Jan 12, 2026
Vlad
Author
Imagine waking up in 2026 and the job market doesn’t look like the job market you knew in 2019. It feels… different. Faster. More unpredictable. More alive. That’s exactly the story LinkedIn is telling us with its Jobs on the Rise 2026 list, the annual snapshot of the 25 fastest-growing roles in the U.S. over the past three years.
And when we say fastest-growing, we don’t mean the jobs where most people work. We mean the ones that are ballooning in demand, that are reshaping industries, and that are rewriting what it looks like to have a “career”
AI Jobs Are No Longer Emerging, They’re Foundational
For the second year in a row, Artificial Intelligence (AI) roles dominate the top of LinkedIn’s fastest-growing jobs list. AI engineers sit at the top of LinkedIn’s fastest-growing jobs for 2026. That alone doesn’t raise eyebrows anymore. What matters is what comes next.
According to Bloomberg and Business Insider reporting, AI roles including data annotators and AI/Machine Learning researchers occupy multiple spots in the top five fastest-growing jobs. This cluster reflects a demand spectrum from technical engineering to strategy deployment.
LinkedIn’s broader research shows the same pattern globally. AI engineering roles are growing rapidly in markets like the UK, Singapore, and parts of Europe. The tools may be universal, but the need for people who can interpret and apply them is local and growing fast.
The Job Market Isn’t Just Tech, It’s Blended
While AI roles dominate the top of the list, LinkedIn’s data also highlights growth in non-technical but highly specialized professions, including:
New Home Sales Specialists
Healthcare Reimbursement Specialists
Strategic Advisors and Independent Consultants
These roles point to a labour market that is not being replaced by technology but reconfigured by it.
Healthcare and housing remain deeply human industries, yet they increasingly require administrative, regulatory, and analytical expertise. Meanwhile, the rise of consultants and advisors reflects how organisations are accessing expertise, often on a flexible, project-based basis rather than through traditional employment structures.
This tells us that the future of work isn’t about replacing industries with technology. It’s about reshaping them. Housing still needs people. Healthcare still needs people. But both now demand more specialized knowledge, clearer systems, and better coordination.
“Founder” as a Job Title Is More Than It Seems
This is wild if you think about it. “Founder” as a role is one of the 25 fastest-growing titles on LinkedIn’s list.
It means enough people are identifying this way and being recognized this way.
In the past, entrepreneurship was something you did. Today, it’s something the market counts as a job category because so many people are responding to uncertainty not by searching for jobs but by creating them. Freelancing, bespoke consulting, micro-entrepreneurship… the traditional structure of “employee” vs. “employer” is blurring.
The Confidence Gap
Alongside the job rankings, LinkedIn’s research found a striking dynamic at play among workers. In a November 2025 LinkedIn survey, 56 percent of workers said they planned to look for a new job in 2026. Yet at the same time, 76 percent said they did not feel prepared for the new types of roles emerging.
This tension points to a deeper labor-market reality: opportunity and uncertainty are growing simultaneously. The skills needed for the most rapidly expanding roles particularly in AI and hybrid technical/strategic positions are not yet widespread in the workforce, leaving many professionals unsure of how to shift into these new arenas.
People sense opportunity. They just aren’t sure how to step into it yet.
What the Fastest-Growing Jobs in 2026 Mean for the Future of Work
The dominance of AI roles in LinkedIn’s report is not an isolated finding. Broader labour market analyses, such as the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report, highlight similar patterns where technology-driven roles rise sharply and require a new blend of technical expertise and domain knowledge.
Moreover, projections from the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics indicate that demand for research and computer science roles will continue to outpace national averages, reflecting a sustained need for technological innovation and development.
It’s also important to distinguish between fastest-growing jobs and largest job categories. Rapid growth does not always mean high volume. However, growth rates do indicate momentum where companies are investing and experimenting.
Across LinkedIn’s list, a consistent pattern emerges:
The fastest-growing roles sit at intersections.
Between technology and business
Between systems and people
Between structure and flexibility
These roles reward adaptability over static credentials and application over theory.
Careers are shifting away from fixed titles and toward adaptable paths. The most durable roles are the ones that evolve with the environment around them.
If there’s one lesson in the data, it’s this: the future of work belongs to people who can move between worlds and make sense of what’s changing as they go.