Juicebox, the AI recruiting platform, today announced the release of SF Is So Back, a new report examining the talent companies searched for and, in collaboration with Newmark Research, the office space they committed to during the first half of 2026.

San Francisco could be reclaiming its place at the center of tech. In 2026, the data tells a compelling story, with hiring demand extending across business functions and companies making larger, longer-term commitments to office space. Key findings from the report include:

  • Tech backgrounds dominate talent searches: Software appeared in 27% of all San Francisco talent searches between January and June 2026. That’s more than 4x the share of Financial Services, the second-most searched non-technology adjacent industry background.
  • Software developers are still the most searched talent: Despite talks about AI replacing engineers, demand for technical talent remains high. The three most-searched roles in San Francisco were all in software development or engineering.
  • Office leasing jumped 37% and is on pace for a 30-year high: Companies leased 7.9 million square feet of San Francisco office space between January and June 2026, up 37% from the same period in 2025. At its current pace, leasing is projected to reach 15.9 million square feet for the year.
  • Companies are signing bigger leases as vacancy falls: Average lease size reached 20,388 square feet in the first half of 2026, its highest level since 2019, while vacancy fell year over year in both Q1 and Q2. The report also finds that companies are expanding existing footprints, with Tech and AI expansion leasing reaching roughly 390,000 square feet in just six months, surpassing every full-year total in the dataset going back to 2019.

“There’s been so much speculation about San Francisco’s recovery, but when you’re building a company here, the momentum is something you can feel,” said David Paffenholz, Co-founder and CEO of Juicebox. “The data from Juicebox and contributions from Newmark validate a shift we’ve been seeing for some time. We expect hiring demand to continue growing, not only in software development but across go-to-market and operational roles, as well as industries beyond traditional tech.”

“The office recovery is showing up in both the amount of space companies are leasing and how they solve for flexibility as they plan for growth,” said Maurice “Mo” Spikes, Senior Managing Director at Newmark. “We’re largely seeing companies seek space that they can move into quickly, with room to expand as their teams scale. As high-quality, built-out space becomes harder to find, planning ahead is becoming more important, particularly for companies thinking about scalability from day one.”

Looking ahead, Juicebox expects technical talent to remain at the center of San Francisco’s recruiting demand, with searches also spanning product, sales, marketing, recruiting, and operations. As generative AI makes it easier to tailor resumes, generate cover letters, and apply to roles at scale, inbound application volume is growing while traditional signals are becoming less meaningful to recruiters. Juicebox expects more hiring to begin to look like executive search, with companies proactively identifying and reaching the specific people they want rather than relying primarily on inbound applicants.

Newmark expects the market to continue tightening, starting with high-quality, built-out space that is already in short supply. As inventory becomes increasingly scarce, demand is beginning to move into adjacent neighborhoods. Companies still want immediate occupancy, but finding space that meets their timing and aesthetic requirements is becoming more difficult as move-in-ready supply tightens, competition increases, and construction costs continue to rise.

The findings suggest the next phase of San Francisco’s recovery will depend on companies securing both the people and the workplaces they need to expand.

To view the full report findings, visit: https://juicebox.ai/reports/sf-is-back

Methodology

This report combines San Francisco talent search data from Juicebox with commercial real estate data contributions from Newmark. Juicebox analyzed unique recruiter searches for talent conducted between January and June 2025 and 2026, including 33,370 searches in the first half of 2026, with New York City included as a benchmark. Searches were analyzed by role and industry background using Juicebox’s AI classification models; industry findings reflect the backgrounds recruiters sought in candidates, rather than the industry of the hiring company.

Newmark’s analysis draws on its office market research, including 2025 and 2026 leasing activity and vacancy data, as well as historical average lease size and tech and AI leasing transactions. 2026 figures cover January through June unless otherwise noted. Newmark’s published market research uses Newmark Research and CoStar data.

About Juicebox

Juicebox is an AI-native recruiting platform used by over 6,000 companies worldwide to find and engage top talent faster with AI-powered search, outreach sequencing, and autonomous agents. Customers like Cursor, Lovable, Ramp, and Notion already trust Juicebox today to proactively identify and engage the right candidates before they ever apply. Juicebox has raised $116M in funding to-date, from top investors like Sequoia and DST Global. Learn more at juicebox.ai.

About Newmark

Newmark Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NMRK), together with its subsidiaries (“Newmark”), is a world leading commercial real estate advisor and service provider to large institutional investors and other owners, global corporations and other occupiers, and lenders. Built with purpose and driven by excellence, Newmark’s comprehensive platform is uniquely tailored to provide superior outcomes to clients. For the twelve months ended June 30, 2026, Newmark generated revenues of more than $3.6 billion. As of June 30, 2026, Newmark and its business partners together operated from over 195 offices with more than 10,000 professionals across four continents. Learn more at nmrk.com or follow @newmark.

Discussion of Forward-Looking Statements about Newmark

Statements in this document regarding Newmark that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” that involve risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. These include statements about the Company’s business, results, financial position, liquidity, and outlook, which may constitute forward-looking statements and are subject to the risk that the actual impact may differ, possibly materially, from what is currently expected. Except as required by law, Newmark undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see Newmark’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors and Special Note on Forward-Looking Information set forth in these filings and any updates to such risk factors and Special Note on Forward-Looking Information contained in subsequent reports on Form 10-K, Form 10-Q or Form 8-K.

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