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 […]

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 the last two years, the narrative around software engineering talent was simple: talent was dispersing. Remote work, lower costs, and distributed teams were expected to flatten the global talent map. Companies (and top talent) were fleeing the coastal tech hubs in search of something different. Karat’s 2026 Top Cities data shows a different reality. […]

Artificial intelligence is reshaping not only how software is built, but how engineering excellence compounds into competitive advantage. Karat’s latest research shows that AI disproportionately amplifies the productivity and impact of top-performing engineers. Elite talent uses AI to accelerate development cycles, solve more complex technical challenges, and drive innovation at scale. As a result, performance […]

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 […]

For most financial services organizations, software contractors aren’t optional. Whether it’s modernizing core systems, accelerating digital initiatives, or scaling delivery capacity, CIOs rely on IT Service Providers (ITSPs) to keep projects moving. But as many leaders have learned the hard way, contractor quality often fails to meet expectations. Last summer, Karat launched the first Partner […]