In the first quarter of 2026, over 3,000 deftech job openings appeared on DOU. This exceeds the number of job offers in this field for the entire year of 2024.
In the first quarter of 2026, over 3,000 deftech job openings appeared on DOU. This exceeds the number of job offers in this field for the entire year of 2024.
According to DOU, two years ago there were 2,283 such vacancies. And in the first half of 2025 there were 2,369 open positions. Since the beginning of 2026, the number of vacancies in deftech exceeds the indicators of the last quarter of 2025 by 35,4%.
«The largest number of new vacancies appeared in March — 1,120 (for example, in IT during the same period there were 6,525 vacancies). In January and February, the number of vacancies in the defense sector was almost equal — 934 and 951, respectively. For comparison, last year in the first quarter the largest increase in vacancies was in February,» the DOU study notes.
Analysts cite the scaling of Ukrainian defense companies as one of the reasons for the increase in vacancies. The largest number of vacancies in 2025 was at Frontline Robotics, which offered 300 jobs. Infozahyst, which has increased its staff to 400 specialists since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, also had more than 200 vacancies last year.
A number of Ukrainian defense companies had about 150–200 open vacancies last year. Blue-Bird.Tech, the manufacturer of the Chuyka drone detector, posted 224 vacancies in 2025 (mostly in the second half of the year).
The increase in the number of jobs in deftech is also attributed to the fact that many teams are moving from the startup format to companies with a clear structure.
«This is part of a global strategy, where there are business processes and a zone of responsibility for a certain role. The company has been on the market for more than ten years, has been both a small startup and a large one — but still a startup. Currently, we are at the final stage of transformation, where there is a clear structure and processes, so we have many open vacancies,» said Yana Khnikina, HR Director of Athlon Avia.
Earlier, Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov spoke about the formation of an IT vertical and the opening of over 2,000 vacancies for specialists who will implement digital products in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
