After nearly two years of cautious hiring, the IT services sector is entering 2026 with a recalibrated talent strategy. The industry is moving away from the excesses of post-pandemic expansion and settling into a more disciplined, capability-driven hiring model. While 2026 will not mirror the hiring boom of 2021–22, it will also not remain muted in the way 2023–24 was. Instead, the year is shaping up to be one of selective and purposeful growth.
Hiring in 2026 is expected to grow modestly, but unevenly. Companies will add headcount only where there is clear revenue visibility or long-term strategic relevance. Large-scale volume hiring and bench-based recruitment models are unlikely to return. Attrition has structurally stabilised at lower levels, reducing replacement demand and further constraining overall hiring numbers.
Hiring in the IT services sector in 2026 will, of course, grow, but cautiously. The year will mark a transition from survival-led cost control to strategic capability building. It will not be a return to mass hiring, but a confirmation that the industry has permanently shifted toward value-driven talent acquisition. In essence, 2026 will be remembered not as a hiring boom year, but as the year IT services finally moved from volume-led hiring to value-led workforce planning.
“Demand in 2026 will be sharply focused on high-impact skills rather than generic roles. Growth areas include artificial intelligence and GenAI deployment, data engineering, cloud optimisation, cybersecurity, and enterprise platform modernisation, such as SAP S/4HANA and Salesforce. The emphasis will be on implementation and integration capabilities rather than experimental or research-oriented roles. As a result, organisations will hire fewer professionals, but at higher skill and compensation levels,” remarked Manoj Kandoth, Founder and Director at Urjja.
Experts point out that traditional application maintenance, manual testing, and entry-level generic IT roles will continue to see muted demand. Campus hiring will remain below pre-pandemic levels, with freshers increasingly absorbed only after targeted upskilling. Automation and productivity improvements will further limit the need for large junior workforces.
“One of the most significant changes heading into 2026 is the shift in how hiring decisions are made. IT services firms are moving from headcount-led planning to revenue-backed hiring. Bench strength is giving way to billability, and degree-based screening is being replaced by skill certification and demonstrated capability. Contract-to-hire and project-based staffing models will gain further traction as companies seek flexibility and risk control,” added Kandoth.
Global Capability Centres (GCCs) are expected to be the strongest net hirers in 2026. Unlike traditional IT services firms, GCCs will focus on core product engineering, analytics, AI operations, and intellectual property ownership. This will intensify competition for senior engineers, architects, and product leaders, widening compensation and role differentiation between GCCs and services firms.
HR experts point out that leadership hiring will remain selective. Organisations will continue to flatten structures, reducing layers of middle management.
The focus will be on delivery leaders who combine technical depth with commercial and client-facing capability. Purely administrative managerial roles are likely to see continued pressure.
It is also expected that in 2026, IT services hiring is expected to follow a pattern of selective growth, with a slight acceleration focused on niche skills such as AI, cloud and cybersecurity.
Hiring momentum will concentrate on AI and ML engineering, AI product leadership, and specialised cloud, platform and security roles, alongside sustained demand for data engineering and analytics talent. Overall, companies are prioritising depth and adaptability, blending AI, security, cloud and data capabilities over traditional generalist roles.
“As Indian enterprises increase IT budgets in 2026, hiring demand is sharply skewed towards advanced digital skills. AI and ML continue to dominate demand, particularly for prompt engineering, applied ML frameworks, data science, and core programming skills such as Python and C++. This is followed by cybersecurity, cloud computing and cloud security, DevOps, automation, and advanced data analytics, capabilities that directly underpin enterprise-scale AI adoption, cloud migration, and data-driven decision-making,” observed Sanketh Chengappa, Director and Business Head, Professional Staffing, Adecco India.
It is also expected that fresher hiring is likely to stay flat and well below pre-pandemic levels, driven by automation and a shift toward skills-based workforce strategies.
The industry is undergoing a structural shift away from large-scale campus recruitment toward targeted, high-impact roles, with increasing emphasis on reskilling and transitioning talent into value-added, AI-augmented roles.
