Uncover where deep tech talent thrives around the world, find the best countries to close your team’s skill gaps, and get salary benchmarks to budget with confidence.
What You’ll Learn
Around 36% of global venture capital now flows into deep tech, accelerating innovation in AI, quantum computing, and physical infrastructure. Demand for skilled professionals who can turn breakthrough ideas into advanced solutions drives this growth. However, talent shortages continue to hinder innovation for both startups and enterprises.
Qubit Labs decided to share its expertise in deep tech recruitment and compiled a comprehensive overview of the global deep tech ecosystem, including thriving talent markets and salary benchmarks for deep tech specialists.
The report identifies AI, data science, cybersecurity, and blockchain as core deep tech sectors, specifies Poland, Romania, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom as top hiring destinations, and highlights the salary range for deep tech experts of $12,000 to $152,000, based on role, with the UK offering the highest salaries.
2026 Deep Tech Ecosystem Report Insights
- Deep tech domains overview
Reviews of the global deep tech ecosystem, as well as four key domains. - Insights into four talent markets
Regional breakdown of talent pools, key market drivers, and relevant regulations. - Salary comparisons
Accurate compensation data for junior, mid-level, and senior-level experts. - Compensation analysis across 18 roles
Salary benchmarks for the most in-demand deep tech roles, including AI and LLM engineers, cybersecurity specialists, data engineers, and blockchain developers.
Who It’s For
- HR leaders looking to close specialist skill gaps and benchmark salaries.
- Startup founders and CTOs building tech teams globally and focusing on smart budgeting.
- Investors and VCs assessing whether portfolio companies have the talent to execute their growth strategy.
- Policymakers shaping a talent and R&D strategy to improve competitiveness in deep tech.
Qubit Labs has released a comprehensive guide about the hotspots for finding AI developers and their salaries. This study has shown that Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the United States have the highest concentration of AI talent, boast vast market specialization, and have competitive AI developer salaries. Additionally, this report revealed that in 2026, demand for AI talent had increased, boosting salaries up to 67% globally.
This AI Developer Hubs Report – Countries, Salaries, and Perspectives is a valuable toolkit for tech founders, CEOs, CTOs, investors, and HR professionals focused on business expansion, discovering high-potential AI markets, and identifying realistic salary expectations across diverse regions.
Message from the CEO
“This report provides the market intelligence organizations need to make informed hiring decisions in deep tech, replacing guesswork with data-driven insights into where critical talent is available and what it costs to hire.”
Iva Kozlovska, CEO of Qubit Labs
Key Findings
These are just a few of the highlights from our report.
Regional Overview
Poland, Romania, and Ukraine remain the strongest CEE outsourcing hubs. Poland leads with ~62,000 deep tech specialists and 1,600+ IT outsourcing firms. Romania offers ~48,700 deep tech experts with particularly strong expertise in AI, robotics, and cybersecurity. Ukraine sustains ~19,500 deep tech professionals despite wartime conditions, all under EU-aligned data regulations. The UK, by contrast, is a premium talent market (over 209,000 deep tech specialists) rather than a cost-arbitrage destination, better suited for benchmarking than for cost-driven hiring.
Cost Highlights
Across all deep tech roles, AI engineers, LLM engineers, data scientists, cybersecurity engineers and analysts, and blockchain developers are among the most in-demand roles. For AI engineers, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine offer the same annual salary of $60,000, driven by strong regional demand and intense competition for experienced AI talent. For most other roles, Ukraine remains the most cost-effective destination for hiring, with annual salaries ranging from $17,000 for incident response specialists to $48,000 for chief information security officers. The UK has the largest talent pool, but average salaries are significantly higher, exceeding $70,000 per year.
Deep tech sector overviews
Global overviews of AI, data science, cybersecurity, and blockchain ecosystems help companies better understand the market scale, investment trends, and key risks.
Regional market data
Comparisons of talent pools, key strengths, and workforce technical capabilities across four countries and deep tech domains enable businesses to identify the best hub for strategic hiring and long-term growth.
Annual salary benchmarks
Salary benchmarks for junior-, mid-, and senior-level deep tech professionals give companies the data they need to structure high-performance engineering teams and build sustainable talent pipelines.
Salary coverage across 18 roles
Compensation benchmarking across most in-demand roles is helpful for companies that focus on accurate budgeting from day one, smarter geographic decisions, and reduced hiring risk for niche roles.
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