Eschborn – November 04, 2026 -- Some 76% of surveyed companies in Germany are expanding their tech teams because of artificial intelligence, compared with 86% globally, according to the Randstad Tech Talent Report 2026. The finding shows that automation is not reducing tech headcount at most firms in the sample. Companies say AI lets them extend existing services and open new revenue streams, which requires staff who can build applications, integrate them into existing processes and oversee their use.
Nearly half of German employers have hired directly from the tech sector
In Germany, 48% of respondents have already hired professionals who previously worked at technology companies, against 55% globally. Banking and finance report this most often at 71%, followed by healthcare at 67% and automotive, aerospace and defense at 57%.
Competition for talent remains intense. In Germany, 43% of respondents name high salary expectations among available tech candidates as a major hiring hurdle, versus 36% internationally. Some 59% of German employers say they regularly lose strong tech staff to better-paying competitors, the same share as globally.
Communication skills are now a bottleneck for 61% of employers
Some 61% of German companies find it harder to source tech professionals with communication and stakeholder-management skills than those with purely technical skills. The global figure is also 61%. Tech staff increasingly have to mediate between technology and business units, explain technical decisions and assess risks.
AI auditing, data ethics and algorithmic bias mitigation top the list of hardest-to-find skills at 22%. Cross-functional leadership and management of complex projects follow at 21%. Critical thinking, creative problem-solving and communication rank third at 17%.
Robert Bhuiyan, Senior Director Market Leadership Professional Talent Solution at Randstad Deutschland, said companies need people who can judge an application's concrete business value, identify risks and fit it into existing workflows, not only write code. He recommended that employers develop these skills in current teams rather than rely solely on external hiring.
Survey covers 1,100 decision-makers in eleven markets
The primary study polled 1,100 executives and decision-makers in the first half of August 2026, with 100 respondents per market. Participants were responsible for workforce planning and digital talent strategy in Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. Evalueserve handled sampling.
Randstad Market Intelligence added a secondary analysis in August 2026 covering more than 20 million job postings and about 100 million candidate profiles.