13 Hardest-to-Fill IT Roles According to the 2021 CIO Survey

13 Hardest-to-Fill Jobs

The 2021 CIO Survey shows organizations are struggling to fill cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and data analytics roles, and are looking farther afield for IT talent.

Since last year, the hardest-to-fill IT positions have not changed much, but a new factor may ease the situation in coming months: remote work has expanded the pool of candidates beyond specific geographic regions.

"The talent war has changed dramatically," says Alex Kraus, Vice President at Metis Strategy. "The talent pool is much larger, sometimes global, whereas before it was limited to the location of the company headquarters."

The pandemic has had a major impact on this year's IT spending. According to the CIO Survey, the three main business drivers for IT budgets this year are transforming existing business processes (36%), increasing cybersecurity protection (34%), and improving customer experience (33%).

Kraus says that from senior analysts to field practitioners, security hiring is an across-the-board pain point. He notes that security investments often lack a positive ROI unless there is a high‑profile data breach that alarms the board and C‑level executives, helping to justify increased cybersecurity spending.

He adds another "bucket" of jobs related to employee experience, shifting focus from "health and wellbeing" to factors such as productivity, scalability, and virtual collaboration.

Anything related to data analytics is now a hot button. His top recommendation for addressing these shortages is "strict prioritization"—focus on the areas most important to your business next year.

13 Hardest-to-Fill Jobs

According to the 2021 CIO Survey, these roles have the highest pain points in finding qualified candidates:

Cybersecurity: 21%

Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning: 20%

Data Science / Analytics: 19%

DevOps / DevSecOps / Agile: 12%

Cloud Services / Integration: 11%

Robotic Process Automation (RPA): 9%

IoT / Edge Computing (connected devices, sensors): 8%

Application Development: 8%

Software Engineering: 8%

Enterprise Architecture: 7%

Cloud Architecture: 7%

Enterprise Software (ERP, CRM, etc.): 6%

Multi‑cloud Management: 6%

Finding Great Candidates

Overall, IT turnover has remained low over the past year. CIO Jo Abernathy of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina notes that even before the pandemic turnover was modest, yet challenging positions—especially in AI and analytics—remain difficult to fill.

To attract strong applicants, BCBSNC sponsors two computer‑science and engineering programs at North Carolina State University, offering projects and mentorship to students. This pipeline helps bring young professionals into the organization.

Abernathy cautions that only a “few” such hires exist and that candidates often lack real‑world experience, so the approach is not a silver bullet.

The company also works hard to brand itself as an attractive tech employer through events, award nominations, panel discussions, and local tech activities, which help top talent view them favorably.

Being a nonprofit that serves all citizens in the state and strives to improve healthcare accessibility gives the organization additional appeal, especially to younger workers seeking purpose.

More Training

Core & Main, a distributor of water, sewer, storm‑water, and fire‑protection products based in Orlando, describes itself as a geographically distributed IT shop with team members across time zones. Their new CIO is pleased they have maintained the team through COVID without turnover.

With increased emphasis on digital tools and a surge in customer demand in 2020, Core & Main is expanding partnerships with IT vendors to upskill internal staff and supplement core talent, accelerating product development.

They have also hired project managers focused on delivering outcomes for the entire customer base, not just individual clients, and have shifted success metrics to value non‑contact solutions and faster time‑to‑market, improving efficiency and safety.

Looking ahead, the CIO believes digital dominance will continue to drive delivery speed and provide richer data for better decision‑making.

Professional Services Demand

Brillio’s CIO and Head of Excellence, Mosesraj R, says the skill mix needed after the pandemic has shifted, requiring resilience, employee connection, and data‑enabled systems.

The specific positions they are hiring for include:

Data skills to build a business‑intelligence platform

Architects to scale and establish resilient engineering automation

Security professionals to improve cyber‑risk management

Full‑stack engineers to increase throughput

Among these, architects and security experts are the hardest to find. The focus is on hiring for the right attitude, product‑mindset, and cultural fit, then teaching the necessary skills.

Kraus predicts that pandemic‑driven changes will persist; business travel will not rebound quickly, and professional‑services firms will rely more on virtual meetings rather than sending experts worldwide.

Women Leaving — and Lots of Unused Vacation

Although remote hiring may help fill some roles faster, Kraus is unsure it will stop the exodus of women from tech due to work‑life‑balance concerns. He notes an increasing number of women are leaving the job market, and it is unclear whether the trend will reverse post‑pandemic.

Women who left full‑time work to help children with remote schooling may return when schools reopen, and single mothers in places like Idaho may become part of the talent pool.

Another emerging issue for CIOs is overdue vacation. Many IT employees have gone over a year without taking time off, creating a major operational and logistical problem.

If everyone tries to use their accrued PTO at once, organizations could face a coverage nightmare, as large amounts of unused vacation time are set to be taken or expire.