data annotation jobs in 2026 — demand, top roles hiring, and related skills
As of 2026-09-30, data annotation appears in 609 job postings indexed by Skillenai over the past 90 days — AI Trainer has the most postings mentioning data annotation.
Last updated · 90d ending 2026-09-30
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Frequently asked questions about data annotation
+Is data annotation in demand in 2026?
Yes. data annotation appears in 609 job postings indexed by Skillenai over the 90 days ending 2026-09-30. AI Trainer accounts for the most postings mentioning data annotation (5.4% of all postings mentioning data annotation).
+What jobs require data annotation?
According to the Skillenai jobs index over the 90 days ending 2026-09-30, among roles with at least 20 postings, the highest shares mentioning data annotation are AI Quality Analyst (91.7% of that role’s postings mention data annotation), Data Labeling Analyst (80.8% of that role’s postings mention data annotation), AI Response Evaluator (70.4% of that role’s postings mention data annotation).
+What skills are commonly paired with data annotation?
Across job postings indexed by Skillenai (90 days ending 2026-09-30), data annotation most often appears alongside data labeling, quality assurance, Python, model evaluation, machine learning.
+Where is data annotation most in demand?
As of 2026-09-30, the metro areas posting the most jobs requiring data annotation are Leisure World, Mountain View, Bucharest, San Francisco, London, according to the Skillenai jobs index.
+How can I keep up with new data annotation content and jobs?
Skillenai indexes news, blog posts, and research papers mentioning data annotation alongside the jobs index. You can subscribe to a daily email digest of new data annotation content from your Skillenai account.
+Which skills come before and after data annotation?
The skill-flow chart shows skills documented in adjacent positions across observed employer changes. An outgoing skill is documented in the following position but not the preceding one. These are ideas to explore, not proven prerequisites, acquisition dates, or levels of mastery. Each ribbon counts employer moves with that skill pair; one move can contribute several pairs.
Weekly indexed postings requiring data annotation — last 90 days
Salary distribution
Box = 25th–75th percentile · tick = median · whisker = 10th–90th · USD, annualized
Career paths around data annotation
Skills documented before and after this skill across employer changes.
Historical career profiles · all locations
Skills before data annotation
Skills after data annotation
How to read this chart · view counts
Each side is an independent set of observed employer moves, not the same people followed through three stages. Ribbon widths compare move counts within that side. Internal moves are not included.
The following position documents a skill that the preceding position does not. Skills must be linked to both positions, with clear dates and no overlap. One move can connect several skill pairs. These patterns suggest skills to explore; they do not establish prerequisites, when a skill was learned, or a higher skill level.
Source: Skillenai talent graph, historical career profiles. Historical descriptions and coverage can change. Only the leading published connections are shown.
| Connection | Moves |
|---|---|
| Before: python | 3 |
| Before: sql | 3 |
| Before: data governance | 2 |
| Before: Instagram | 2 |
| Before: system management | 1 |
| Before: audiovisual (A/V) equipment | 1 |
| Before: scikit-learn | 1 |
| Before: Access controls | 1 |
| After: python | 2 |
| After: sql | 2 |
| After: Modao | 1 |
| After: AUC | 1 |
| After: a/b testing | 1 |
| After: robustness | 1 |
| After: MYSQL | 1 |
| After: RESTful web APIs | 1 |
Roles most likely to require data annotation
Among roles with at least 20 postings in the same period.
| Role | Postings mentioning skill | % of role postings mentioning skill |
|---|---|---|
| AI Quality Analyst | 22 | 91.7% |
| Data Labeling Analyst | 21 | 80.8% |
| AI Response Evaluator | 19 | 70.4% |
| Generative AI Analyst | 14 | 66.7% |
| AI Training Specialist | 8 | 20.5% |
| AI Evaluation Expert | 5 | 13.9% |
| Quality Assurance Lead | 12 | 13.3% |
| AI Evaluator | 3 | 11.1% |
| Perception Engineer | 2 | 10.0% |
| AI Training Expert | 6 | 9.2% |
Roles with the most data annotation postings
| Role | Postings mentioning skill | Share of skill postings |
|---|---|---|
| AI Trainer | 33 | 5.4% |
| AI Quality Analyst | 22 | 3.6% |
| Data Labeling Analyst | 21 | 3.4% |
| AI Response Evaluator | 19 | 3.1% |
| Software Engineer | 18 | 3.0% |
| Generative AI Analyst | 14 | 2.3% |
| Quality Assurance Lead | 12 | 2.0% |
| AI Evaluation Specialist | 10 | 1.6% |
| Data Quality Assurance Analyst | 10 | 1.6% |
| Technical Program Manager | 10 | 1.6% |
Top companies posting jobs requiring data annotation
Employers ranked by indexed job postings in the last 90 days.
| Company | Postings · 90 days |
|---|---|
| OpenBrain | 207 |
| Rws | 24 |
| Weloglobal | 23 |
| Welo Data | 23 |
| TikTok | 20 |
| Neura Robotics | 9 |
| Nuro | 8 |
| Mercor | 8 |
| Innodata | 7 |
| Globalcareers-rws | 6 |
Job postings indexed over the past 90 days, grouped by resolved employer. Counts are postings, not hires. Companies without a published page appear without a link.
Top metros hiring for data annotation
| Name | Postings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Leisure World | 19 | 3.1% |
| Mountain View | 19 | 3.1% |
| Bucharest | 18 | 3.0% |
| San Francisco | 13 | 2.1% |
| London | 10 | 1.6% |
| New York City | 8 | 1.3% |
| San Jose | 8 | 1.3% |
| Sunnyvale | 8 | 1.3% |
| Palo Alto | 7 | 1.1% |
Skills commonly paired with data annotation
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How this was computed
Counts derive from the Skillenai jobs index over the 90 days ending 2026-09-30. Skills are resolved against the Skillenai canonical taxonomy, so the same entity is counted whether a posting writes 'Python', 'Python 3', or 'python'. Role prevalence divides postings mentioning data annotation by all postings for each role in the same window, ranking roles with at least 20 postings. Role distribution divides each role’s data annotation postings by all data annotation postings, including postings without a role. Shares need not sum to 100% for the displayed roles. Pages refresh weekly (or daily for the top-50 most-requested skills). An adjusted trend is not shown because comparable posting coverage is insufficient.
- source
- Skillenai jobs index, deduplicated daily
- entity_id
- a7ccce47304a1548
- data_as_of
- 2026-09-30
- window_days
- 90
The demand, skills, and geo numbers on this page come from the same Skillenai labor market index that powers our API. Use it for compensation benchmarking, hiring-competition analysis, and skill-adoption tracking.
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