Plugg's 2027 report argues that the constraint in US engineering hiring has moved from finding coders to finding senior engineers with judgment. Senior roles are 69.3% of US software postings and 72% of Plugg's Latin America openings. Time zone and capability now matter more than hourly price.
This page summarizes the report in our own words. The full report, with every chart, table and source, is on plugg.tech. Editor: Brian Samson, founder of Plugg Technologies. Contributing writer: Ludmila Ribeiro. Data runs through September 30, 2026.
Four findings
- Demand is more senior. 69.3% of US software postings in Q1 2026 were senior, and 71% of the growth in postings between May 2025 and May 2026 came from senior roles.
- AI changes which skills carry value. Employment for workers aged 22 to 25 in highly AI-exposed occupations sits 19% below its expected trajectory, according to Stanford research cited in the report, while experienced workers show no comparable gap.
- Latin America has the base. Digitally delivered services exports from the region rose from $18.5B in 2005 to $87.7B in 2024. That measures exports, not engineering employment.
- The unit is capability, not hours. A budget comparison shows what a team can fund. An hourly comparison only shows a price.
Four decisions the report recommends
- Hire for judgment over volume.
- Budget for seniority before headcount.
- Treat time zone as an operational requirement.
- Measure capability, not only cost.
Where the report is careful, and so are we
- Senior US salaries are estimates. The $190,372 median and $245,700 high are Plugg estimates built on a 40% markup, not published by BLS or Robert Half.
- "Senior" is not standardized. Plugg records the seniority assigned when an opening is created, and no single definition applies across years or clients.
- The Plugg sample is Plugg's. The openings and rates come from Plugg's own clients and recruiting, so they corroborate broader trends and do not prove them on their own.
- GitHub accounts are not an employment census. They include students and people who do not work in software.
- Capacity per dollar is a budget measure. It is not a claim about productivity.
Declaration of interest. Nearshore AI Talent is run by Plugg Technologies, a US-based nearshore staffing firm that places Latin American engineers with US companies. Plugg also published the 2027 Latin America Tech Hiring Report that supplies much of the data here. Read the numbers with that interest in mind.