The State of Tech Hiring
Q1 2025 reveals a tech hiring market that has fundamentally recalibrated from the 2021-22 boom. Job postings in India's IT sector are down 18% year-over-year, but the composition of demand has shifted dramatically. AI and machine learning roles now account for 34% of all tech job postings, up from 19% a year ago. Traditional application development roles continue to decline, while AI-adjacent roles - prompt engineers, AI product managers, and MLOps specialists - are among the fastest-growing categories.
Salary adjustments reflect this shift. The median salary for AI engineers with 3-5 years of experience has risen to ₹24 lakhs, a 22% increase year-over-year, while traditional developer salaries have remained flat. The premium for AI skills is now 35-40% across most experience levels.
What This Means for Recruiters
For recruiters, the new normal demands a fundamentally different approach. The candidates in highest demand - AI engineers, data scientists, and ML specialists - are not actively looking for jobs. They are passively employed, and reaching them requires proactive sourcing, not job board postings. AI-powered sourcing tools that can identify and engage passive candidates are now essential.
The data also shows that companies using AI-powered hiring platforms fill AI roles 2.8x faster than those relying on traditional methods. The irony is notable: companies that have not adopted AI in their hiring process are the slowest to hire AI talent. The technology adoption gap is creating a hiring performance gap.
- •AI and ML roles now account for 34% of tech job postings in India, up from 19% a year ago
- •AI engineer salaries have risen 22% YoY while traditional developer salaries remain flat
- •The AI skills premium is 35-40% across most experience levels
- •AI talent is predominantly passively employed - proactive sourcing is essential
- •Companies using AI hiring platforms fill AI roles 2.8x faster than those using traditional methods