Career moves · 231,145 postings · 163 markets · 2026-07-16
Where can your career go next?
Search the role you're in. We count what employers ask for across 231,145 active postings, then show you the markets one step away: how big each one is, and exactly which skills you'd need to add.
What this is and isn't
Markets sit close together when employers on both sides ask for the same skills, measured across 350 normalized skills. This is not a record of people moving between them. That would need career histories we don't have. A close market also isn't automatically a good move. Skills counted are the ones postings list explicitly, so every figure is a floor.
You are here
Software Engineering Manager
210 open jobs·51 employers
10 markets are one step away
These are the 10 careers with the highest skill overlap with Software Engineering Manager. Bigger circles mean more openings; careers closer to the center require fewer new skills.
Among nearby careers, Software Engineer has the most openings (7,054), while Staff Software Engineer requires the fewest new skills.
Skill transition
How much each market's required skills differ from your
current role.
- Very close2
- Close8
Larger circles = more open jobs, from 114 to 7,054 here.
TapSelect a market to put it at the center.
Staff Software Engineer
from Software Engineering Manager
Excellent match
Very close
Among the 2 closest moves from Software Engineering Manager.
143
openings in Staff Software Engineer
6
skills you already have
6
skills to learn
2
skills to strengthen
You already have
Software Engineering ManagerStaff Software Engineershare of postingsdistributed systems
52%59%
technical leadership
60%52%
system design
50%43%
ui design
42%29%
c++
29%22%
model deployment
11%21%
You'll need to learn
- awsasked for in 29% of Staff Software Engineer postings
- reliabilityasked for in 41% of Staff Software Engineer postings
- sparkasked for in 17% of Staff Software Engineer postings
- api designasked for in 16% of Staff Software Engineer postings
- data engineeringasked for in 15% of Staff Software Engineer postings
- data warehouseasked for in 15% of Staff Software Engineer postings
Strengthen what you have
- distributed systems52% → 59%
- model deployment11% → 21%
How much work is out there
Software Engineering Manager210Staff Software Engineer143This market is about the size of yours.
Smaller than the market you're in, but 6 of the skills it asks for are ones you already have.
What to do next
1 · Learn
aws
Asked for in 29% of Staff Software Engineer postings, and 5 other new skills.
2 · Strengthen
distributed systems
52% of Software Engineering Manager postings ask for it, against 59% of Staff Software Engineer.
3 · Look at the work
143 Staff Software Engineer postings
Observed active in this snapshot.
210 Software Engineering Manager postings · 143 Staff Software Engineer postings · 350 normalized skills · snapshot 2026-07-16
Methodology
What is this based on?
231,145 live job postings from 28,870 employers across 163 markets, captured 2026-07-16. Skills come from each posting's stated requirements.
How is distance calculated?
Each market becomes a profile of the skills its postings request, and markets are compared by how much those profiles overlap (an IDF-weighted cosine similarity, so skills that appear in almost every role count for less). The closest markets sit nearest the center, grouped into five bands from Very close to Different field.
What do the skill lists mean?
Shared skills are the ones both roles commonly ask for. Skills to learn are the ones the target market asks for that your current role doesn't, ranked by how much more often they come up.
What isn't included?
Years of experience, seniority, salary, portfolio or certification requirements, or how competitive a role is to land. Skill overlap is one axis of a move, not the whole picture.
Read how graphic and product design split into two markets →