Artificial intelligence’s steadfast advance across industries is continuing to drive both a demand for professionals with specialized AI skillsets and increasing uncertainty in the overall job market as roles are recalibrated and organizational priorities shift.
The U.S. AI job market continued its steady expansion in the third quarter of 2025, with the total number of open positions rising by more than 5,000 in July-September compared to Q2. In addition, the median salary for these positions has also continued to rise, albeit at a slower rate than that of quarters past.
The Veritone Hire team worked with Aspen Tech Labs to dig in specifically on the types of AI-focused roles witnessing the strongest growth. What we found reflects what we’re seeing across the AI space as a whole: As pressure on C-suite leaders to prove ROI on AI investments increases, organizations are prioritizing roles for leaders who can architect strategies for integration and apply these technologies to drive real organizational impact.
AI job growth increases Q2Q, significantly outpacing the broader labor market
The overall labor market is continuing to contract, following Q2’s 7.2% decline with an even steeper 25.3% decrease in the monthly rate of new openings in Q3, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)1. While data for September is unavailable due to the government shutdown, the average of 47,500 new jobs added across July and August is down significantly from the to-date annual average of 73,000.
At the same time, Aspen Tech Labs (ATL) data reports a 14.2% rise in AI-related jobs over the same span, with 42,051 openings reported in Q3. This expansion represents an encouraging reversal from the previous quarter, when AI job growth had slowed to a mere 3.9% from Q1. The Q3 total is also 38.6% higher than Q3 2024’s total of 30,348, and a whopping 83% above the 22,982 AI jobs vacant in the same quarter of 2023.
Once again, the top five leading employers for AI-related roles in Q3 2025 were all technology companies. Also among the top 10 for the second consecutive quarter were JPMorgan Chase and Walmart (the former holding the number-six spot with 322 positions), indicating a sustained demand for expertise in operatiaonal transformation.
The top three AI employers, listed below, have remained consistent throughout 2025:
- Amazon: 1,004 live roles
- Apple: 698 roles
- TikTok: 654 roles
AI deployment roles surge as research positions contract
Building on the trend noted in the second quarter of 2025, the number of roles associated with the design and implementation of AI systems has continued to rise. The most significant of these was the title of AI/ML Architect, with the number of openings nearly doubling year-over-year from 734 to 1,444. While still just a tenth of the 14,045 jobs posted for AI/ML Engineer, the demand for higher-level systems architecture expertise is indicative of a broader focus on big-picture, long-term strategy as organizations seek to deepen their enterprise transformations.
The role with the most positions, Data Scientist, grew by 5.9% to 15,168 since Q3, reversing the 4.4% contraction in job count between the first two quarters of the year. Similarly, the number of postings for Big Data Engineers expanded by nearly 15% since early summer. While both are still down by roughly 3% compared to last year at this time, the enduring demand for these positions is consistent with the vital role data plays in AI systems.
Overall, the three highest-growth positions in Q3 have also seen the most openings over the course of the past year:
- AI/ML Architect: +55.9% QoQ increase, +96.7% YoY increase in job postings
- AI/ML Engineer: +18.5% QoQ, +59.9% YoY
- Product/Project Manager: +17.8% QoQ, +41.2 YoY
The only AI-related job title to record a decrease in openings from Q2 to Q3 was AI/ML Researcher, falling by 9% from 606 to 551. This is the second consecutive quarter of decline for this title, following the more precipitous drop of 19.8% between the first two quarters of 2025.
Interestingly, while the number of research jobs has decreased, the salary for these roles has risen the most sharply of all AI-related positions, growing by 24.2% since Q2 and 31.4% over the past year. At $187,491, the AI/ML Researcher position now has the highest median salary of the six AI-related job categories in the study.
These trends further point to the industry’s arrival at a maturity plateau where more hands are needed to implement existing solutions, while fewer, more expert workers are being sought to drive further innovation.
Compensation remains high as the market continues to spread to non-traditional geographies
The ascendant emphasis on AI as a game-changing technology is reflected in the significantly higher compensation that AI-related jobs continue to offer relative to their traditional IT counterparts. For the second consecutive quarter, AI-related jobs recorded a 27% higher median salary than non-AI IT roles at $166,400 and $130,291, respectively. At the same time, the pay gap between AI and non-AI software developer positions shrank slightly since early summer, as the former’s salary fell by 2.5% from $169,343 to $165,006. Whether this is an anomalous dip or the start of a trend remains to be seen.
Continuing a trend observed in Q2, the market for AI jobs is spreading beyond the traditional technology epicenters of California, New York, Texas, and Washington—a movement illustrative of AI’s deepening permeation across industries. While these hub states maintained steady growth rates of 6.6% to 19.6% since Q2, the largest growth was observed in Oklahoma, which saw openings nearly double from 61 to 116 over the last three months. Rounding out the top-five highest growth states were Michigan (+40.5%), District of Columbia (32.4%), Missouri (29.1%), and Utah (24.9%).
Taken as a whole, the Q3 2025 labor market analysis paints a picture of the increasing ubiquity of AI, coupled with an increased focus on the application and long-term ROI of this technology. Job creation remains steady as businesses seek out those with the expertise and technical leadership to drive transformative change, as the directive to talent acquisition leaders shifts from theory to practice.
1Data from:
