To be fair, the tech market hasn’t slowed the way most hiring managers assume.
It has split, with generalist hiring softening while businesses keep competing hard for engineers who have real depth in AI, cloud, platform or cyber.
Treat both trends as one slow market, and you will make the wrong call on your next hire.
Name the capability gap before you open the req
There’s less appetite now to hire for additional headcount on its own. What gets budget approved is a req built around a named capability gap, not a vague need for another engineer.
A req that names AI, cloud, platform, or cyber and states the specific problem that the skill needs to solve has a clearer case for sign-off than a generic one.
If you’re about to open or reopen a role, the first useful question is what specific gap this hire closes and whether you can name the domain if someone asks you directly.
Check which side of the split your role falls on
Generalist roles are softer than they were, with fewer of them opening.
At the same time, businesses are still competing hard for engineers who can point to specific capability in AI, cloud, platform or cyber.
Those two conditions are playing out in different parts of the same market, not as a single slowdown.
A hiring manager who only sees the generalist side assumes engineering hiring has cooled across the board, when what has changed is how choosy the market has become about where to direct effort.
Test for depth, judgement and impact, not keywords
Once a role is scoped as a capability gap rather than headcount, the interview process should test for the three things that separate strong candidates in this market: depth, technical judgement and measurable impact.
- Depth: go past the keywords on the resume. Ask the candidate to walk through the hardest decision they made in that specific domain, and why they chose that path over the alternative.
- Technical judgement: ask what they would do differently with more time or a different budget. The answer shows whether they understand trade-offs or executed a brief without questioning it.
- Measurable impact: ask for the outcome of the work, not the activity, and push past a title or a tool list until you get a real answer.
Build the process around the specific gap you named and it will test for the right thing without adding an extra round.
Ready to talk about your next engineering hire? Get in touch.
Liam
Technology & Software Engineering Recruitment
Last updated: September 2026
