily email digest of new foundation models content from your Skillenai account.
Weekly job postings requiring foundation models — last 90 days
Salary distribution
Box = 25th–75th percentile · tick = median · whisker = 10th–90th · USD, annualized
Roles most likely to require foundation models
Among roles with at least 20 postings in the same period.
| Role | Postings mentioning skill | % of role postings mentioning skill |
|---|---|---|
| Machine Learning Infrastructure Engineer | 8 | 24.2% |
| Applied ML Engineer | 4 | 19.0% |
| Deep Learning Engineer | 5 | 15.2% |
| Research Intern | 7 | 14.0% |
| AI Research Scientist | 11 | 13.8% |
| AI Scientist | 11 | 12.9% |
| ML Researcher | 4 | 12.5% |
| Applied Researcher | 4 | 9.5% |
| Forward Deployed AI Engineer | 9 | 9.3% |
| Postdoctoral Researcher | 2 | 9.1% |
Roles with the most foundation models postings
| Role | Postings mentioning skill | Share of skill postings |
|---|---|---|
| Machine Learning Engineer | 68 | 10.5% |
| AI Engineer | 37 | 5.7% |
| Software Engineer | 34 | 5.3% |
| ML Engineer | 32 | 5.0% |
| Product Manager | 27 | 4.2% |
| Research Scientist | 26 | 4.0% |
| Data Scientist | 23 | 3.6% |
| Machine Learning Scientist | 12 | 1.9% |
| AI Research Scientist | 11 | 1.7% |
| AI Scientist | 11 | 1.7% |
Top metros hiring for foundation models
| Name | Postings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Mountain View | 49 | 7.6% |
| San Francisco | 49 | 7.6% |
| Sunnyvale | 36 | 5.6% |
| New York City | 23 | 3.6% |
| London | 19 | 2.9% |
| Seattle | 13 | 2.0% |
| Amsterdam | 12 | 1.9% |
| Berlin | 12 | 1.9% |
| Boston | 12 | 1.9% |
Skills commonly paired with foundation models
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How this was computed
Counts derive from the Skillenai jobs index over the 90 days ending 2026-09-28. Skills are resolved against the Skillenai canonical taxonomy, so the same entity is counted whether a posting writes 'Python', 'Python 3', or 'python'. Role prevalence divides postings mentioning foundation models by all postings for each role in the same window, ranking roles with at least 20 postings. Role distribution divides each role’s foundation models postings by all foundation models postings, including postings without a role. Shares need not sum to 100% for the displayed roles. Pages refresh weekly (or daily for the top-50 most-requested skills).
- source
- Skillenai jobs index, deduplicated daily
- entity_id
- 8d6f5aea4009fcb3
- data_as_of
- 2026-09-28
- window_days
- 90
The demand, skills, and geo numbers on this page come from the same Skillenai labor market index that powers our API. Use it for compensation benchmarking, hiring-competition analysis, and skill-adoption tracking.
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