The Software Engineering Job Market in November 2026

GuideUpdated 8 November 20267 min read

The market is better than a year ago, but still tighter than before 2020. In the US, software job postings on Indeed are up about a quarter on a year ago, yet still 18% below February 2020. In the UK, Germany, France and Canada, they are lower still. Layoffs continue, and junior roles have it harder than senior ones.

The one thing to do: apply to fewer jobs, and make each CV match the posting in front of you. Postings are still well below their 2022 peak, so each one matters more: show the posting's main asks in your experience lines, not only in a skills list.

How we chose and checked

We make Resymetry, a CV checker, so we have an interest in people improving their CVs; every number below comes from a public source you can check.

For job postings we used Indeed Hiring Lab's job postings index, read on 8 November 2026, with data to 30 October 2026. It compares postings on Indeed with 1 February 2020 in each country. We also used CompTIA's October 2026 tech jobs report, which uses job ads collected by Lightcast and US government data.

For layoffs we used Challenger, Gray & Christmas's October 2026 report on announced US job cuts. We could not read the totals on Layoffs.fyi or TrueUp directly, so for Layoffs.fyi we used a Statista chart of its data from May 2026. For pay and remote work we used the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026.

For what postings ask for, we used our own count of 1,046 tech postings from 95 companies, read on 6 November 2026. Each source measures something different, so we say what each one counts. Where they disagree, we say so.

Are there more software jobs than a year ago?

Yes, in the US. Indeed's index of US software development postings stood at 81.6 on 30 October 2026. That means 18% fewer postings than on 1 February 2020, which is set to 100.

A year earlier, on 30 October 2025, it was 65.9. Its lowest point was 61.1 on 17 May 2025. The peak was 233.8 on 28 February 2022, so today's market is far from the 2022 boom.

Software still trails the wider US market. All US postings on Indeed stood at 103.8 on the same day, slightly above their 2020 level.

CompTIA's count points the same way. Using Lightcast job-ad data, it found 51,944 new software developer and engineer postings in October 2026, up 6.3% from September. Active tech postings of all kinds were 629,876, up 18.5% on a year earlier.

The longer view is steady growth. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 10% more jobs for software developers, testers and QA analysts from 2025 to 2035. It expects about 106,100 openings a year on average.

Source: FRED, Software Development Job Postings on Indeed in the United States (IHLIDXUSTPSOFTDEVE), read 8 November 2026; Indeed Hiring Lab, Job Postings Index data by country and sector (data to 30 October 2026), read 8 November 2026; CompTIA, Tech employment gains momentum in October (6 November 2026), read 8 November 2026; US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Software Developers, Quality Assurance Analysts, and Testers, read 8 November 2026

Where the jobs are: the US is recovering, Europe is not

The recovery is mostly American. Of the six countries where Indeed publishes software postings, the US rose most over the past year. The UK rose slightly; the other four fell.

Australia is back at its 2020 level, but it fell from 110.9 a year earlier. Canada fell from 79.9 to 75.7, Germany from 57.1 to 48.8, and France from 55.5 to 51.5. The UK edged up from 59.4 to 61.3.

If you can apply across borders, this matters. A search limited to Germany or France faces about half the postings of early 2020.

Software development job postings on Indeed, by country (Feb 2020 = 100)

Australia100
United States81.6
Canada75.7
United Kingdom61.3
France51.5
Germany48.8

Indeed job postings index on 30 October 2026, seasonally adjusted, 7-day average, rounded. Each bar compares a country with itself in February 2020; it is not a count of jobs, so it does not show which country has more postings. Postings on Indeed only.

Source: Indeed Hiring Lab, Job Postings Index data by country and sector (data to 30 October 2026), read 8 November 2026

Layoffs are still high, and so is hiring

Both are true at once. Challenger, Gray & Christmas counts job cuts that US-based employers announce. Tech companies announced 171,501 cuts from January to October 2026. That is 21% more than the 141,159 in the same months of 2025.

Tech made up 28% of all announced US cuts this year, more than any other industry. But October's 5,576 tech cuts were the lowest monthly total of 2026. These are announcements, not completed layoffs, and they include all jobs at tech companies, not only engineers.

Layoffs.fyi counts publicly reported tech job cuts worldwide. A Statista chart of its data put 2026 above 100,000 by early May, with about 81,700 in the first quarter alone. For comparison, 2023 passed 260,000. We could not read Layoffs.fyi's current total, so we do not quote one.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for IT workers was 2.8% in October 2026, against 4.1% for all US workers, says CompTIA's reading of government data. Monthly figures like this move around, so read it as a rough guide.

Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas, October Layoffs at Three-Year Low (5 November 2026), read 8 November 2026; Statista, Tech Layoff Wave Has Already Hit 100,000 Jobs This Year (Layoffs.fyi data, 12 May 2026), read 8 November 2026; CompTIA, Tech employment gains momentum in October (6 November 2026), read 8 November 2026

Junior roles have it harder than senior roles

Indeed Hiring Lab looked at US tech postings in July 2025. Postings asking for five or more years of experience rose from 37% to 42% between mid-2022 and mid-2025. Postings asking for two to four years fell from 46% to 40%.

By February 2025, senior and manager tech postings were 19% below February 2020. Standard and junior postings were 34% below. We found no newer published figures, so these are from 2025.

Our own count from November 2026 shows the same middle value. In 217 software engineer postings, 102 stated a number of years, and the middle value was five. Backend postings also centred on five years (56 of 88 stated a number).

Source: Indeed Hiring Lab, Experience Requirements Have Tightened Amid the Tech Hiring Freeze (30 July 2025), read 8 November 2026; Resymetry job-postings counts (CSV), read 6 November 2026

Remote work and pay

Remote work is common, but it depends on where you live. In the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026, 34.8% of 24,602 respondents work fully remote. The survey reports 48% in the USA and 21% in France.

Pay also depends heavily on country. The survey's median yearly pay, converted to US dollars, was $154,000 in the US, $96,333 in the UK, $94,315 in Canada and $85,296 in Germany. Respondents in those countries average 14 to 18 years of experience, so these medians lean senior.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median annual wage for software developers at $135,980 in May 2025. That is a count of all US software developers, not a survey of volunteers, so it is the safer US figure.

Source: Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: Work, read 8 November 2026; US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Software Developers, Quality Assurance Analysts, and Testers, read 8 November 2026

What employers ask for now

We read 1,046 tech postings from 95 companies' public job boards on 6 November 2026. Many state no number of years: fewer than half of software engineer postings (102 of 217) give one.

A degree is mentioned less often than people assume. 77 of 217 software engineer postings mention one, and 35 of those also accept equivalent experience. Only 12 of 87 DevOps postings mention a degree.

Our sample leans towards larger tech companies and the US: 121 of the 217 software engineer postings were in the US. Read it as what these employers name, not as rules every employer applies.

Source: Resymetry job-postings counts (CSV), read 6 November 2026

What to do in this market

No step below can promise an interview. They make your CV easier to read against the job you want, which matters more when each role draws more applicants.

Apply to fewer roles, and tailor your CV to each one. Put the posting's main asks in your experience lines, not only in a skills list.
Make your years easy to count: clear dates on every role, newest first. Many postings ask for about five years.
If you are junior, lead with projects and work that show the posting's skills in use, with a result for each.
If your country's market is weak, check whether you can apply to remote roles or other countries. US postings are recovering faster than European ones.
Show production work people forget: monitoring, on-call, incidents you fixed. They are named often in postings.
Before you apply, compare your CV with the actual posting. Resymetry's free check reads both and quotes the lines that match or are missing.

Source: Indeed Hiring Lab, Job Postings Index data by country and sector (data to 30 October 2026), read 8 November 2026; Indeed Hiring Lab, Experience Requirements Have Tightened Amid the Tech Hiring Freeze (30 July 2025), read 8 November 2026; Resymetry job-postings counts (CSV), read 6 November 2026

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Questions people ask

Is the software engineering job market getting better?

In the US, yes: Indeed's software postings index rose from 65.9 to 81.6 in the year to 30 October 2026, and CompTIA counted 18.5% more active tech postings than a year earlier. It is still 18% below February 2020. In the UK, Germany, France and Canada, postings are lower still, and only the UK rose over the year, slightly.

Is it hard to get a software engineering job right now?

Harder than before 2020, especially for juniors. In 2025, Indeed found junior tech postings 34% below their 2020 level against 19% for senior ones. Where postings state years, the middle value in our November 2026 count was five.

Source: Indeed Hiring Lab, Experience Requirements Have Tightened Amid the Tech Hiring Freeze (30 July 2025), read 8 November 2026; Resymetry job-postings counts (CSV), read 6 November 2026

Are tech layoffs still happening?

Yes. US tech companies announced 171,501 job cuts from January to October 2026, 21% more than a year earlier, though October's 5,576 was the lowest month of the year. Layoffs.fyi's worldwide count passed 100,000 by early May 2026.

Is it a good time to switch to software engineering?

The long-term outlook is growth: the US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 10% more jobs from 2025 to 2035, with about 106,100 openings a year. The short term is harder for newcomers, because postings shifted towards five or more years of experience between 2022 and 2025.

Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Software Developers, Quality Assurance Analysts, and Testers, read 8 November 2026; Indeed Hiring Lab, Experience Requirements Have Tightened Amid the Tech Hiring Freeze (30 July 2025), read 8 November 2026

Are remote software engineering jobs still common?

Among developers, yes: 34.8% of Stack Overflow's 2026 survey respondents work fully remote. It varies by country, from 48% in the USA to 21% in France.

Source: Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: Work, read 8 November 2026

Which countries have the most software job openings compared with before?

Of the six countries Indeed publishes, Australia was back at its February 2020 level on 30 October 2026, and the US was at 81.6. The UK was at 61.3, France at 51.5 and Germany at 48.8.