Top 10 fastest growing jobs in the US

LinkedIn recently released its third annual report on emerging jobs in the US. Titled U.S. Emerging Jobs Report, the report focuses on jobs that showed an upward growth in the past five years. LinkedIn looked at the job growth rate in each sector in terms of hiring over the past five years and calculated the average to come up with the emerging jobs list. This post will focus on the top 10 jobs in the US.

The report also talks about the unique skill sets required for each job as well as the industries hiring for such jobs. Artificial intelligence and data science are two careers that seem to dominate every industry while perennial careers such as engineering and sales continue to be in demand.

Here is a look at the top 10 jobs with details of average salaries and top industries hiring for this role. This information will help if you are looking at a work overseas opportunity.

1. Artificial Intelligence specialist:

The hiring growth rate for this role for the past four years stands at 74%.  The average annual salary for this role stands at USD 136,000. The skills unique to this role are Machine learning, Deep learning, Python etc.

The top industries that hire for this role are information technology and services, consumer electronics, higher education, computer software and the internet.

2. Robotics engineer:

The hiring growth rate for this role in the past four years stands at 40%. The average annual salary is USD 85,000. Top industries hiring for this role include IT services, financial services and the automotive industry.

Careers in this field can be either in software and hardware roles and engineers get opportunities to work on both virtual and physical bots.

3. Data scientist:

Showing an annual hiring growth rate of 37%, the average annual salary for this role is USD 143,000. The top industries hiring for this role are IT services, computer software, financial services and higher education.

4. Full-stack engineer:

The average annual growth rate for this role stands at 35%. The role gets an average salary of USD 82,000 per year. The top industries hiring for this role are IT services, computer software, higher education, and financial services.

5. Site reliability engineer:

There will always be a demand for this role as long as we use technology in our daily lives. Moreover, the skills in this role are transferable to other roles like Cloud engineer or Full-Stack engineer. The average hiring growth rate in the past four years is at 34%. The average pay for this role is USD 130,000 per year.

6. Customer success specialist:

Fueled by the growth of technology that requires hands-on support, this role requires a combination of both hard skills and soft skills. Professionals will have to understand the technology and handle customer relations. The skills unique to this job are SaaS, CRM, Account management.

The average annual growth rate stands at 34% while the average annual salary stands at USD 90,000 per year.  Apart from IT and software, industries hiring for these jobs include marketing and advertising and financial services.

7. Sales development representative:

The growth of technology services which rely on sales development representatives to find new customers is responsible for the growth of this role. The skills unique to this job are cold calling and lead generation.

The average annual hiring growth rate for this role stands at 34%. The average pay is USD 60,000 per year.

8. Data engineer:

Since data has become an asset of companies, they need data engineers who can help to keep it organized. They are required in a wide range of industries from retail to automotive to hospital and healthcare services.

The average hiring growth rate stands at 33% while the average annual pay is USD 100,000 per year. 

9. Behavioral health technician:

With increased insurance coverage available for mental health, there is an increased demand for behavioral health technicians. These professionals have experience working with individuals with autism or behavioral disorders.

The top industries hiring for this role are hospital and healthcare, mental health care, education management etc.

The average annual hiring growth rate since 2015 stands at 32% while the average annual pay stands at USD 33,000 per year.

10. Cybersecurity specialist:

The increasing incidence of data breaches has fueled the growth of this job role. The skills unique to this role are cybersecurity, information security, network security etc. The top industries hiring for this role are defense and space, financial services, computer network and security etc.

The average hiring growth rate since 2015 stands at 30% while the average annual pay stands at USD 103,000 per year.

Most of the roles in the above list are concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Boston, Washington D.C., Chicago and Seattle. Majority of job roles are in engineering, technology and data sciences.