Remote roles just surged 20%. But the supply is concentrated in roles that provide high-impact to a business, and are therefore lower risk
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For several months now, the headlines have concentrated on RTO return-to-office mandates, centering on employers demanding full-time in-office attendance or gradually increasing the ratio of days in office to days working from home.
But in a surprising turn, new data from FlexJobs suggests that remote work might be proving to be more resilient than these headlines imply.
Remote job listings jumped by 20% in Q4 2025, a FlexJobs 2026 report just found.
A separate report this week revealed that more than three in four workers say that their current or most recent employer’s RTO policy has not changed.
Employers are currently stalling on return-to-office mandates, for specific roles. But more than that, they are actually hiring for more remote roles. A 20% jump is quite a significant pickup, confirming that remote hiring is still on an upward trend.
Which Remote Jobs Are Growing The Fastest?
FlexJobs’ data shows that there is one category of jobs that have the most remote job vacancies right now:
Remote sales and business development roles.
When looking at jobs that pay more than $100,000, the top five remote jobs of the quarter experiencing the most hiring include:
- Senior product managers: average salary $136,000
- Data engineers: average salary $135,000
- Senior software engineers: average salary $132,000
- Project managers: average salary $104,000
- Product marketing managers: average salary $105,000
The Top Companies Hiring For Remote Jobs Right Now
The top employers hiring for these remote jobs include:
- Thermo Fisher Scientific
- Centene Corporation
- General Electric – GE
- Medtronic
- Abbott
- General Dynamics
- Stratacuity
- Liberty Mutual
- Elevance Health
- Apex Systems
This tells us a fascinating insight about the future of remote work as it relates to employers’ priorities right now. Employers have ramped up hiring the strongest in roles that are directly tied to revenue and form the foundation of the infrastructure for their customers.
To land a remote role in 2026, ask yourself, How does my expertise directly connect to business revenue generation?
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So if you’re skilled in driving the business forward through technical leadership, sales acumen, or project management expertise, as the job market stands right now, you’re more likely to land a remote job.
Is Remote Work Making A Comeback?
Throughout the year, demand for remote jobs will gain and fall. This is common and can be expected from quarter to quarter.
Certain industries may favor more remote roles than others, and this is subject to a wide variety of factors, such as:
- Seasonal demands
- The economic backdrop
- Market changes
It’s impossible to predict for the long term what the future of remote work will look like. But one thing has remained consistent over the past few years since the pandemic: demand for remote work, from the job-seeker’s point side, remains extremely high.
- On-third of workers say they would not apply for a job that requires them to be in the office full-time
- About 35% agreed that remote work is the most important factor in a job, even outranking salary (33%).
So here’s the current situation:
- Demand for remote work still outpaces supply
- Jobs that are fully remote, and even hybrid-remote, are inundated with applications
- This means that employers must be extremely selective and ensure they hire the best candidates, especially when AI slop is prevalent in job applications
- Employers are realizing that for them to drive their business forward, they need to be more flexible with their hiring policies, so that they can attract top talent. Therefore, roles that are critical to revenue generation and require high levels of expertise niche (like AI product management) are the ones with the most remote work options.
In short, remote jobs are creeping up into popularity–but only where justified by a critical need or gap in an organization.
The question at the top of mind for you right now should not be, “How many employers are hiring remotely right now?” but instead, the two-fold question:
“Do I possess the expertise (and am I demonstrating proof of it) that organizations need to make solid impact in their market and increase their revenue?”
If you can answer yes, you’re more likely to gain access to remote job opportunities.
