software design jobs in 2026 — demand, top roles hiring, and related skills
As of 2026-09-16, software design appears in 834 job postings indexed by Skillenai over the past 90 days — most often required for Software Engineer roles, with demand up 22% vs the prior 4 weeks.
Last updated · 90d ending 2026-09-16
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Frequently asked questions about software design
+Is software design in demand in 2026?
Yes. software design appears in 834 job postings indexed by Skillenai over the 90 days ending 2026-09-16, with demand up 22% vs the prior 4 weeks. It is most often required for Software Engineer roles (60% of Software Engineer postings list it).
+What jobs require software design?
According to the Skillenai jobs index over the 90 days ending 2026-09-16, the job titles most likely to require software design are Software Engineer (60% of postings list software design), Research Scientist (4% of postings list software design), Embedded Software Engineer (3% of postings list software design).
+What skills are commonly paired with software design?
Across job postings indexed by Skillenai (90 days ending 2026-09-16), software design most often appears alongside Python, C++, Java, testing, data structures.
+Where is software design most in demand?
As of 2026-09-16, the metro areas posting the most jobs requiring software design are Broomfield, London, Bengaluru, Annapolis, New York City, according to the Skillenai jobs index.
+How can I keep up with new software design content and jobs?
Skillenai indexes news, blog posts, and research papers mentioning software design alongside the jobs index. You can subscribe to a daily email digest of new software design content from your Skillenai account.
Weekly job postings requiring software design — last 90 days
Salary distribution
Box = 25th–75th percentile · tick = median · whisker = 10th–90th · USD, annualized
Job titles most likely to require software design
| Role | Postings mentioning | % requiring |
|---|---|---|
| Software Engineer | 498 | 59.7% |
| Research Scientist | 35 | 4.2% |
| Embedded Software Engineer | 24 | 2.9% |
| Systems Engineer | 14 | 1.7% |
| Software Developer | 13 | 1.6% |
| Backend Engineer | 12 | 1.4% |
| Engineering Manager | 12 | 1.4% |
| Software Engineering Manager | 8 | 1.0% |
| Backend Software Engineer | 7 | 0.8% |
| Java Developer | 6 | 0.7% |
Top metros hiring for software design
| Name | Postings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Broomfield | 28 | 3.4% |
| London | 24 | 2.9% |
| Bengaluru | 22 | 2.6% |
| Annapolis | 20 | 2.4% |
| New York City | 20 | 2.4% |
| Dublin | 15 | 1.8% |
| Waltham | 15 | 1.8% |
| Topeka | 14 | 1.7% |
| Costa Mesa | 11 | 1.3% |
Skills commonly paired with software design
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How this was computed
Counts derive from the Skillenai jobs index over the 90 days ending 2026-09-16. Skills are resolved against the Skillenai canonical taxonomy, so the same entity is counted whether a posting writes 'Python', 'Python 3', or 'python'. Pages refresh weekly (or daily for the top-50 most-requested skills).
- source
- Skillenai jobs index, deduplicated daily
- entity_id
- f524ee1f5cf1eafc
- data_as_of
- 2026-09-16
- 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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