Building the right team of experts is essential to achieving the business goals set for 2026. However, the IT labor market continues to present serious challenges to employers: the pace of technological development, labor shortages and increasingly complex expectations all contribute to the fact that managing IT recruitment challenges becomes a strategic issue.

In addition to the often repeated general knowledge, we now want to provide support with current market information, so we have collected the most important information with the help of Réka Balassa, the head of IT recruitment at IDBC Projects.

Most sought-after IT professionals and shortage professions

Developers (FullStack, Java/React/Angular), DevOps engineers and testers continue to be among the most sought-after IT professionals, primarily due to continuous development needs and project-based operations.

As Réka put it:

“At the same time, the strengthening of automation, digitalization and data-driven operations is generating increasing demand and a real labor shortage in the cloud, data, BI and compliance areas, where in addition to technological knowledge, a business and regulatory approach is also expected.”

What can employers expect in terms of wages in 2026?

Companies typically plan to hire fewer mid-level professionals, but they have even greater room for wage adjustment. Accordingly, a salary increase of 6%–8% this year is considered realistic, especially for professionals with high potential. However, salaries at senior levels typically approach the upper limit of corporate budgets, which limits the extent of overall salary increases. Nevertheless, due to retention and business risk reduction considerations, an average of 5–7% increases are expected at this level.

In the case of shortage professions, we expect an even higher salary increase of 8–10% on average, and in the data and cloud areas, an increase of up to 15% is possible.

What do IT professionals want beyond the base salary?

In addition to salary, professional development, the use of the most modern technology stacks, and participation in large-scale, even strategic projects are of paramount importance to IT professionals. AI-related solutions remain particularly attractive.

In addition, home office is now a basic requirement: employers who expect office presence more than two days a week can choose from a significantly narrower pool of candidates.

When is it worth involving an agency for IT recruitment?

In this market environment, finding the right professionals can be an increasingly challenging task, and a lengthy selection process or a poorly made recruitment decision can result in significant costs and time loss for the company.

The involvement of an experienced IT recruitment agency is particularly justified:

• in the case of high-volume or specialized searches,
• in the case of capacity shortages or urgent recruitment needs,
• if the market mapping and rapid market feedback (e.g. available candidates, salary levels)
• if you want to expand your team without increasing your staff, for example in the form of contracting,
• if the goal is to find the best possible candidate with minimal risk.

How can we help?

Whether it’s a matter of staffing or contracting, our expert team specialized in IT recruitment provides comprehensive, personalized support throughout the entire process.

Professional community

We have a community of IT experts consisting of professionals with diverse professional backgrounds and technological knowledge, whom we can immediately launch into the selection process, further reducing the time to fill positions.

IT recruitment processes outsourcing – RPO support

If you need a larger volume, fast-start recruitment – ​​whether to build entire teams or sites – or you would like to relieve your HR team, we provide efficient and flexible support with our RPO solution. Our dedicated consultants integrate into our clients’ teams and accompany them throughout the entire recruitment process.

👉 Contact us and let’s achieve your 2026 recruitment goals together!

https://idbc.hu/en/services/