foundation models jobs in 2026 — demand, top roles hiring, and related skills
As of 2026-08-26, foundation models appears in 70 job postings indexed by Skillenai over the past 90 days — most often required for ML Engineer roles, with demand up 35% vs the prior 4 weeks.
Last updated · 90d ending 2026-08-26
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Frequently asked questions about foundation models
+Is foundation models in demand in 2026?
Yes. foundation models appears in 70 job postings indexed by Skillenai over the 90 days ending 2026-08-26, with demand up 35% vs the prior 4 weeks. It is most often required for ML Engineer roles (14% of ML Engineer postings list it).
+What jobs require foundation models?
According to the Skillenai jobs index over the 90 days ending 2026-08-26, the job titles most likely to require foundation models are ML Engineer (14% of postings list foundation models), Machine Learning Engineer (10% of postings list foundation models), AI/ML Engineer (6% of postings list foundation models).
+What skills are commonly paired with foundation models?
Across job postings indexed by Skillenai (90 days ending 2026-08-26), foundation models most often appears alongside machine learning, Python, monitoring, deep learning, agentic systems.
+Where is foundation models most in demand?
As of 2026-08-26, the metro areas posting the most jobs requiring foundation models are San Francisco, New York City, London, Sunnyvale, Foster City, 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
Job titles most likely to require foundation models
| Role | Postings mentioning | % requiring |
|---|---|---|
| ML Engineer | 10 | 14.3% |
| Machine Learning Engineer | 7 | 10.0% |
| AI/ML Engineer | 4 | 5.7% |
| Research Scientist | 4 | 5.7% |
| Software Engineer | 4 | 5.7% |
| Engineering Manager | 3 | 4.3% |
| Research Engineer | 3 | 4.3% |
| AI Research Engineer | 2 | 2.9% |
| AI Systems Engineer | 2 | 2.9% |
| Machine Learning Scientist | 2 | 2.9% |
Top metros hiring for foundation models
| Name | Postings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | 12 | 17.1% |
| New York City | 7 | 10.0% |
| London | 5 | 7.1% |
| Sunnyvale | 5 | 7.1% |
| Foster City | 2 | 2.9% |
| Paris | 2 | 2.9% |
| San Jose | 2 | 2.9% |
| Seattle | 2 | 2.9% |
| Singapore | 2 | 2.9% |
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 2026-08-26. 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
- 8d6f5aea4009fcb3
- data_as_of
- 2026-08-26
- 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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