You are More Likely to Land a Lead-Level Cloud-Native Role Than a Junior One!
Six out of 10 cloud-native roles are Software Engineer positions, five are Platform Engineers, four are DevOps, and three are SREs.
If you are exploring the cloud-native job market, understanding how often your desired roles are in demand can give you a strategic edge in your search.
In this short article, we’ll analyse the current crop of popular job titles in the cloud-native space, which will help you gauge the demand for your desired role in the job market.
For our analysis, we’ll use Kube Careers‘ State of the Kubernetes Job Market reports, which are among the most comprehensive datasets available in the cloud-native realm.
First, please note that Kube Careers only publishes jobs that require Kubernetes experience, have a clear salary range, and are not posted by recruitment agencies.
Onto the Analysis
Q. What are the most popular job titles in the cloud-native space so far in 2025?
Well, it’s a skewed hierarchy at the very top.
For all the jobs Kube Careers published in Q2 2025:
- A staggering 46.89% of these were Software Engineer roles, at a distance second yet not so far from third were DevOps Engineer positions at 9.33%, followed by 8.55% of Platform Engineering roles.
- These were followed by DevSecOps Engineer (4.82%) and Site Reliability Engineer (3.63%) positions.
- Titles such as Machine Learning Engineer (3.63%), Data Engineer (3.63%), Solution Architect (2.85%), Engineering Manager (2.59%), System Performance Engineer (2.33%), System Administrator (2.33%) and Head of Platform Engineering (1.55%) are part of the lower rung with a frequency range of 1.55%-3.63%.
If we compare the frequency of job titles among themselves, it gets really interesting.
- For every 10 Software Engineer positions published in the cloud-native domain, there exist two DevOps, two Platform Engineer, and one DevSecOps role(s).
- What’s even more interesting is that for every 15-20 Software Engineer positions published in the cloud-native realm, we have just one SRE, Data Engineer, Solution Architect, Engineering Manager, System Performance Engineer and System Administrator position.
Q. Has the order for the most popular job titles changed in 2025, or has it always been the same?
Let’s find out. For a better comparison, we’ll take the job titles data right from Q1 2023.
The key takeaways from the comparison are:
- Software Engineer positions have always been the most in-demand cloud native roles, and it is unlikely to change for the remainder of 2025.
- Barring a couple of quarters, DevOps and Platform Engineer positions have been consistent with 2nd and 3rd place standings, swapping places with each other through the quarters. It appears Platform Engineer positions are on a breakout in 2025, and perhaps we’ll see more of these positions for the rest of 2025.
- Site Reliability Engineer positions have decreased by about 30% from the popularity in 2023, while the remaining job titles, which have been up and down by about 10% through the quarters, have maintained their positions on average.
Summary
- The Cloud-native job market is considerable in size, so you won’t find it too difficult to land a job that suits your profile.
- However, in terms of title popularity, the hierarchy is Software Engineer > DevOps Engineer > Platform Engineer > DevSecOps Engineer > Site Reliability Engineer > Machine Learning Engineer.
What are your thoughts on this? How has the job frequency been for the role that you desire? Let us know.
