This is the fastest-growing job for young workers, LinkedIn says
While the rise of artificial intelligence fuels concern about technology taking away jobs, AI is also paving the way for new careers, according to LinkedIn.
The fastest-growing job title for young workers on the networking platform is “AI engineer,” according to a recent company report. LinkedIn analyzed millions of member profiles to determine how many entry-level workers were hired in the past three years and what positions they were hired for.
“This measures the momentum of these job titles,” said Kory Kantenga, head of Americas economics at LinkedIn. “Companies are gorging themselves on AI talent.”
Between 2023 and 2025, LinkedIn added 639,000 AI-related job postings in the United States, of which 75,000 were AI engineering positions.
What is an AI engineer?
According to LinkedIn, AI engineer is the fastest growing job title among young people for the second year in a row. The role’s responsibilities are broad, but typically involve building and running AI products, including AI agents and Large Language Models (LLM), and integrating them into a company’s workflow.
“Ultimately, it’s about building models, which means they build something that can make a decision, make inferences or identify patterns, and then they need to be able to evaluate those models and update them accordingly,” Kantenga explained.
The technology industry hires the most AI engineers, followed by financial services, according to Kantenga. A LinkedIn search for entry-level AI engineers also reveals job postings from defense contractors, universities and consulting firms. Employers hiring for this role present it as an opportunity to “solve business challenges,” “improve efficiencies,” and “eliminate repetitive manual labor,” according to job descriptions on LinkedIn.
Young Americans may need help finding jobs. The unemployment rate for people aged 20 to 24 was 6.4% in March, well above the overall U.S. rate of 4.3%, according to government data. Although the unemployment rate is generally higher for entry-level workers, some data suggests that some employers may be choose to plug in AI rather than hiring younger, less experienced employees.
After ChatGPT launched in 2022, jobs involving structured, repetitive tasks fell by 13%, according to a recent Harvard Business School study.
Today, young people often say they are applying for hundreds of jobs before succeeding in landing a role. Between December 2025 and February 2026, hiring for entry-level positions in the United States fell 6% compared to the same period the previous year, LinkedIn found.
“Getting started and entering the workforce right now probably requires some AI aptitude, or AI knowledge, to move forward,” Kantenga said, “because companies are increasingly looking for people who can bring those skills to their business, help them grow and figure out what they want to do and what the best use cases for AI are.”
