According to a recent study by Motion Recruitment - A Kelly Company, the outlook is promising for data center professionals.
The study highlights the top 10 data center positions currently available for technology workers.
These roles include data center technician, critical facilities engineer, network engineer, data center operations manager, cybersecurity specialist, cloud infrastructure engineer, project manager, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and site reliability engineer.
Data center employment is expected to grow to 650,000 jobs, marking a 30% rise from 2023. Construction jobs linked to data centers could surpass 180,000 by 2028.
But a recent report reveals that 90% of data center operators see staffing shortages as a significant obstacle to building or expanding facilities.
The U.S. data center sector is rapidly growing, fueled by increased investments in artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure.
Growth is hindered by operational complexities and a lack of skilled workers.
Digital infrastructure and data center providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Equinix, and Digital Realty are projected to invest over $700 billion in 2026.
Nevertheless, growth is hindered by operational complexities and a lack of skilled workers.
Joel Leege, president of Kelly Science, Engineering, Technology & Telecom, highlights that talent acquisition has become the main challenge for data center expansion, overtaking concerns about power, land, or equipment.
Without enough skilled personnel, even the most ambitious AI initiatives will find it difficult to meet demand.
Competition for qualified workers is fierce, with 25% of data center employees being recruited by rival companies.
This talent poaching drives up wages but does not resolve the fundamental shortage.
The report examines Kelly’s workforce data alongside other labor market sources, analyzing over 18 trillion data points.
Almost half of the U.S. data centers planned for 2026 could face delays or cancellations, mainly due to workforce planning issues within the control of organizations.
The 2026 Data Center Salary Guide offers an in-depth overview of the labor market and a hiring strategy for each phase of the data center lifecycle.
The data was also compared with wage figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The research provides practical guidance from industry experts to assist data center leaders, hiring managers, and job seekers in adapting to a fast-evolving environment where location, specialization, and talent competition affect pay and project success.
A proactive, skills-focused approach to workforce planning can help keep projects on track and establish a dependable talent pipeline.
Employers can fill critical roles by recruiting from related technical sectors such as telecommunications, utility grid operations, and industrial HVAC, as well as by offering accelerated training programs.
According to news reports, Anthropic signed a $35 billion cloud computing agreement with Nvidia-backed Lambda in August to secure substantial AI processing capacity at a new data center in Nueces County, Texas, with roughly 350 megawatts of power.
Hut 8 is developing the data center site.
Nvidia holds a 15-year master lease on the Texas data center property from Hut 8.
Lambda installs advanced Nvidia chips in the facility and sells the computing power directly to Anthropic. The facility’s initial power activation is scheduled for the first quarter of 2027.
The new Kelly report states that data center development can generate significant demand for specialized skills, especially in emerging markets with smaller talent pools.
These skills often overlap with construction, utilities, telecommunications, and other related industries.
Specialized technical skills required at data centers include liquid cooling commissioning, medium-voltage electrical expertise, and GPU cluster operations.
National median salary estimates begin at $175,000 for AI Engineers, $178,000 for Data Center Operations Leaders, $135,000 for Commissioning Program Managers, $128,000 for Construction Managers, and $112,000 for Data Center Technician SMEs.
“The challenge isn’t just finding more people. The industry needs to broaden the talent pool,” said Jake Rasweiler, senior vice president, Data Centers and Digital Infrastructure at Kelly. “Data center employers are competing for many of the same specialized workers, and that approach can’t keep up with the scale of infrastructure investment we’re witnessing. Companies that plan their workforce early and create pathways for talent from adjacent industries will be much better positioned to keep projects progressing.”