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Job market reports · Skill · September 2026

optimization

307 live US technical postings name optimization in September 2026. Here is which roles ask for it, what those roles pay, and where they are.

Which roles ask for it

Share of the 307 postings naming optimization that belong to each role. This is the answer to "what would learning this qualify me for".

  1. 1Software Engineer44.6%
  2. 2Data Scientist28.3%
  3. 3Machine Learning Engineer16.3%
  4. 4AI Engineer8.5%

What postings asking for it pay

Across every role, for the postings that both name this skill and disclose a salary. A skill does not cause a salary — senior roles ask for more of everything — so read this as association, not as a raise.

Disclosed pay where optimization is named
n = 200
10th
$150k
25th
$170k
Median
$210k
75th
$240k
90th
$275k

Where those jobs are

Metro share of the postings naming this skill.

  1. 1San Francisco, CA15.3%
  2. 2Silicon Valley, CA12.4%
  3. 3Remote11.1%
  4. 4New York, NY9.4%
  5. 5Boston, MA4.9%
  6. 6Austin, TX3.6%
  7. 7Washington, DC2.6%
  8. 8Seattle, WA2.3%

How we counted

668,970 live US postings read directly from 79,892 employers’ own careers pages in September 2026 — not from a jobs aggregator, so a role reposted across several sites is counted once. Full methodology, limitations and external checks.