Engineers tell Jack what they want from their next role. We compared answers from the 500 most in-demand engineers with those from the rest of the network.
Key insights
The most in-demand engineers put technical depth and AI infrastructure ahead of mission and working setup.
14% of UK engineers in the top 500 explicitly mention pay in their ‘looking for’ statement, versus 5% of other UK engineers.
40% of the UK top 500 mention founding roles, compared with 20% of the US top 500. The gap also holds across the rest of the network (30% vs 16%).
The groups
Top 500: the most in-demand engineers. Rest: a sample of hands-on engineers at any level, specialty or location in Jack's network.
The measure
Each engineer's short “looking for” statement is drafted from conversations with Jack, with CV and LinkedIn context. Engineers can review and edit it. We count keyword mentions, so percentages reflect what's explicit, not everyone who cares about a theme. Other wording may go uncounted; treat the figures as directional.
Share of engineers whose stated preferences mention each theme. Mission appears in about 1 in 6.
Staying in the weeds, the majority of the time. Many give a ratio (70/30, 80/20).
Mostly applied: agents, RAG, LLM infrastructure, developer tools.
Owning architecture and outcomes end to end. The most common value word across the network.
Distributed systems, scale, performance, technical depth.
High standards, honest code review, engineering-led teams.
The 500 most in-demand engineers are mostly ex-Meta, Google, Amazon and Microsoft, with a median of 12 years' experience. Compare them, or just the top 100, with engineers across the rest of the network.
Ordered by the top 500, highest to lowest.
Each card compares the group named at the top with a sample from the rest of Jack's network.
Inference, GPU efficiency, training platforms and serving. Agent work rises a little (23% vs 18%). Infrastructure is where the jump is.
“Deep technical work on GPU infrastructure, distributed training systems, or ML serving at scale.”
Frontier AI labs, quant and HFT firms, and “Tier 1” companies come up by name.
“…high-talent density environments and the opportunity to solve complex architecture challenges at scale.”
This compares UK engineers in the top 500 with UK engineers across the rest of Jack's network. In the UK, many benchmark against their current big tech package and only move for a clear step up.
“…will not take a pay cut for early-stage… would only leave for a compelling opportunity with a substantial pay bump.”
A small group pushes the other way and asks for Senior IC roles to stay close to the code.
“IC-only Staff, Principal, or Founding ML Engineer roles… Only high-leverage, asymmetric-bet opportunities.”
Hybrid is the norm. Hard caps on office days are half as common, and a few actively want to be in the office every day.
“Prefers in-office or hybrid roles (4-5 days/week) to enable high-velocity collaboration and urgency.”
Guess this one isn't surprising!
“…technically complex work at scale and are focused on roles that reflect their market value.”
Jill introduces you to engineers in Jack's network who want what your role offers, including the ones top employers compete hardest for.
UK engineers mention founding roles more often than US engineers in both groups.
Engineers who cap office days (usually 1 to 2 a week) or rule out 5-day roles.
Share of engineers who mention founding roles.
“…ownership that expands beyond conventional engineering boundaries into product and customer engagement, ideally in no-PM cultures where engineers own the why as well as the how.”
“…prioritizes 80%+ hands-on coding.”
“Stability is now their top priority over founding or equity-heavy roles.”
“‘Super strong culture’ is the primary filter above role type or tech stack.”
“5 days/week in office is a firm dealbreaker.”
“They reject vertical AI wrappers or environments with low engineering bar.”
“Values tangible equity over paper wealth.”
“Top priority is formal mentorship from a strong technical leader who can push them technically.”
What the data suggests for job posts, outreach and first calls.
Name the system, the scale and what makes it hard. For the most in-demand engineers this matters more than perks or mission.
A ratio beats “hands-on”. Engineers ask for 70/30 or 80/20 splits and screen out roles that read as management.
Talent density and a high bar are the filters at the top. Name the team and where they came from.
In the UK, top engineers benchmark against their current package. Vague ranges lose them before the first call.
More than a quarter of UK engineers set a hard limit. Putting the number in the post saves both sides a call.