---
title: "Title — Work data 2026"
url: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/work/data/role
year: 2026
chapter: "work"
question: "Role"
section: "Role functions"
licence: "ODbL 1.0 (https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/)"
---

# Title

Full-stack and back-end developers comprise 41% of titles.

Asked as: Which of the following best describes your current role, or the role you held for the most time in the past year? (`Role`, single select, optional, v2026.1)

## Options offered

1. Academic researcher
2. AI/ML engineer
3. Applied scientist
4. Architect, software or solutions
5. Cloud infrastructure engineer
6. Cybersecurity or InfoSec professional
7. Data engineer
8. Data or business analyst
9. Data scientist
10. Database administrator or engineer
11. Developer advocate or developer relations professional
12. Developer, AI apps or physical AI
13. Developer, back-end
14. Developer, desktop or enterprise applications
15. Developer, embedded applications or devices
16. Developer, front-end
17. Developer, full-stack
18. Developer, game or graphics
19. Developer, mobile
20. Developer, QA or test
21. DevOps engineer or professional
22. Educator or instructor
23. Engineering manager
24. Financial analyst or engineer
25. Founder or entrepreneur
26. Hardware engineer
27. Product manager
28. Project manager
29. Retired
30. Senior executive (C-suite, VP, etc.)
31. Site reliability engineer
32. Solutions engineer, implementation engineer, or forward-deployed engineer
33. Student
34. Support engineer or analyst
35. System administrator
36. Technical writer or documentation professional
37. UX, research, or UI design professional
38. Other, please specify (with free-text entry)

## Results

### All Respondents

n = 25,767

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Developer, full-stack | 7,042 | 27.3% |
| Developer, back-end | 3,473 | 13.5% |
| Student | 1,823 | 7.1% |
| Architect, software or solutions | 1,792 | 7.0% |
| Developer, desktop or enterprise applications | 1,030 | 4.0% |
| Developer, front-end | 933 | 3.6% |
| Developer, embedded applications or devices | 731 | 2.8% |
| Academic researcher | 705 | 2.7% |
| Developer, mobile | 685 | 2.7% |
| Engineering manager | 603 | 2.3% |
| Other | 545 | 2.1% |
| DevOps engineer or professional | 527 | 2.0% |
| AI/ML engineer | 455 | 1.8% |
| Data engineer | 426 | 1.7% |
| Senior executive (C-suite, VP, etc.) | 374 | 1.5% |
| Founder or entrepreneur | 350 | 1.4% |
| Retired | 330 | 1.3% |
| Developer, game or graphics | 316 | 1.2% |
| Data scientist | 301 | 1.2% |
| System administrator | 299 | 1.2% |
| Data or business analyst | 254 | 1.0% |
| Solutions engineer, implementation engineer, or forward-deployed engineer | 244 | 0.9% |
| Cybersecurity or InfoSec professional | 228 | 0.9% |
| Software engineer | 219 | 0.8% |
| Cloud infrastructure engineer | 218 | 0.8% |
| Developer, QA or test | 203 | 0.8% |
| Developer, AI apps or physical AI | 200 | 0.8% |
| Applied scientist | 183 | 0.7% |
| Educator or instructor | 175 | 0.7% |
| Project manager | 158 | 0.6% |
| Product manager | 149 | 0.6% |
| Hardware engineer | 145 | 0.6% |
| Support engineer or analyst | 123 | 0.5% |
| Site reliability engineer | 119 | 0.5% |
| UX, research, or UI design professional | 97 | 0.4% |
| Database administrator or engineer | 94 | 0.4% |
| Developer advocate or developer relations professional | 61 | 0.2% |
| Financial analyst or engineer | 45 | 0.2% |
| Technical writer or documentation professional | 41 | 0.2% |
| Platform engineer | 37 | 0.1% |
| Marketing/Sales professional | 34 | 0.1% |

In context: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/work/data.md