Key Findings

  • Nearly one in three corporate finance job postings now explicitly mention artificial intelligence or machine learning skills, up from one in four a year earlier, according to a report released Tuesday by financial software provider Datarails.
  • The study analyzed 5,000 finance job postings published between January 2025 and January 2026, covering roles such as CFO, financial planning and analysis (FP&A) professionals, finance directors, and accountants. These postings appeared on major job platforms including LinkedIn, Careerbuilder, Glassdoor, Indeed, and ZipRecruiter.
  • "This data confirms what we observe in our daily work with finance teams: AI is not replacing the CFO office, it is redefining it," said Didi Gurfinkel, CEO of Datarails, in a press release. "Finance professionals who can combine AI literacy with strategic thinking and the ability to tell compelling stories with data will stand out."

Deeper Analysis

The study comes a day after Gartner reported that CFOs face growing challenges in building AI-ready teams. In a recent survey, Gartner found that acquiring and developing AI and digital talent has become the top near-term challenge for finance executives.

"CFOs will find that addressing this top challenge—hiring AI and digital talent—is not easy and is costly," said Mallory Bulman, senior director analyst in Gartner's finance practice, in a press release. "In the short term, they should focus on upskilling their existing workforce to bridge digital capability gaps and extract more value from existing tools."

Datarails' report cited several examples of companies mentioning AI in finance job postings, including MH Civil Constructors in Amarillo, Texas, which is seeking an experienced CFO to "help the business scale to its next phase of growth—leveraging advanced tools, including AI, to drive insights, accuracy, and speed."

Meanwhile, Hello Hearts, a health technology company headquartered in Menlo Park, California, posted a senior accountant role focused on identifying and implementing "process improvements, including automation and AI-driven solutions to enhance efficiency and accuracy."

Among the four job categories analyzed, FP&A roles had the highest demand for AI skills, at 43%, up from 33% a year earlier. Accountant roles saw the fastest growth, with AI mentions jumping from 18% to 30%, while CFO positions remained unchanged at 27%.

Datarails said demand for non-traditional skills such as storytelling and building partnerships is also on the rise, along with increased compensation at the CFO level.

CFO salary floors rose 9% year-over-year to $176,000, while salary caps increased 3% to $219,000. However, CFO was the only category with salary increases. In contrast, finance director salary caps fell sharply by 21%, from $170,000 to $134,000.

"The market is concentrating value at the top of the finance function while applying automation pressure to lower-level roles," the report said.