When Charley Daitch, CEO of data center developer Rowan Digital Infrastructure, hires electrical engineers to come work for his company, he casts his net wide.
“We hire people from the engineering firms,” he said. “We hire people directly from the hyperscalers. …We’ll pull electrical engineers that have worked in power generation, or in substations. We’ll pull in civil engineers that have worked in other big industrial projects.”
This proactive approach towards recruiting is a reflection of how the AI infrastructure buildout is exacerbating a tightness in the labor market; even before ChatGPT arrived on the scene, the energy sector struggled to find all the skilled workers it needs.
As data centers, power companies, and utilities all compete for the same workforce, job postings have surged. Between 2023 and 2025, “power sector job posting for core roles rose 20%, while data center postings surged 64% — far outpacing the 4% growth in postings… across the broader economy,” according to a March 2026 report by Deloitte. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that employment for electrical and electronics engineers will grow 7% in the decade between 2024 and 2034, “much faster than the average for all occupations.”
