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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Key IT roles are being scaled back and ramped up for the AI era.
- IT operations, software development, and cybersecurity are seeing both cuts and gains.
- A ‘reorganization of work’ is reshaping job roles.
A new industry survey shows a range of cuts across several IT job categories — but also a boost in hiring for the same types of positions.
The survey of 2,050 executives across the globe, released by Snowflake, reveals job losses due to AI, while also showing that the same occupations are benefiting from the AI trend. For example, 40% of executives surveyed report cuts to IT operations due to automation, but 56% report additional hiring for these positions.
Another 26% are seeing cuts in software development jobs, but 37% also report increased hiring. For data analysts, the split is 37% to 37%.
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For jobs outside of IT, the picture is more straightforward — and for most, less dramatic, with the exception of customer service and support staff. The customer service workforce declined by 37% among the organizations surveyed; while only 15% were increasing hiring, (You could blame AI, but outsourcing may be another culprit behind the cuts.)
In manufacturing and supply chain operations, 6% were cutting, while 13% were hiring. For marketing staff, 16% were cutting versus 12% hiring.
|
Position |
Saw job loss |
Saw job gain |
|
IT operations |
-40% |
+56% |
|
Software development |
-26% |
+38% |
|
Cybersecurity |
-25% |
+46% |
|
Data analytics |
-37% |
+37% |
The comparisons among these rising and declining job roles are not exactly apples-to-apples. “What we’re seeing is a reorganization of work, not a simple expansion or contraction of headcount,” Baris Gultekin, vice president of AI at Snowflake, told ZDNET.
“AI is taking over repetitive, manual tasks inside these roles. At the same time, it’s creating entirely new responsibilities around AI integration, governance, data engineering, security, and performance oversight. In that sense, it’s not as black-and-white as companies just cutting or adding jobs. They are reshaping the jobs themselves to support new AI workflows.”
Evolution not elimination
Asked whether generative AI had driven job creation, job loss, or both at their organizations, 42% replied only that jobs have been created by gen AI, while 11% indicated that jobs have been lost. Another 35% report that jobs have both been created and lost due to AI. The remaining 13% said that AI had not affected their employment one way or the other.
Overall, 77% reported some job creation, with or without accompanying job loss, the research finds. “That finding indicates that this is less about elimination of roles, and more about evolution,” Gultekin said.
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“As soon as AI moves beyond experimentation, the skill requirements shift,” he explained. “Running a pilot is one thing. Operating AI at scale inside an enterprise is something else entirely. It requires strong data foundations, clear governance models, infrastructure expertise, and people who understand how to monitor, evaluate, and optimize model performance over time.”
The survey shows that 35% of organizations cite skill gaps as a major barrier to AI success. “That’s a clear signal that the constraint is no longer just AI technology, but the expertise needed to ensure its success in the enterprise,” Gultekin said. “As companies move toward more advanced agentic use cases, the need for oversight grows.
Someone has to ensure data quality, manage risk, and ensure these systems act responsibly. In that sense, AI does not remove the need for people, but it does change expectations around what those people need to know.”
Increased demand in higher-skill areas
The data suggests that the current story around AI usurping technology jobs “is more complex than many think,” he continued. “Historically, major technology shifts change the composition of work more than they reduce total employment. We are seeing a similar pattern with generative and agentic AI.
Some task-based roles are being automated. At the same time, demand is growing in higher-skill areas such as AI operations, cybersecurity, data engineering, and governance.”
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In addition, greater experience with AI translates into job growth. “Organizations that are further along in AI adoption are more likely to report a net positive employment impact, Gultekin noted. “That is an important data point. It suggests that instead of an outright collapse in jobs, what we’re actually seeing is talent reallocation toward more strategic, technical, and AI-enabled roles.”
Among other topics, the Snowflake survey explored the leading business and technical concerns associated with agentic AI development and deployment. Leading concerns include interoperability issues (42%), legacy system incompatibility (39%), providing real-time data processing for agent decision making (42%), job displacement (29%), maintaining human oversight/preventing rogue actions by agents (29%), and concerns over data storage and use (29%).
