Generative AI Competencies in Demand: A Job Market Analysis of Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

The emergence of generative AI (GenAI) technologies and their rapid organizational adoption are transforming workforce requirements, yet little is known about the evolving competencies needed for GenAI-related roles. It is unclear which knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) are needed to work in this emerging field. To address this knowledge gap, we processed 22,352 job postings from Stepstone in the field of GenAI. Through a text mining approach combining BERTopic modeling, clustering, and expert assessment, we identified 32 distinct KSA topics and classified them into business, technical, and analytical domains. Our findings show that GenAI roles require a diverse set of skills: new GenAI-specific competencies combined with established expertise in technical domains and business functions. We contribute to research by empirically demonstrating which competencies are demanded to work successfully in the GenAI field. Understanding these competencies can guide organizations in workforce planning and support professionals in targeted skill development.