The Multilingual sector continues to be shaped by global customer demand, language skill shortages and evolving service delivery models. This 2026 Salary Guide benchmarks market activity from 2025, outlining the multilingual skills most in demand, current salary ranges and how employers are competing to attract and retain language-skilled professionals across Ireland.

Multilingual Job Market Outlook 2026: Language Skills, Customer Demand and Talent Availability

Housing Challenges Drive Premiums

Housing affordability challenges have made it more difficult to attract multilingual talent to Ireland. This has resulted in companies paying a premium for sought-after language skills, particularly Nordic languages, German, Dutch, and Mandarin. We have also seen increased salaries on offer for positions that combine a language with an in-demand skill set, such as regulatory, tech, or sales. Due to the housing crisis, relocation packages feature less and less, resulting in increased demand for language speakers already based on the island.

AI Reshapes Skill Demand

As machine translation, AI, and automation develop, "language-only" roles are reducing in demand. We expect a continued decrease in entry-level multilingual roles where language is the main skill. However, we anticipate continued strong demand for high-skill multilingual roles in areas like interpreting, regulatory, legal, and sales. Furthermore, we expect continued demand for professionals who combine language skills with AI, such as data annotators or those with experience working on large language models.

Hybrid Work Becomes Structured

As most multilingual roles are based within large multinational environments, hybrid working remains a key feature. However, most of these companies have now moved to structured in-office days, with a requirement of 2-3 days per week in the office. We expect this trend to continue and solidify throughout 2026.

Focus on Retention Strategies

As the cost of living continues to rise, we are seeing more of a focus on retention strategies to hold on to in-demand language professionals. Companies are being more proactive with salary increases, promoting internal career opportunities, and offering flexible working conditions to retain their key multilingual talent.