We Analyzed 600,000 European Job Listings — Here Are the Roles Employers Actually Can't Fill

By Marco · May 7, 2026 · 5 min read

We run AlmostHired, an AI-powered job matching platform that aggregates listings from public employment agencies, company career pages, and job boards across 14 European countries. At any given time, our database holds over 600,000 active job listings.

We decided to look at the data — not to rank countries or predict trends, but to answer a simple question: what roles are employers actually hiring for right now, and where are the biggest gaps?

Here is what we found.

Management Is the Most In-Demand Category — By Far

Across all countries in our database, management roles account for the largest share of white-collar hiring. In the UK alone, we counted nearly 13,000 active management positions — more than tech, finance, marketing, and legal combined.

The most common titles tell the story: Project Manager, Operations Manager, General Manager, Assistant Manager, Business Development Manager. These are not niche roles. They appear in every industry, every city, every country.

What stands out is the breadth. Project Manager alone appears in 190 different UK companies simultaneously. Business Development Manager in 183. These are not a handful of large employers posting the same role — this is widespread, cross-industry demand.

If you can manage people, budgets, and processes, Europe has a role for you. The data is unambiguous.

Tech Is Huge — But Fragmented

Technology and engineering roles are the second-largest category, with nearly 7,000 active positions in the UK and tens of thousands more across Germany, France, and the Netherlands.

But here is why tech hiring looks smaller than it actually is: the job titles are incredibly fragmented. There is no single "tech" role that dominates. Instead, you see Software Engineer, Senior Software Engineer, Full Stack Developer, .NET Developer, DevOps Engineer, Cloud Architect, Data Engineer, AI Engineer — each with modest individual numbers, but enormous demand in aggregate.

A .NET Developer appears in 64 UK listings. That sounds small until you realize that is just one of dozens of tech sub-titles, all competing for the same talent pool. Add them together and tech rivals management for total volume.

This fragmentation is actually a signal: employers need specialists, and they are struggling to find them.

Finance and Accounting: Quietly Massive

With over 1,700 active UK positions, finance roles are more in-demand than most people realize. The titles cluster around Management Accountant, Financial Controller, Finance Manager, Finance Assistant, and Credit Controller.

What is notable is the company diversity. Financial Controller appears across 64 different companies. Management Accountant across 67. This is not a few banks hiring — it is every mid-size company in every sector needing someone who understands numbers.

Finance is one of the most transferable skill sets in the job market. A Financial Controller in hospitality can move to manufacturing. A Management Accountant in retail can move to tech. The data shows employers across all industries are competing for the same finance talent.

Data and Analytics: The New Must-Have

With 1,648 active positions, data roles have quietly become one of the largest hiring categories. Business Analyst, Data Analyst, Data Engineer, and Data Scientist appear consistently across industries.

Business Analyst alone shows up in 59 different UK companies. This role has evolved from a tech-adjacent position to a core business function. Every company making decisions based on data — which is increasingly every company — needs analysts.

For job seekers with analytical skills, this is one of the most opportunity-rich areas in the European job market right now.

Healthcare: Volume With a Warning

Healthcare accounts for over 4,000 active UK positions. Support Worker (380 listings across 131 companies), Care Assistant (310 across 116), Registered Nurse, Dental Nurse, and Healthcare Assistant dominate.

The sheer volume reflects a structural shortage that is only getting worse as Europe ages. But it also reflects high turnover — many of these roles are being reposted because previous hires left.

For healthcare professionals, the market is wide open. For everyone else, it is a reminder that some of the biggest hiring numbers come from sectors facing fundamental workforce challenges.

The Surprise: Sales Is Everywhere

Sales roles — Sales Executive, Account Manager, Business Development Executive, Sales Manager, Sales Consultant — account for over 2,600 UK positions. Sales Executive alone appears in 136 different companies.

This makes sense when you think about it. Every company that sells something needs people to sell it. But job seekers often overlook sales in favor of more "prestigious" titles, leaving a significant supply gap.

If you have commercial instincts and do not mind targets, sales offers some of the fastest paths to high earnings in the European job market.

Where the Jobs Are: City-Level Patterns

The geographic distribution is just as revealing as the role data. In the UK, London dominates — but not as completely as you might think. Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, and Edinburgh all show strong hiring activity. The counties surrounding London — Kent, Essex, Surrey, Hampshire — collectively rival the capital itself.

In Germany, the picture is even more distributed. While Berlin and Munich lead, cities like Hamburg, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and the Ruhr area each have tens of thousands of active listings. France is heavily concentrated in Paris and its surrounding region, with Lyon and Marseille as secondary hubs.

The takeaway: if you are willing to look beyond the obvious capital cities, your competition drops significantly while opportunities remain strong.

What This Means For You

The European job market in 2026 is not short of openings. It is short of matches.

75% of European employers say they cannot find candidates with the right skills. Meanwhile, job seekers spend hours scrolling through listings they will never hear back from. The problem is not supply or demand. It is the gap between what you offer and what employers need — and neither side has a good way to measure it.

That is why we built AlmostHired. Upload your CV once, and our AI matches you against 600,000+ listings across 14 countries. Not keyword matching — actual analysis of your experience, skills, and seniority level against each role. You see a match score, the skills that align, and the gaps you would need to close.

The jobs are there. The question is which ones are actually right for you.

Try it free at almosthired.co