LinkedIn research across 27 countries finds women hold just 13% of C-suite AI leadership roles
AI is generating some of the fastest-growing jobs in the labour market, but women are being locked out of its most senior and highest-paid roles, according to a new report from LinkedIn.
The report, which looked at who is benefiting from the rapid growth of AI jobs, found that women hold just 13% of C-suite positions at AI companies across 27 countries.
It comes despite surging demand for AI talent, with job postings roughly doubling since 2023, AI Engineer overtaking Machine Learning Engineer as the most common AI role on the platform, and VP of AI postings increasing roughly sixfold.
Yet women are not sharing equally in that growth, according to the report.
Women's share in AI roles is around 10 percentage points lower than in non-AI roles. Their share of the workforce is also around only five percentage points lower at AI-focused companies than at comparable non-AI firms, while the gender gap widens by a further 15 percentage points at C-suite level.
"AI is creating some of the fastest-growing and highest-value opportunities in the labour market, but women remain underrepresented at every stage: getting hired into AI, reaching its highest-value roles, and leading the companies shaping its future," said Audrey Lobo-Pulo, Head of Public Policy and Economic Graph at LinkedIn Australia and New Zealand.
Gaps even within AI roles
The underrepresentation is sharpest in some of the sector's highest-paying positions. Women hold just 20% of Head of AI roles, 26% of Director of AI roles, and 18% of Member of Technical Staff positions.
This demonstrates that even within-AI, the gap persists, according to the report.
"The roles that pay more tend to have a higher share of male hires. Head of AI and Member of Technical Staff roles are among the highest-paid AI jobs, and women make up less than a quarter of hires in both categories," it read.
On the other hand, women are more likely to be employed in lower-paid AI roles.
The report found that the most gender-balanced AI role is the Data Annotator, where women represent more than half of hires in those roles.
It comes as the position has lower specialised education requirements than other AI roles, according to LinkedIn. Its nature of being paid hourly, project-based, and frequently remote also makes it more accessible to women who may be balancing paid work with caregiving responsibilities.
"But this exception also reveals a deeper problem. Data annotation is more accessible and more gender-balanced, but it is also one of the lowest-paid AI roles," the report read.
"In other words, women are better represented in the part of the AI labour market with lower pay, while they remain underrepresented in the highest-paying AI roles."
The report underscored that the gender divide in AI is not just about who gets access to the roles, but also who gets access to its highest-paying opportunities.
"If women are underrepresented in the roles shaping AI, companies and countries are leaving talent, perspective, and growth potential on the table. We need to ask what employers, institutions and workforce systems need to do differently so more people can enter and lead in the AI economy," Lobo-Pulo said.
