4000 Artificial Intelligence Mid And Senior Level Jobs Lie Vacant In India

There are over 4000 positions related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) in India that remain vacant due to the shortage of qualified talent at the mid and senior levels, a study on the Indian AI industry by Great Learning and Analytics India Magazine. This is despite the industry growing by close to 30 percent in the last one year to $230 million in size. These opportunities do not include the slew of new jobs that are advertised every month but refers to opportunities that have been vacant for a period of 12 months.

The key reason behind this is the massive shortage of AI talent at the middle and top level. Out of current working professionals in India, almost 55 percent have less than 5 years of total work experience. Only 23 percent of this workforce has over 10 years of total work experience. Contrary to this, around 57 percent of organizations that are hiring for AI in India are looking for candidates with more than 5 years of experience. This supply-demand gap indicates a huge opportunity for mid and senior-level professionals across industries like IT, finance, healthcare, and e-commerce, who are looking to transition into AI, over the next few years.

Another big challenge being faced by companies when recruiting in India is the lack of talent that is experienced in the AI domain. As per the report, the average experience of Indian professionals stands at a mere 3 years, with almost 67 percent AI professionals in India having joined/ transitioned to their current role, only in the last 2 years.

When it comes to remuneration, the median salary of AI professionals in India is INR 14.3 Lakhs across all experience level and skill sets. 40 percent of AI professionals have an entry-level salary of Rs 6 lakh onwards. Around 4 percent of AI professionals in India command a salary higher than Rs 50 Lakhs, reflecting the massive demand for mid and senior level AI talent in the country. The study also points out that the salary trends across various industries like finance, e-commerce, and healthcare are also improving steadily.

The top skill sets that AI employers are looking for are Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Neural Networks, Analytics, Cloud Computing & Pattern Recognition. More than 1,000 companies in India claim to work on AI in some form. This includes a small number of companies into products and a larger chunk offering either offshore, recruitment or training services. That said, India still has a long way to go with us contributing only 10 percent to the global AI job openings.

Hari Krishnan Nair, Co-Founder, Great Learning said, “AI being a nascent sector in India, the industry is facing a huge skill gap when it comes to filling senior and mid-level positions. The field offers great potential for working professionals who are looking to transition into newer technologies. AI will make a huge dent across sectors like IT, healthcare, fin-tech, and e-commerce. This is the right time to enter the field and be at the forefront of these changes.”

Rajguru Tandon

BW Reporters The author is a correspondent with BW Businessworld with keen interest in HR and employee welfare.