Workers with AI skills are commanding a premium, with 1 in 4 companies willing to pay up to 20% more for the right talent. New research shows 98% of executives plan to hire or train for AI skills – and these are the roles at the top of their list.

A new AI job market survey released on Wednesday by Zapier found that, despite doom and gloom among tech workers, corporations are readily preparing for the new age of AI.

More than 75% of companies are already embracing AI usage in some capacity. More than half say they have employees in designated AI-related roles – either created from scratch or converted from existing positions, the research reveals.

AI talent commands higher pay

“Companies are spending more, hiring more, and building long-term strategies around AI skills,” says Zapier, a San Francisco-based AI orchestration platform for businesses to automate their workflow.

Across the board, more than half of companies say that strategy includes “long-term commitments” to both ongoing training for current employees (65%) and investing in new talent (44%).

In fact, the survey of corporate executives found that nearly two-thirds of brass will pay AI-savvy workers far more than comparable non-AI roles, with 1 in 4 execs stating they’re willing to shell out a cool 20% or more for new AI hires.

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“The broader job market is tough right now, and there’s no way around that. But the demand for AI skills is one of the clearest bright spots we’re seeing,” said Emily Mabie, Senior AI Automation Engineer at Zapier.

“Companies aren’t treating AI as a nice-to-have anymore. They’re building entire teams around it, creating roles that didn’t exist two years ago, and putting real money behind it. If you’re investing in AI skills right now, you’re putting yourself in a much stronger position,” Mabie said.

The AI skills employers want most

For companies with over 100 employees, the number of workers in AI roles has increased by 14% in the last 12 months alone, according to Zapier.

The jobs report also found that high-demand AI roles often overlap with traditional business roles, meaning you can't have one without the other.

This means that, for some AI job roles, a computer science degree is not necessarily required.

“Employers are looking for individuals who can pair technical AI literacy with the kind of foundational business skills that make those tools actually useful,” Zapier said.

As for the most in-demand AI skills, including soft skills, the survey lists:

• Generative AI usage and prompt engineering (67%)
• Data management, processing, and analysis (60%)
• Communication, creativity, and problem-solving (47%)
• AI deployment and DevOps (46%)
• Project management (42%)

Where AI specialists have the edge

For those hoping to hop on the AI bandwagon to upgrade their careers, be aware, Zapier says many companies may still be slow to pull the trigger.

Zapier research from October showed that 78% of enterprises, although chomping at the bit to foster AI adoption, are struggling to execute within their existing legacy systems.

C-suite executives have also cited high costs associated with vendor solutions, AI security concerns, and a desire to avoid vendor lock-in as major roadblocks contributing to the delay.

However, this presents yet another coveted job role worth mentioning – the AI consultant, of which more than a third of corporations say they’ll be hiring to help navigate the AI integration process and close the AI skills gap.

And as companies scramble to figure out how to implement AI effectively, the workers who can bridge that gap may hold the most leverage.

The Zapier AI job market survey was conducted by Centiment among 550 corporate executives across various industries.

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