Natural language processing jobs in 2026 — demand, top roles hiring, and related skills

As of 2026-09-30, Natural language processing appears in 1,109 job postings indexed by Skillenai over the past 90 days — Software Engineer has the most postings mentioning Natural language processing.

Last updated · 90d ending 2026-09-30

Postings · last 90 days
1,109
Top role · 26.1% of skill postings
Top hiring metro
New York City

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Frequently asked questions about Natural language processing

+Is Natural language processing in demand in 2026?

Yes. Natural language processing appears in 1,109 job postings indexed by Skillenai over the 90 days ending 2026-09-30. Software Engineer accounts for the most postings mentioning Natural language processing (26.1% of all postings mentioning Natural language processing).

+What jobs require Natural language processing?

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 Natural language processing are AI / ML Engineer (25.5% of that role’s postings mention Natural language processing), Applied Research Scientist (15.4% of that role’s postings mention Natural language processing), Quantitative Research Intern (12.5% of that role’s postings mention Natural language processing).

+What skills are commonly paired with Natural language processing?

Across job postings indexed by Skillenai (90 days ending 2026-09-30), Natural language processing most often appears alongside machine learning, Python, information retrieval, security, networking.

+Where is Natural language processing most in demand?

As of 2026-09-30, the metro areas posting the most jobs requiring Natural language processing are New York City, London, San Francisco, Warsaw, Seattle, according to the Skillenai jobs index.

+How can I keep up with new Natural language processing content and jobs?

Skillenai indexes news, blog posts, and research papers mentioning Natural language processing alongside the jobs index. You can subscribe to a daily email digest of new Natural language processing content from your Skillenai account.

+Which skills come before and after Natural language processing?

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 Natural language processing — last 90 days

Salary distribution

Box = 25th–75th percentile · tick = median · whisker = 10th–90th · USD, annualized

Career paths around Natural language processing

Skills documented before and after this skill across employer changes.

Historical career profiles · all locations

Skills before Natural language processing

Before Natural language processingpython → Natural language processing: 27 observed employer moves with this skill pairsql → Natural language processing: 19 observed employer moves with this skill pairJava → Natural language processing: 8 observed employer moves with this skill pairPower BI → Natural language processing: 7 observed employer moves with this skill pairtensorflow → Natural language processing: 7 observed employer moves with this skill pairmachine learning → Natural language processing: 7 observed employer moves with this skill pairTableau → Natural language processing: 6 observed employer moves with this skill pairR → Natural language processing: 6 observed employer moves with this skill pairNaturallanguageprocessingpython: 27 movespython27 movessql: 19 movessql19 movesJava: 8 movesJava8 movesPower BI: 7 movesPower BI7 movestensorflow: 7 movestensorflow7 movesmachine learning: 7 movesmachine learning7 movesTableau: 6 movesTableau6 movesR: 6 movesR6 moves

Skills after Natural language processing

After Natural language processingNatural language processing → python: 23 observed employer moves with this skill pairNatural language processing → sql: 16 observed employer moves with this skill pairNatural language processing → Tableau: 8 observed employer moves with this skill pairNatural language processing → machine learning: 8 observed employer moves with this skill pairNatural language processing → Power BI: 8 observed employer moves with this skill pairNatural language processing → R: 7 observed employer moves with this skill pairNatural language processing → Java: 7 observed employer moves with this skill pairNatural language processing → NLP: 6 observed employer moves with this skill pairNaturallanguageprocessingpython: 23 movespython23 movessql: 16 movessql16 movesTableau: 8 movesTableau8 movesmachine learning: 8 movesmachine learning8 movesPower BI: 8 movesPower BI8 movesR: 7 movesR7 movesJava: 7 movesJava7 movesNLP: 6 movesNLP6 moves
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.

Observed connections and move counts
ConnectionMoves
Before: python27
Before: sql19
Before: Java8
Before: Power BI7
Before: tensorflow7
Before: machine learning7
Before: Tableau6
Before: R6
After: python23
After: sql16
After: Tableau8
After: machine learning8
After: Power BI8
After: R7
After: Java7
After: NLP6

Roles most likely to require Natural language processing

Among roles with at least 20 postings in the same period.

RolePostings mentioning skill% of role postings mentioning skill
AI / ML Engineer1325.5%
Applied Research Scientist415.4%
Quantitative Research Intern312.5%
AI Product Designer312.0%
Applied AI Scientist310.3%
Clinical Data Analyst29.1%
Technical Success Manager28.0%
Data Science Director46.9%
AI Analyst26.9%
Machine Learning Scientist96.4%

Roles with the most Natural language processing postings

RolePostings mentioning skillShare of skill postings
Software Engineer29026.1%
Data Scientist14813.3%
Machine Learning Engineer1009.0%
AI Engineer514.6%
Software Engineering Manager383.4%
ML Engineer322.9%
Product Manager161.4%
Applied Scientist151.4%
AI / ML Engineer131.2%
Data Analyst121.1%

Top companies posting jobs requiring Natural language processing

Employers ranked by indexed job postings in the last 90 days.

Top companies posting jobs requiring Natural language processing
CompanyPostings · 90 days
Google255
Accenture45
Cisco16
Bah13
Visa12
Anyone-ai12
Elsevier10
LinkedIn10
ServiceNow10
JJ9

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 Natural language processing

NamePostingsShare
New York City373.3%
London282.5%
San Francisco242.2%
Warsaw242.2%
Seattle222.0%
Bengaluru201.8%
Mountain View151.4%
Arlington131.2%
Washington121.1%

Skills commonly paired with Natural language processing

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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 Natural language processing by all postings for each role in the same window, ranking roles with at least 20 postings. Role distribution divides each role’s Natural language processing postings by all Natural language processing 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
1eaaf68fb26b7e71
data_as_of
2026-09-30
window_days
90
Hiring engineers who use Natural language processing?

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Compiled by Jared Rand · Data sourced from the Skillenai labor market index