Non-Tech Firms Now Bid Up AI Talent Pay
Banks and healthcare employers face tougher competition for software and AI-skilled hires from both tech firms and peers.
Updated on Nov. 3, 2026 in Job Search
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Randstad reported that 86 per cent of organisations are growing their tech headcount because of AI, while non-tech companies are increasingly recruiting tech talent after tech sector layoffs. For job seekers and hiring managers, the shift opens demand well beyond traditional technology employers.
Why it matters
Hiring demand for AI-capable and tech talent is spreading into banking, healthcare and other non-tech sectors, which are outbidding traditional tech firms for the same people. Operators in these industries face tighter competition for skilled hires and a need to rethink how they source talent.
Randstad's findings show AI-capability postings grew more than fivefold over the past year, with 86 per cent of organisations expanding tech headcount. Banking offers a median 13 per cent premium and healthcare and life sciences 17 per cent for software engineers.
The players
Randstad
Randstad is a global workforce solutions and staffing company whose research tracks employer hiring intentions and labour market trends.
The details
Non-tech companies are outbidding traditional tech firms to secure talent, pushing up pay for software engineers in sectors that have not historically competed for them. Organisations are closing skill gaps by buying, building and borrowing talent rather than relying on a single hiring channel. AI automates routine execution, which shifts the bottleneck toward people who orchestrate and oversee that work, a skill set that employers say is harder to find than technical ability.
Timeline
Over the past year, AI-capability job postings grew more than fivefold.
Following tech sector layoffs, non-tech organisations moved to recruit tech talent.
Nearshore regional hubs are projected to be the top delivery model over the next two years (35 per cent).
Market Landscape
Randstad's research documents employers increasingly using digital talent marketplaces, with 92 per cent of organizations relying on them for recruitment and 42 per cent treating them as their primary channel. The pattern marks a shift in which non-tech sectors compete directly with technology firms for AI-capable workers.
Operators in banking and healthcare should expect more competition for software and AI-skilled hires from both tech firms and peers in their own sectors. Hiring managers should review pay benchmarks for engineering roles and consider talent marketplaces as a recruitment channel.
The takeaway
Employers that depend on human judgement to oversee AI systems will find that capability harder to source than technical skills, with 61 per cent reporting this difficulty. Hiring teams should track their own pay benchmarks and the share of hires coming through digital talent marketplaces over the coming year.
Further reading
For more on how employers are competing for skilled hires, see Job Search.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Theglobalrecruiter.
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