The Software Engineer role today
This guide draws on 9,425 Software Engineer postings from 3,128 companies, published from March to September 2026.
In 8% of Software Engineer postings, building or applying AI is the job itself.
AI Assisted Coding appears in 65% of Software Engineer postings, and Prompt Engineering in 59%.
Automation exposure averages 43 out of 100 across these postings, which is moderate: parts of the routine work can be automated, which makes AI skills more valuable in the role.
Senior positions make up 46% of postings, mid-level 20%. The most common way of working is hybrid, in 46% of postings.
Common skill gaps
The AI skills our analysis of Software Engineer job descriptions most often flags as a gap, with the share of postings where each one comes up.
- AI Security Awareness23%
- Prompt Engineering22%
- AI Code Review17%
- AI Testing Automation14%
- LLM Ops13%
- AI Model Deployment12%
Software Engineer salary
Pay comes only from postings that quote it: 635 of the 9,425 Software Engineer postings. Each country uses the pay period its employers quote most.
Netherlands
based on 511 postings quoting pay per month€4,900
median per month
The middle half of advertised salaries, with the line at the median.
Australia
based on 34 postings quoting pay per yearA$150,000
median per year
The middle half of advertised salaries, with the line at the median.
Essential Software Engineer skills
The skills employers ask for in Software Engineer job descriptions, from the most requested down.
Core skills
- AI Assisted Coding
- Prompt Engineering
Often requested
- LLM Integration
- LLM API Integration
- AI Code Review
Also valued
- LLM Ops
- Python
- Observability for AI Systems
- Data Analysis
- AI Tools Literacy
AI skills to learn next
The AI skills employers most often want to add to this role, beyond the ones above.
- Vector Databases
- MLOps
How the Software Engineer role is evolving
The directions employers are taking this role as they adopt AI, with the skills and responsibilities each one adds.
Most common direction
Toward AI engineering
Typical focus
AI-augmented development, AI-augmented backend and AI infrastructure
New responsibilities
- Use AI-assisted coding tools to accelerate development and improve code quality
- Collaborate with data scientists to deploy and monitor ML models in production
- Design and maintain vector databases for semantic search and recommendation systems
Other directions
Toward AI transformation
Typical focus
AI platform enablement
Skills to add
- AI Tool Evaluation
- Change Management
- AI Change Management
- AI Strategy
- AI Governance
New responsibilities
- Lead the adoption of AI-assisted development practices across the engineering team
- Mentor team members on AI-augmented development practices
- Implement monitoring and observability for AI systems to ensure reliability and performance
Toward data & machine learning
Typical focus
Data & AI platforms, AI data platforms and Data & AI platform
Skills to add
- Feature Engineering
- Data Pipeline Engineering
- Feature Store Management
- Data Versioning
- Data Pipelines
New responsibilities
- Collaborate with data scientists to deploy and monitor ML models in production
- Build and maintain data pipelines to support AI model training and inference
- Optimize data storage and retrieval for AI workloads
- Collaborate with data scientists to productionize machine learning models
Toward AI product
Typical focus
AI product development
Skills to add
- AI Product Strategy
- AI Product Management
- AI Ethics
- User Experience for AI
- AI User Experience
- AI Product Thinking
New responsibilities
- Collaborate with product managers to define AI feature requirements and success metrics
- Ensure AI features comply with privacy and ethical guidelines
- Collaborate with product managers to define AI feature roadmaps
- Monitor and optimize AI feature performance and user engagement
Software Engineer FAQ
Will AI replace Software Engineer jobs?
Automation exposure averages 43 out of 100 across these postings, which is moderate: parts of the routine work can be automated, which makes AI skills more valuable in the role. Employers are mostly reshaping the role toward AI engineering, adding skills such as Prompt Engineering and AI Assisted Coding.
What skills do Software Engineer roles require?
The skills employers ask for most are AI Assisted Coding, Prompt Engineering, LLM Integration, LLM API Integration and AI Code Review.
Which AI skills should Software Engineer candidates learn next?
AI Assisted Coding, Prompt Engineering and LLM Integration are the AI skills employers most often want to add. The most common skill gaps are AI Security Awareness and Prompt Engineering.
How is the Software Engineer role changing?
The most common direction is AI engineering. Other directions include AI transformation, data & machine learning and AI product.
How much do Software Engineer roles pay in Australia?
Advertised salaries typically range from A$121,000 to A$184,000 per year, with the median around A$150,000, based on 34 postings that quote pay per year.
How much do Software Engineer roles pay in the Netherlands?
Advertised salaries typically range from €4,300 to €5,700 per month, with the median around €4,900, based on 511 postings that quote pay per month.
Find your next Software Engineer role
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This guide is built from public job descriptions for Software Engineer roles classified as Core AI or AI-enabled. Skills, automation exposure and career directions are extracted from each job description and compared across the market. Postings are deduplicated, so a job listed on several boards or by several agencies counts once. Salaries are advertised ranges from Australia and the Netherlands, taken only from the 635 postings that quote pay. How we collect and deduplicate postings.