Cloud platforms and foundational infrastructure tools remain among the most frequently requested skills in U.S. technology job postings, according to a new analysis by web intelligence company Oxylabs.
The study examined roughly 850,000 U.S. tech job postings published between January 2025 and March 2026. AWS appeared in 30% of all postings, followed by Microsoft Azure at 24%, Git at 21%, Excel at 15%, Google Cloud Platform and Kubernetes at 14% each, Docker at 13%, Power BI at 9%, Terraform at 8%, and Tableau at 7%.
Nearly 42% of the analyzed listings required knowledge of at least one major cloud platform, while AWS and Azure were the most frequently co-mentioned pair, appearing together in 15% of job descriptions.
Infrastructure accounts for the largest share of tool demand
Across the five broad tool categories analyzed, Data Storage and Infrastructure tools accounted for 47% of all tool mentions. This category was driven primarily by AWS, Azure, and GCP, while DevOps and Developer Experience tools such as Git, Docker, Kubernetes, and Terraform accounted for another 30%.
Business Intelligence and Analytics tools, including Power BI, Tableau, and Looker, represented 18% of mentions. Data Ingestion and Transformation tools such as dbt, Fivetran, Kafka, and Airbyte accounted for 4%, while Orchestration and Observability tools such as Airflow made up 1%.
“The picture we saw after analyzing close to a million job postings largely confirms what experienced developers would guess: cloud, infrastructure, and data skills are in high demand,” said Andrius Kūkšta, tech lead at Oxylabs. He added that cloud platforms and DevOps tooling appeared even more prominently in job ads than survey-based rankings might suggest, while some highly visible emerging skills appeared less often.
Hiring activity rises despite broader market turbulence
The dataset also showed a sharp increase in hiring activity during the first quarter of 2026, which accounted for 39% of all listings analyzed. Oxylabs said this represented 3.7 times more activity than during the same period a year earlier.
Software engineering roles made up the largest share of postings at 38%, followed by Data Science and AI/ML at 14%, Tech and Engineering Management at 14%, and DevOps and Cloud roles at 12%. The findings suggest that while specialized AI and data roles remain important, employer demand continues to lean heavily toward infrastructure, deployment, and broadly applicable technical foundations.
“Chasing the most ‘advanced’ or talked-about tools without building cloud fundamentals first is a risky strategy,” Kūkšta said. “The data suggests professionals should first identify their target role category, then master the toolset specific to that path.”
Regional differences shape cloud demand
California accounted for 13% of total posting volume, followed by Texas at 8% and New York at 5%. Virginia, however, stood out on a per-capita basis, with nearly three times as many tech jobs as the national average, which Oxylabs linked to the state’s large concentration of data centers serving major cloud providers.
AWS was the most requested cloud platform across most states, while Azure led in a smaller group of Upper Midwest and Southern states, including Minnesota, Indiana, and Tennessee. Oxylabs associated this pattern with regional enterprise ties in sectors such as manufacturing and healthcare.
Tech demand extends beyond the technology sector
The core technology sector generated 45% of the analyzed job listings, but demand for cloud and infrastructure skills also extended into other industries. Professional services accounted for 17% of hiring demand, while finance and manufacturing each represented 8%.
Media and entertainment also appeared as an active recruiter for cloud-native talent, with employers frequently seeking AWS and Git skills for digital production workflows. The findings point to a broader shift in which cloud and infrastructure capabilities are becoming relevant across industries rather than remaining confined to traditional technology companies.
In Summary
Oxylabs’ analysis of roughly 850,000 U.S. tech job postings found that AWS, Azure, Git, Kubernetes, Docker, and other cloud and infrastructure tools dominate employer demand. Nearly 42% of postings required at least one major cloud platform, while infrastructure and DevOps tools together accounted for 77% of all tool mentions analyzed. The research suggests that professionals may benefit from building strong cloud and infrastructure fundamentals before prioritizing more specialized or highly publicized tools.