If you work in marketing, operations, customer success or administration, the AI line in a job ad can feel like it was written for someone else. Most of what gets said about AI skills is about engineers building models, so it is easy to assume a requirement like that has little to do with a role like yours. In remote hiring right now, that assumption is out of date.
In our Remote Job Market Index for September 2026, 10.1% of new remote postings on Jobgether asked for at least one AI skill. Most of those postings were not for engineers, and the roles adding AI requirements fastest were ones few people would call technical.
What AI skills are in demand besides coding?
The AI skills spreading fastest outside tech are about using AI well, not building it. In September 2026, generative AI postings on Jobgether rose 2.2% a day while all new remote postings fell 15.8%, and of the postings asking for any AI skill with a known role family, 58.8% sat outside data and software engineering.
Outside data sources point the same way. LinkedIn's 2025 Skills on the Rise list ranked AI literacy as the fastest-growing skill of all, describing the demand as people who can understand AI tools and put them to work for the business. Large language model development and application also made the list, at number ten, but the top spot went to the skill any experienced professional can build without writing code.
Which remote roles ask for AI skills outside engineering?
Product and design, marketing and growth, cloud and security, and business operations ask for AI skills most often after the engineering families. In September, 13.0% of new remote marketing and growth postings asked for at least one AI skill, which put marketing ahead of cloud, infrastructure and security at 12.3%.
Each figure is the share of new remote postings within that role family that asked for at least one AI skill. Business operations and strategy sat at 8.6%, administration and executive support at 6.2%, customer service and success at 5.7%, and sales and business development at 5.6%. Healthcare and life sciences remained the lowest at 1.7%, though even there the share edged up from August.
Where did AI requirements grow fastest in September?
In the roles least associated with technology. Marketing and growth rose from 10.0% to 13.0% of postings in a single month, administration and executive support from 4.1% to 6.2%, and customer service and success from 4.4% to 5.7%, while the share in data and AI fell from 46.0% to 41.3% and in software engineering from 18.7% to 17.3%.
These are shares, so they describe how often an AI skill appears within each family rather than how many postings there were. The count matters too, and it tells a similar story. AI-skill postings in non-tech roles fell 9.1% a day in September, noticeably less than the 15.8% fall across all new remote postings, which means AI requirements outside tech held up better than the market around them.
What does an AI skill look like in a non-tech role?
Usually it means applying AI tools to work you already do. Lightcast, analyzing more than 1.3 billion job postings, found that 51% of postings requiring AI skills in 2024 were outside IT and computer science, with demand in marketing highest among SEO specialists, growth in human resources driven by talent acquisition, and finance demand concentrated in quantitative analyst roles.
In practice, that tends to look different in each function. In marketing it often means using generative AI for research, content and search work, in administration and executive support it means drafting, summarizing and organizing at speed, and in customer success it means working with AI-assisted support tools and the knowledge bases behind them. None of these asks you to train a model, but each asks you to show you already use the tools well.
Why does this matter for experienced professionals?
Because screening can only score what is written. Many experienced professionals use AI tools every week and never mention them, since the tools feel like part of the job rather than a skill worth listing. When 13.0% of marketing and growth postings name an AI skill and a CV names none, the gap is invisible to the candidate and obvious to the system reading the application.
Pay points the same way. Lightcast found that postings including AI skills offered salaries about 28% higher, nearly $18,000 more per year, than postings without them. If you are applying to remote marketing roles or any function where the share is climbing, naming the AI work you already do is one of the cheapest corrections available.
How do you show AI skills without a tech background?
By being specific about the tool, the task and the result. A generic line such as familiar with AI tools gives screening nothing to match, while a concrete example gives both the system and the hiring manager something to read.
Name the tool and the task. Write which tools you use and what for, such as research, first drafts, reporting or analysis. A named tool next to a real task reads as experience rather than interest.
Attach a result. Pair the AI work with what changed because of it, such as time saved on a recurring report or a faster turnaround on client work. A number turns a tool into evidence.
Mirror the posting's language. Where it is true for you, use the same words the posting uses, such as generative AI or AI tools. Screening matches terms, and a close match keeps an application in the pile long enough to be read.
If you are not sure how your CV reads against the roles you want, our AI CV Review shows whether your strongest results, AI work included, surface in the first lines. It is a quick way to find out what screening sees before you send the next application.
How were these figures measured?
The figures count new remote postings on Jobgether between August 1 and September 30, 2026. A posting counts as asking for an AI skill when it names any of the 72 AI skills we track, and 13.9% of September's AI-skill postings had no role family and are left out of the role breakdown and the 58.8% figure.
They describe postings on Jobgether rather than the whole labor market, and they are direct counts rather than estimates. The next edition of the index is due on January 12, 2027, and every figure is published with the full methodology. Our post on whether remote jobs are harder to get uses the same edition to show how competition differs by role.
Frequently Asked Questions
What AI skills are in demand besides coding?
Mostly skills for using AI rather than building it. Generative AI held up in remote hiring in September 2026, with postings on Jobgether rising 2.2% a day while all new postings fell 15.8%, and LinkedIn ranked AI literacy as the fastest-growing skill on its 2025 Skills on the Rise list. In practice, employers want people who can pick the right AI tool for a task and use it well.
Do non-tech remote jobs require AI skills?
A growing share do. In September 2026, 10.1% of new remote postings on Jobgether asked for at least one AI skill, and of those with a known role family, 58.8% were outside data and software engineering. Marketing and growth roles asked for an AI skill in 13.0% of postings, and administration and executive support in 6.2%.
Which remote jobs outside engineering ask for AI skills most?
In the Jobgether Remote Job Market Index for September 2026, product, design and games led at 17.9% of postings, followed by marketing and growth at 13.0%, cloud, infrastructure and security at 12.3% and business operations and strategy at 8.6%. Marketing and growth saw the largest rise, up from 10.0% in August.
How do I show AI skills on my CV if I am not technical?
Name the tool and the task it helps with, then attach a result. A line such as using generative AI to cut first-draft time on client reports says far more than listing AI as a skill. Use the same wording as the posting where it is true for you, because screening can only score what is written on the page.
Do AI skills pay more?
Postings that ask for AI skills tend to advertise higher pay. Lightcast, analyzing more than 1.3 billion job postings, found that postings including AI skills offered salaries about 28% higher, or nearly $18,000 more per year, than postings without them. Lightcast also found that 51% of postings requiring AI skills in 2024 were outside IT and computer science.
