Kotlin: market
Kotlin is the modern JVM language: primary for Android development and increasingly common in server-side backend with Spring and Ktor. We track 2 915 open positions listing Kotlin, 2 774 of them fresh. Kotlin is fully Java-interoperable, so teams migrate gradually, and Kotlin Multiplatform extends it to iOS and desktop. Most of the demand comes from Mobile, Backend and Fullstack roles. It most often appears next to Java, Jetpack Compose and AWS. 48% of the postings allow fully remote work. Below is a live slice of Kotlin developer demand.
The Kotlin market currently has 2,915 open roles, 2,774 of them freshly observed. Median salary $7,666/mo. Observed candidate pool — 1,781.
48% of Kotlin postings allow fully remote work; the share counts only postings that state the work format.
⚠ salary known for 196 of 2915 jobs; remote share from 2462 with a stated format; 2774 counted as fresh observations; trend and hiring difficulty are not shown
Demand and observed supply
| Open demand | 2,915 |
| Observed supply | 1,781 |
⚠ candidates matching a vacancy are not counted yet: demand and the observed pool are shown
Salary distribution
One in ten earns under $3,894, one in ten over $18,416. Half the market falls between $5,978 and $15,250. Sample: 196.
The range histogram for Kotlin postings uses only postings with an explicit compensation range; the median is computed over the same sample.
Demand geography
| country | jobs |
|---|---|
| US | 586 |
| PL | 554 |
| DE | 169 |
| RU | 148 |
| GB | 128 |
| IN | 102 |
| CA | 88 |
| BR | 62 |
| SG | 47 |
| FR | 34 |
The top country for Kotlin demand is the US (586 positions).
⚠ job counts only: salary by country is not published
Used together with
Kotlin most often appears next to Java, Jetpack Compose and AWS. Jetpack Compose among the neighbours marks Android postings, Java — server-side backend.
Roles that use it
| role | jobs |
|---|---|
| Mobile | 815 |
| Backend | 794 |
| Fullstack | 344 |
| DevOps | 150 |
| Architect | 92 |
| QA | 91 |
| Frontend | 53 |
| Data | 51 |
| ML/AI | 41 |
| Security | 36 |
⚠ the `Other` and `IT` buckets are excluded as non-roles
Demand by grade
| grade | jobs |
|---|---|
| senior | 1,001 |
| lead | 445 |
| principal | 226 |
| middle | 175 |
| junior | 92 |
Senior-and-above is about 86% of 1 939 graded Kotlin postings.
⚠ demand side only: the grade of the observed pool is unknown for most of it
Employers
Demand is spread across 1,007 employers. The largest accounts for 15.1%, the top ten for 27.3%; the remaining 72.7% is long tail.
| share | value |
|---|---|
| top-1 | 15.1% |
| top-3 | 21.3% |
| top-10 | 27.3% |
| long tail | 72.7% |
⚠ names are not shown: staffing agencies and end employers are not yet told apart by the classifier
Where Zorky sees this market
Observed across 123 sources; the largest accounts for 30.7% — this market does not rest on a single channel.
Kotlin postings arrive mostly from ATS & career sites and job boards & aggregators.
Recent openings
- Senior Mobile Product Engineer, Intelligent Platforms (all genders) · PL · $7,438
- Staff Backend Product Engineer, Shopping AI & Search squad · PL · $10,088
- Senior Software Engineer - Accounting Core · CA
- Senior Software Engineer - Payments Platform · CA
- Senior Mobile Developer iOS / Android (k/m) · PL
- Mid Mobile Developer iOS / Android (k/m) · PL
- Senior Android Security Engineer (AOSP / Mobile Security) · RU
- Android-разработчик · RU
Adjacent markets
⚠ adjacent markets for comparison are not defined yet
How this is measured
- Vacancy
- an open job that cleared the quality gate and lists at least two technologies
- Observed candidate
- a candidate whose stack contains this technology; an aggregate — not a single record leaves the perimeter
- Matchable candidate
- not counted yet
- Window
- jobs open at the moment the snapshot was built
About the data
- Some breakdowns are hidden: their data coverage is not yet sufficient.
- Statistics are shown only where the sample clears a quality gate.
- A missing block does not mean a value of zero.
Breakdowns currently hidden: 7.
Data as of 2026-10-21
Frequently asked questions
Common questions about the Kotlin market — short answers from the same data slice.
Is Kotlin only for Android?
No: a notable share of postings is server-side backend on Spring Boot or Ktor, where Kotlin replaces Java. Another growing niche is Kotlin Multiplatform for shared iOS and Android code.
Do I need Java to work with Kotlin?
It helps: the ecosystem is shared (JVM, Gradle, libraries), and in real projects Kotlin code lives next to Java code. Java appearing in Kotlin job requirements reflects exactly that.
What is asked of a Kotlin Android developer?
Coroutines and Flow, Jetpack Compose, architecture (MVVM, MVI), DI (Hilt or Koin), networking and local storage, tests.
How remote-friendly are Kotlin jobs?
48% of postings with an explicit format allow fully remote work; the slice tracks 2 915 open Kotlin positions.