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Atlas: Sequoia’s interactive guide to Europe’s technical talent

Explore ↓
3M engineers across Europe
14 areas of specialisation
24 cities with outlier specialisation densities

Where do you find the right talent?

The European tech-talent landscape is increasingly complex to navigate for founders and recruiters. It’s home to world-leading universities and nearly 3M engineers, but talent is more distributed than ever. With remote work, startups are increasingly recruiting from across the region.

Yet it’s difficult to know where to look. 59% of startups across Europe now have distributed teams, and 74% of those cite accessing specialists in other cities as a primary driver. London and Paris have the most engineers. However, many other cities demonstrate a higher per-capita talent density for various skillsets. Some startups may seek volume, while others may want to hire where there’s a focus in a particular speciality.

Atlas is a guide to local specialisation hubs, as well as to the total talent distribution across Europe. For 14 key engineering skill areas, explore cities with the top volume, or those with outlier per-capita talent density. Whether you’re hiring one remote employee, building an engineering hub or considering where to base your company, this data can help. Atlas also explores evolving trends in areas such as hybrid work, compensation and AI.

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Explore talent volume

There are about 3 million software engineers in Europe in 14 skill areas. We analysed the Europe-wide distribution of talent for each specialisation by volume from the 50 largest engineering hubs. Below, see the top 15 cities for each skill area.

City Talent Share Github Rating Years of Experience
London
<4
4+5
2
5
10+
Paris
<4
4+5
2
5
10+
Madrid
<4
4+5
2
5
10+
Amsterdam
<4
4+5
2
5
10+
Berlin
<4
4+5
2
5
10+
Stockholm
<4
4+5
2
5
10+
Manchester
<4
4+5
2
5
10+
Copenhagen
<4
4+5
2
5
10+
Zurich
<4
4+5
2
5
10+
Brussels
<4
4+5
2
5
10+
Munich
<4
4+5
2
5
10+
Budapest
<4
4+5
2
5
10+
Milan
<4
4+5
2
5
10+
Barcelona
<4
4+5
2
5
10+
Warsaw
<4
4+5
2
5
10+

Explore specialisation density

The cities with the highest talent volume aren’t necessarily the ones with the densest per-capita concentration for a given speciality among the local talent pool. We’ve identified 24 cities with density spikes in key specialisation areas.

Talent Density
Notable Standout Top city
Engineering Experience
2
5
10 YRS+
GitHub Rating
Percent of GitHub users in city with
4 or 5 star rating
Amsterdam
48%

Amsterdam

Home to a third of Europe’s data centres and the birthplace of the Python programming language, Amsterdam has the largest pool of DevOps experts outside London and Paris.

Primary Skills

DevOps

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Athens
63%

Athens

As one of southern Europe’s burgeoning startup ecosystems, this ancient city is becoming a centre of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.

Primary Skills

Front-End FrameworksSecurity

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Barcelona
46%

Barcelona

With 2,000 tech companies and 210 technology parks, Barcelona is a well-established home for startups and talent alike—and has the investment funding to match.

Primary Skills

MobileApplication Development

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Berlin
49%

Berlin

Germany’s capital in the heart of Europe is rich in culture and cutting-edge technology. With its international network and varied tech landscape, it’s a magnet for remote workers and startups.

Primary Skills

Mobile

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Bristol
44%

Bristol

Regarded as one of the UK’s most exciting creative hubs, Bristol is a magnet for self-employed talent, startups and large corporations.

Primary Skills

HardwareSecurityFront-End Frameworks

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Bucharest
31%

Bucharest

With its relatively low cost of living, low taxes and high proportion of female tech talent, Romania’s capital is making a name for itself as an emerging tech hub.

Primary Skills

Front-End Frameworks

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Cambridge
48%

Cambridge

Known as ‘Silicon Fen’, picturesque Cambridge has spawned six unicorns and is a hotbed for gifted talent thanks to its unrivalled pedigree in university education.

Primary Skills

Hardware

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Dublin
37%

Dublin

The “Silicon Valley of Europe”, Ireland’s laid-back capital is a hive of activity, attracting tech players big and small—lured in part by the country’s forgiving tax scheme.

Primary Skills

Data ScienceFinanceSecurityServer & CloudAI

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Edinburgh
44%

Edinburgh

Melding the old and the new, the Scottish capital’s cobbled alleys are a hub of tech talent with a wide range of skills.

Primary Skills

AIGraphics & GamingSecurityFront-End Frameworks

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Gothenburg
42%

Gothenburg

Birthplace of Volvo, Sweden’s second-largest city grew from a maritime hub to a leader in transport innovation and attracts over a third of Sweden’s private R&D investment.

Primary Skills

Systems

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Helsinki
60%

Helsinki

Helsinki has a long-standing tradition of design and technology innovation. With 1 million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, it is abuzz with talent.

Primary Skills

Graphics & Gaming

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Krakow
42%

Krakow

In Poland’s second-largest city, the tech scene has grown and matured—Kraków is poised to become a tech powerhouse.

Primary Skills

Application DevelopmentFront-End Frameworks

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Lisbon
34%

Lisbon

Portugal’s capital was named the number-one emerging source of engineering talent by startup founders and recruiters surveyed by Sequoia.

Primary Skills

Application DevelopmentDatabases

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
London
42%

London

Europe’s super-skilled tech frontrunner is a magnet for culture, academia and finance—and some of the world’s most famous startups and unicorns.

Primary Skills

SecurityFinanceFront-End Frameworks

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Madrid
42%

Madrid

Spain’s embrace of remote working, including the newly introduced digital nomad visa, has sparked a thriving tech scene in the country with a diversified workforce.

Primary Skills

Application Development

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Munich
48%

Munich

Home to several tech giants, this vibrant scene hosts young talent in systems and robotics, drones & autonomous vehicles. One startup even builds flying taxis.

Primary Skills

Robotics, Drones and Autonomous Vehicles

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Paris
48%

Paris

Second only to London in the number of engineers in almost every category, Paris is also the home of Station F, the world’s largest startup campus.

Primary Skills

AIApplication DevelopmentData ScienceSecuritySystemsFinance

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Porto
37%

Porto

Laid-back and with cheaper living costs than many other European cities, scenic Porto is a lure for experienced digital nomads as well as young talent.

Primary Skills

Application Development

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Prague
48%

Prague

Czechia’s picturesque capital attracts millions of tourists annually; but among its famous Gothic spires is a hub of hypermodern tech startups.

Primary Skills

Application DevelopmentDatabases

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Stockholm
43%

Stockholm

Sweden’s capital, built on an archipelago in the Baltic Sea, is famous for its 50 bridges, but its modern reputation is built on its dynamic tech-industry network and startups like Spotify.

Primary Skills

Graphics & Gaming

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Stuttgart
46%

Stuttgart

Nestled in vineyards and forests, the “cradle of the automobile” is home to Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and mobility-minded engineers.

Primary Skills

Robotics, Drones and Autonomous VehiclesSystems

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Tallinn
41%

Tallinn

Skype, Wise and Bolt call the Estonian capital home, cementing the Baltic city’s reputation as a hotbed for innovation and young talent.

Primary Skills

Front-End Frameworks

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Vilnius
40%

Vilnius

With its friendly regulatory and tax environment, Lithuania’s capital city is a magnet for startups, business hubs and accelerators.

Primary Skills

Front-End Frameworks

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
Zurich
35%

Zurich

The largest city in Switzerland, Zurich is a global centre for banking and finance—and an incubator for the tech talent these industries increasingly rely on.

Primary Skills

AI

GitHub Ratings

<4
4+5

Engineering Experience

2
5
10 YRS+
Explore
78% of engineering teams
are distributed, far more
than other teams
73% of surveyed recruiters say
compensation is levelling
between countries

The state of tech talent

Many startups are settling into a post-pandemic norm where remote or hybrid work is common—but location still matters. Three quarters of our survey respondents cited “accessing specialist skills in other locations” as a driving factor in operating distributed teams across Europe.

While cost-of-living and office rents vary widely across the region, compensation is increasingly levelling out. The majority of recruiters in our study say that pay for remote engineers is the same as HQ salaries. Almost three quarters say compensation is levelling between countries, and over 80% say it’s evening out between urban centres and rural areas within countries.

From the rise of remote work to the resilience of Ukraine to the region’s advantages in AI, Europe’s startup ecosystem is vibrant. Read on for insights about the state of tech-talent across Europe.

  1. 00 Executive summary
  2. 01 Hybrid is on the rise
  3. 02 Diverging priorities
  4. 03 AI in Europe
  5. 04 Ukraine resilience
  6. 05 Compensation is levelling