AI and data centres: the technical jobs France is fighting to fill

As billions are poured into building vast server facilities, the AI race will demand substantial human expertise. Here is a look behind the scenes of a fast-moving jobs market, where certain technical profiles are in exceptionally high demand.

The rapid uptake of artificial intelligence (AI), coupled with the boom in generative AI, is creating an unprecedented need for infrastructure. At the Choose France summit a few days ago, announcements of major data centre investments multiplied across France, driven in particular by giants such as SoftBank.

Against this backdrop of accelerated growth, professional skills and recruitment have become the decisive battleground in a sector under more pressure than ever. This is confirmed by a recent study from HR specialist Randstad into recruitment in data centres. To explore this rapidly changing employment market, Presse-citron spoke to Yohann Ferron, Randstad's IT recruitment manager.

His teams support businesses every day with their governance, development and infrastructure management challenges. From the emergence of highly specialised new roles to the risk of salary bidding wars, he shares his assessment of France's ability to supply the people needed to run its supercomputers.

The behind-the-scenes profiles everyone wants

To grasp the employment dynamics in this sector, it is first necessary to separate the life of a data centre into two main stages. On one side is the upstream phase, covering civil engineering, construction and electrical installation; on the other is the operational phase itself. It is this latter stage that is now being directly reshaped by the arrival of artificial intelligence, generating extremely precise requirements at every level of the technical hierarchy.

At the start of this human chain sits the primary recruitment target: the data centre technician, also known as a hardware technician. This is the person who works directly on the physical infrastructure. “The data centre technician's role involves being responsible for cabling servers in particular, being able to replace drives when necessary, replace faulty servers and install new equipment,” explains Yohann Ferron.

Yet as the infrastructure required to run AI models becomes more complex, the next tier has also expanded considerably. Companies are now competing for systems and virtualisation engineers to make servers work together, storage engineers to oversee the backup of vast quantities of data, and network engineers, who are essential for configuring flows and enabling all these machines to communicate with one another.

This technological shift has even created new jobs that simply did not exist ten years ago. One example is the SRE (Site Reliability Engineer), a hybrid role spanning development and infrastructure which has become highly sought-after by the largest data centres. “They must automate as many actions as possible. Typically, when a server fails, they can restart it using an algorithm, transfer the workload to other machines or monitor overloads,” the expert explains. This role is vital to ensuring the continuous availability of AI models.

The reality of a two-speed data centre jobs market

Will France, faced with this technological arms race, lack the workforce required to operate its infrastructure? For Yohann Ferron, the answer requires nuance. The market is not experiencing a broad, uniform skills shortage, but rather a clear divide depending on the level of experience needed, even as forecasts for 2030-2035 point to an explosion in computing power.

At the first stage of the chain, among data centre technicians, the pool of applicants remains buoyant. “I would not say there is a real skills shortage for these profiles. These are often roles intended for young graduates, a first stepping stone into employment,” says the Randstad manager. For employers in this segment, the real challenge is retention: these young professionals soon develop “the desire to move into other roles after two or three years”, leading to considerable staff turnover.

The real pressure point lies one level higher, among highly skilled and experienced professionals. SRE engineers and infrastructure architects currently rule the market, and their scarcity in the face of soaring AI demand is creating a major imbalance.

“As time goes on, with the explosion in AI demand, senior profiles will be the most sought-after in the market because companies will need to secure these skills. And they cannot simply be multiplied,” warns Yohann Ferron. This situation will inevitably drive recruiters to seek expertise wherever it can be found, triggering “salary bidding wars for key profiles”. According to the executive, any student or aspiring IT engineer would do well to give very serious consideration to career paths linked to AI's physical infrastructure.

The issue of sovereignty

A geopolitical and sovereignty challenge is also playing out within France's borders. While France is multiplying physical infrastructure on its territory, it must also ensure that its brightest minds do not drift abroad. The quality of French engineering and AI education makes these professionals prime targets for Anglo-Saxon and European players, who have become highly adept at recruiting remotely.

“For many years, certain American, British and German companies have taken an interest in skills in France and, through remote working, are able to have employees in Europe work on American projects,” Yohann Ferron observes. This highly effective model attracts experts by offering “employee or freelance status with very high levels of pay”. The challenge is therefore twofold: building servers, while also managing to retain the talent that keeps them running.

Training, communication and greater female representation

In this environment, it is essential to broaden recruitment horizons, particularly through greater gender diversity. Today, the picture remains unmistakable, with a persistent imbalance of around three-quarters men to only one-quarter women. “Education has a key role to play, both in families and in schools. From secondary school onwards, we need to promote these new AI pathways to girls in order to inspire vocations before it is too late,” he believes. In his view, if a young person discovers an aptitude for science or mathematics, this career path should be considered.

Running a data centre also means managing enormous energy and thermal constraints. Beyond strictly IT roles, a wide range of related professions will come into the spotlight. Whether high-voltage and heavy-current electrical specialists, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) technicians, or refrigeration engineers specialising in advanced cooling systems, there should be no shortage of required occupations.