Karat blog

CTOs, CIOs, and VPs of Engineering are under pressure. They’re being asked to scale AI-ready teams faster, modernize aging infrastructure, and do both with tighter budgets. Where you hire is now an important strategy, rather than just a recruiting decision. For years, hiring was concentrated in coastal cities. Now, AI transformation is reshaping the U.S. […]

London is Europe’s largest market for software engineering talent and one of the world’s most significant hubs for enterprise technology. In Karat’s 2026 Top Cities for Engineering Talent report, London jumped up 14 spots from last year to rank 16th globally. In Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), London comes in second for elite […]

Bangalore isn’t just India’s best market for software engineering talent. It’s one of the most important engineering hubs in the world. In Karat’s 2026 Top Cities for Engineering Talent report, it ranks #1 in India and #9 globally, with 27.3% of candidates performing in the top quartile worldwide. It also has the largest software engineering […]

San Francisco and the larger Bay Area have long been the world’s most iconic engineering market. While many headlines over the last few years have reported on companies and tech workers leaving California for lower-cost markets like Texas, our data shows that San Francisco remains one of the world’s most concentrated and competitive markets for […]

Toronto jumped nine spots in Karat’s 2026 ranking of the top cities for engineering talent to become the fifth city in the world for elite engineering talent, with 29.2% of candidates estimated to be in the top quartile globally. For years, Toronto has been on the rise as a tech hub. Now, it is North […]

Seattle jumped up six spots to earn Karat's title of the world’s top city for elite talent in 2026, with 38.2% of candidates in the top quartile of global candidates.

For modern CTOs and senior engineering executives, the mandate for Global Capability Centers (GCCs) has shifted. As noted in EY’s analysis of the sector, GCCs are no longer just cost-arbitrage plays; they are evolving into “AI-native enterprises” that lead global innovation. However, the transition from a skeletal satellite office to a high-performing innovation hub is […]

The growth of global capability centers (GCCs) in India has exploded over the past few years. Hiring targets for 2024 were more than double that of the U.S., with an average of 790 open roles in India. This represents a 19% year-over-year increase. Real estate is also becoming impossible to find in GCC hubs such […]

In Karat’s 2025 analysis of engineering talent hubs, two Polish cities ranked in the top 20 based on engineering quality in technical interviews, Gdańsk (#12) and Warsaw (#20). Both are outperforming many Western European cities on talent quality, operational costs, and hiring velocity. Read on to learn more about the opportunities and challenges facing CIOs setting up engineering operations in Poland.