FDE Skills Demand Matrix — What Employers Are Looking For
Data snapshot: Aug 20, 2026 · 150 verified postings · Last reviewed: Aug 21, 2026
Bottom line: System Design is the most in-demand skill, appearing in 76 of 138 postings with skill data (55%). Across 34 unique skills, employers are looking for a mix of systems thinking, AI/ML literacy, and customer-facing skills.
Overview
34
Unique Skills
distinct skills found
406
Total Mentions
across all postings
138
Jobs with Skills
of 150 total
10
Skill Categories
Top 20 Skills
| # | Skill | Category | Mentions | % of Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | System Design | Production Engineering | 76 | 55% |
| 2 | LLM / AI Systems | Data & AI/ML | 41 | 30% |
| 3 | Data Pipelines | Data & AI/ML | 38 | 28% |
| 4 | Scala | Programming | 32 | 23% |
| 5 | Cloud Infrastructure | Production Engineering | 22 | 16% |
| 6 | Security | Delivery & Operations | 20 | 14% |
| 7 | AI Agents | Data & AI/ML | 18 | 13% |
| 8 | Customer Success | Customer-Facing | 18 | 13% |
| 9 | Apache Spark | Data & AI/ML | 18 | 13% |
| 10 | Solution Architecture | Solution Design | 17 | 12% |
| 11 | AWS | Cloud & Infrastructure | 16 | 12% |
| 12 | React | System Design | 9 | 7% |
| 13 | Data Platform | Domain Knowledge | 8 | 6% |
| 14 | Developer Tools | Domain Knowledge | 7 | 5% |
| 15 | Node.js | System Design | 7 | 5% |
| 16 | Monitoring & Observability | System Design | 6 | 4% |
| 17 | SQL | AI Data Systems | 6 | 4% |
| 18 | Enterprise AI | Domain Knowledge | 6 | 4% |
| 19 | Onboarding | Customer-Facing | 4 | 3% |
| 20 | Python | Programming | 4 | 3% |
Skills by Category
Data & AI/ML
5 skills · 116 mentionsAI Data Systems
2 skills · 7 mentionsProduction Engineering
3 skills · 99 mentionsSystem Design
4 skills · 25 mentionsProgramming
6 skills · 45 mentionsCloud & Infrastructure
3 skills · 22 mentionsSolution Design
1 skills · 17 mentionsCustomer-Facing
3 skills · 26 mentionsDelivery & Operations
3 skills · 25 mentionsDomain Knowledge
4 skills · 24 mentionsMethodology
Skills are extracted from job descriptions using keyword matching during the FDE Radar data collection pipeline. Each skill is tagged with a category (e.g., Programming, Cloud, AI/ML) for grouping.
- →Extraction: Keyword-based skill identification from job descriptions and requirements sections
- →Categorization: Skills mapped to 10 categories based on domain (AI/ML, Programming, Cloud, etc.)
- →Counting: Each skill mention in a unique job posting counts once (no double-counting within the same posting)
Limitations
- • Only 138 of 150 postings have extractable skill data — 12 postings had no skills_json field
- • Skill extraction uses keyword matching — skills described with non-standard terminology may be missed
- • The sample is biased toward companies using Greenhouse, Lever, or Ashby — other platforms may have different skill patterns
- • Skills listed in postings represent employer preferences, not minimum requirements — actual hiring bars may differ
- • Category assignments are automated and may not perfectly reflect the nature of each skill
Data Snapshot
- Snapshot generated
- 2026-08-20T16:33:08Z
- Source last checked
- 2026-08-20T16:33:08Z
- Source status
- ok
- Stale after
- 72 hours
Citation
FDE Instinct. "FDE Skills Demand Matrix — What Employers Are Looking For." Aug 21, 2026. https://fdeinstinct.com/research/fde-skills-demand. Accessed Sep 10, 2026.
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