AI Startups Hire a Specific Type of Employee. Do You Fit the Mold?

Tech companies have a predictable playbook when it comes to recruiting talent: Snatch up new hires in summer internships and place them into six-figure positions right out of college.

Now, however, the game is changing.

Researchers at Harvard Business School and nonprofit business school INSEAD found in a recent study that AI startups are forming smaller teams with fewer hierarchical layers.

They are also hiring fewer entry-level workers than non-AI startups. Companies that build AI products and services hire 15% fewer entry-level employees than other startups without an AI focus.

There’s additionally a typical mold of a person who is likely to work for AI startups. “They are geographically concentrated in Silicon Valley, and employ workforces that are more male, more likely to hold advanced degrees, and drawn from more prestigious employers and institutions,” according to the study.

The findings show that young, entry-level workers are at a disadvantage in the AI era. There are fewer opportunities at the bottom of the corporate ladder.

For example, the study showed that AI startups employed 20% more senior employees than non-AI startups. These AI-native companies also have 15% fewer managers and fewer management layers because they place senior employees in technical positions that require in-depth expertise rather than supervisory roles.

Also, AI startups employed 13% more engineers than other startups. The study found that AI companies raise 20% more capital per employee compared to non-AI firms and tend to have higher valuations per employee.

If these AI startups continue to raise funds from investors, entry-level employees could find it harder than ever to secure employment, per the study.

Tech companies are hiring fewer Gen Z workers

According to a 2025 study by compensation management software company Pave, the percentage of Gen Z employees ages 21 to 25 in technology companies halved between 2023 and mid-2025.

These Gen Z employees comprised 15% of the workforce at large public tech companies in January 2023. By August 2025, that percentage dropped to a mere 6.8%.

At private companies, young workers are also on the decline. The study found that during the same period, from January 2023 to August 2025, the percentage of Gen Z employees at big private tech companies dropped from 9.3% to 6.8%.

Just like the Harvard Business School study, the Pave report discovered that workers at tech companies are now older and more experienced than ever. Pave researchers revealed that the average age of employees at large public tech companies rose from 34.3 years in 2023 to 39.4 years in 2025.

The private sector had a more incremental rise, increasing from 35.1 to 36.6 years old across the same time period.

“If you’re 35 or 40 years old, you’re pretty established in your career; you have skills that you know cannot yet be disrupted by AI,” Matt Schulman, founder and CEO of Pave, told Fortune last year. “There’s still a lot of human judgment when you’re operating at the more senior level.”