AI Is Reshaping Tech Careers — Mid-Level Managers Must Upskill or Risk Irrelevance

• Chinmay
• July 7, 2025
• Artificial Intelligence
• AI career roadmap, AI impact on software managers, AI jobs in India, Ciel HR tech insights, GPT in software development, LLMs and automation, mid-level tech layoffs, Nasscom AI jobs, reskilling tech workforce, upskilling in AI
• 0 Comments

The AI era isn’t just disrupting entry-level tech jobs. It’s now climbing up the ladder — and middle management is in its crosshairs. As automation and AI agents become better at supervision, planning, and even decision-making, traditional people-manager roles in the tech industry are fast becoming obsolete.

“It’s just a matter of time before middle-management jobs come under scrutiny,” says Nitin Bhatt, Technology Sector Leader at EY.

According to staffing firm TeamLease, 10–15% of tech’s managerial layer, especially those with 15–20 years of experience, is vulnerable. Why? Because the nature of tech leadership is shifting — from coordination to code.

From Managers to Technologists: The New Mandate

India has roughly 610,000 professionals with 13–17 years of experience, according to Xpheno. Many are now at risk of being left behind, especially if they’ve focused solely on team management rather than technical depth.

“There is no people manager anymore. Our engineering leaders are all hardcore techies,” says Rohit Kaila, Site Leader, Wayfair India.

“The productivity revolution I see coming to software (LLMs + tooling) could destroy a lot of jobs,” warned Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu.

Why AI Fluency Matters

The key to survival is upskilling — not in soft skills, but in AI-native tools and thinking. As Uber’s Praveen Neppalli Naga puts it:

“AI isn’t taking your job. But someone using AI will.”

In other words: it’s not enough to know how software is built. You need to know how it’s being built now. Tools like Cursor, Copilot, and internal LLMs are reshaping the software development lifecycle — from code to test to deployment.

The Ground Reality: Fewer Hires, Sharper Skills

• The top five Indian IT firms hired just 12,718 employees in FY24, down from 66,500 in FY20.
• Nasscom reports 400,000 engineers trained in AI — but only 73,000 have advanced AI skills.
• Routine roles like basic Java dev and manual QA testing are rapidly shrinking.

No More “People Managers” — Only Builders Who Can Lead

Companies today want hybrid leaders: people who understand tech deeply, coach others, and ship real value. This is especially true for Indian tech services firms, where traditional roles are flattening and expectations are shifting fast.

“The real change is in IT services,” says Aditya Narayan Mishra, CEO of Ciel HR. “We now get far more requirements in AI, GenAI, cloud, product roles.”

The Path Ahead: 2.7 Million AI Jobs, But For Whom?

India is set to create 2.7 million AI jobs by 2028, according to Nasscom. But this isn’t a hiring spree — it’s a filter. Those who evolve will thrive. Those who don’t will be replaced — not by AI, but by those who’ve mastered it. So if you’re in tech today, don’t just “manage” change.

Learn it. Build with it. Lead through it.