The IT labour market in 2025 is no longer defined only by the question of how many developers companies need. The more important question is what kind of technology professionals companies are looking for now.

Research by DEV.BG, based on the movement of job postings in its Job Board between 2024 and 2025, shows a clear shift in the Bulgarian IT market. When compared with global reports by Gartner, McKinsey and Deloitte, the picture becomes even more interesting. The industry is not simply growing or shrinking. It is changing shape.

Artificial intelligence, data, cybersecurity, business analysis and infrastructure are moving forward. Some more traditional or routine roles are slowing down. This does not mean the IT sector is disappearing or becoming weaker. It means that companies are becoming more selective, more strategic and more focused on skills that can support the next phase of technological development.

Globally, the strongest trend in 2025 is agentic artificial intelligence. According to the reports reviewed by DEV.BG, Agentic AI Engineers are among the most in-demand technology specialists. This marks an important change compared to 2024, when the role of Prompt Engineer received much more attention.

The shift is logical. Companies are moving from simply learning how to communicate with AI tools to building systems that can act with a higher level of autonomy. The focus is no longer only on writing better prompts. It is moving toward designing, managing and improving intelligent systems that can make decisions, complete tasks and support complex business processes.

Another major global trend is AI governance and ethics. As artificial intelligence becomes part of more products, services and internal company processes, the risks also become more serious. Companies need people who understand not only technology, but also responsibility, regulation, bias, data protection and legal frameworks such as the EU AI Act.

This is why AI Governance and Ethics is becoming one of the most important roles globally. It reflects a simple reality: AI adoption without control can create business, legal and reputational problems. The more companies use AI, the more they will need specialists who can help them use it safely, responsibly and in line with regulation.

Cloud engineers and hybrid infrastructure architects are also high on the global list. McKinsey describes this broader movement as an infrastructure reckoning. Companies are rethinking how they use cloud resources, local servers, edge computing and hybrid architectures. The goal is no longer to move everything to the cloud by default. The goal is to build smarter, more efficient and more flexible infrastructure.

Cybersecurity and identity and access management specialists are also becoming more important. Gartner expects the strong demand for cybersecurity talent to continue in the coming years. This is not surprising. As companies become more digital, more automated and more dependent on data, security becomes part of the core business, not just a technical support function.

Platform Engineers complete the global top five trend. Gartner describes platform engineering as the next stage of DevOps. The role is connected to building internal platforms and tools that help development teams work faster, more consistently and with less operational friction.

These global trends show where the technology industry is heading. But what is happening in Bulgaria?

The data from the DEV.BG Job Board shows that the Bulgarian market is moving in a similar direction, although not always through the same job titles used in global reports.

The strongest growth in 2025 compared to 2024 is in ML/AI/Data Modelling. The number of job postings in this category increased by 56.3%. This makes it the clear leader in the Bulgarian market. The result is important because it shows that artificial intelligence is no longer just a topic for experiments, presentations or internal innovation teams. Bulgarian companies are starting to hire more actively for the skills needed to build, apply and improve AI-related systems.

BI/Data Visualization is in second place, with a 51.7% increase in job postings. This is another strong signal. Companies need people who can turn data into insight. In a market where decisions are increasingly connected to analytics, dashboards and performance metrics, business intelligence becomes a practical necessity.

SAP specialists are also seeing strong growth, with a 36.3% increase in job postings. This points to continued demand for enterprise systems, integrations and business process management. While AI receives much of the public attention, large companies still need stable internal systems and specialists who can maintain and develop them.

Cybersecurity roles are also growing in Bulgaria. DEV.BG reports a 35.4% increase in job postings in this area. This brings the Bulgarian market closer to the global trend. As companies use more digital tools, remote systems, cloud services and data-driven processes, security becomes unavoidable.

Data Science also enters the top five, with a 29.9% increase. Together with the growth in ML/AI and BI, this confirms one of the clearest conclusions from the research: data-related roles are becoming central to the Bulgarian IT market.

There is also strong growth in ERP/CRM Development, IT Business Analyst and Product Owner roles. ERP/CRM Development grew by 26.99%, IT Business Analyst by 26.98%, and Product Owner by 21.1%.

This is an important part of the story because it shows that the market is not moving only toward deep technical roles. Companies also need people who can connect technology with business needs. Business analysts and product owners are becoming more valuable because they help companies define what should be built, why it matters and how technology can create real value.

There is also growth in IT Management, Angular, Fullstack Development, DevOps and Vue.js. These categories show that software development is still active, but the strongest growth is not concentrated only in classic programming roles. The higher momentum is around AI, data, security, business systems and product logic.

At the other end of the ranking, Big Data saw the sharpest decline. According to DEV.BG, job postings in this category fell by 44.9% in 2025 compared to 2024. This does not necessarily mean that data is becoming less important. In fact, the opposite is true. The growth in ML/AI, BI and Data Science suggests that companies still need data skills, but they may be moving away from older or more general Big Data roles toward more specific and practical data functions.

Ruby also saw a major decline, with a 44.3% drop in job postings. Manual QA fell by 36.9%, PHP by 31.6%, and Tech Writer by 30.6%. These declines show that some roles connected to older stacks, manual processes or more traditional workflows are under pressure.

Manual QA is a particularly important example. The decline does not mean quality assurance is no longer needed. It means that the nature of QA work is changing. Automation, AI tools and more integrated development workflows are reducing demand for purely manual testing roles. Companies still need quality, but they increasingly expect faster, more automated and more technical approaches to achieving it.

iOS roles also declined by 26.8%, while Customer Support fell by 19.9%, Quality Assurance by 17.5%, Salesforce by 15.1%, and C/C++/Embedded by 14.6%. Database Engineer and Frontend Development also saw declines of more than 10%.

Another interesting detail is that some leading programming languages also saw small or moderate decreases in job postings. Java declined by 7.5%, Go by 1.3%, and Python by 0.2%. This should not be interpreted as a collapse in demand for these languages. Instead, it shows that companies may be looking beyond language-specific hiring and focusing more on broader capabilities, such as AI implementation, data modelling, product thinking, architecture and security.

The main conclusion is that the Bulgarian IT market is becoming more mature. It is not only looking for people who can write code. It is looking for people who can solve more complex problems.

The comparison with global trends is encouraging. Bulgaria may not yet show mass demand for the exact new roles highlighted in Gartner, McKinsey and Deloitte reports, such as Agentic AI Engineer or AI Governance Specialist, but the foundations are clearly visible. The strong growth in ML/AI, BI, Data Science and cybersecurity suggests that local companies are investing in the building blocks needed for the next stage.

This is where the Bulgarian market currently stands. It is not fully at the same point as the global frontier, but it is moving in the same direction. Companies are building the capacity to work with AI, understand data, protect systems and connect technology with business strategy.

The decline in roles such as Big Data, Manual QA, PHP and some traditional stacks should not be read only as negative news. It is also a sign of restructuring. As automation, cloud platforms and AI tools become more common, some familiar roles become less central. At the same time, new opportunities appear for people who can combine technical knowledge with adaptability and strategic thinking.

For IT professionals, the message is clear. The market rewards people who continue to evolve. Skills in AI, data, cybersecurity, cloud, infrastructure, business analysis and product development are becoming increasingly valuable. The safest position is no longer simply knowing one technology well. The safer path is understanding how technology connects to business problems, risk, automation and long-term transformation.

For companies, the message is also clear. Hiring in 2025 is not only a recruitment challenge. It is a strategic decision. The roles companies choose to hire for today reveal what they are preparing for tomorrow.

The DEV.BG data shows that Bulgaria is already entering this next phase. The market is becoming more specialised, more data-driven and more connected to global technology priorities. The demand for IT talent is changing, but it is not disappearing. It is moving toward higher-value profiles that can help companies build the systems, products and infrastructure needed for the next stage of the industry.

In other words, 2025 was not the year when the IT market stopped growing. It was the year when the definition of valuable IT talent became more precise.

Source basis: DEV.BG Job Board data for 2024-2025, compared with global technology trend reports by Gartner, McKinsey and Deloitte.