software design jobs in 2026 — demand, top roles hiring, and related skills
As of 2026-08-26, software design appears in 87 job postings indexed by Skillenai over the past 90 days — most often required for Software Engineer roles.
Last updated · 90d ending 2026-08-26
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Frequently asked questions about software design
+Is software design in demand in 2026?
Yes. software design appears in 87 job postings indexed by Skillenai over the 90 days ending 2026-08-26. It is most often required for Software Engineer roles (42% of Software Engineer postings list it).
+What jobs require software design?
According to the Skillenai jobs index over the 90 days ending 2026-08-26, the job titles most likely to require software design are Software Engineer (42% of postings list software design), Research Scientist (21% of postings list software design), Machine Learning Engineer (6% of postings list software design).
+What skills are commonly paired with software design?
Across job postings indexed by Skillenai (90 days ending 2026-08-26), software design most often appears alongside testing, Python, machine learning, optimization, algorithm implementation.
+Where is software design most in demand?
As of 2026-08-26, the metro areas posting the most jobs requiring software design are Broomfield, Fort Collins, Waltham, Costa Mesa, London, 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
Job titles most likely to require software design
| Role | Postings mentioning | % requiring |
|---|---|---|
| Software Engineer | 37 | 42.5% |
| Research Scientist | 18 | 20.7% |
| Machine Learning Engineer | 5 | 5.7% |
| Embedded Software Engineer | 3 | 3.4% |
| Flight Software Engineer | 3 | 3.4% |
| Application Systems Architect | 2 | 2.3% |
| Engineering Manager | 2 | 2.3% |
| Principal Engineer | 2 | 2.3% |
| AI Engineer | 1 | 1.1% |
| Backend Engineer | 1 | 1.1% |
Top metros hiring for software design
| Name | Postings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Broomfield | 9 | 10.3% |
| Fort Collins | 6 | 6.9% |
| Waltham | 6 | 6.9% |
| Costa Mesa | 5 | 5.7% |
| London | 5 | 5.7% |
| Austin | 3 | 3.4% |
| Denver | 3 | 3.4% |
| Huntsville | 3 | 3.4% |
| Hyderabad | 3 | 3.4% |
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 2026-08-26. 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
- f524ee1f5cf1eafc
- 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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