Job posts for this role ask most for Kotlin and Java on Android and Swift on iOS, built in the MVVM pattern, with React Native the most asked of the cross-platform frameworks. The full story of what each skill is used for is on the skills page.

Among product companies, the hiring hotspots for mobile are the B2C and D2C companies, the ones that sell straight to people through their own app. B2B companies, which sell software to other businesses, hire far fewer.

The biggest hiring hotspot is e-commerce, travel and logistics, and within it Foodtech and quick commerce, above all food and grocery delivery apps. For India's own delivery apps, like Swiggy and Instamart, the app is the whole business. They hire mobile engineers more than almost any other kind of company, and they take juniors more readily than almost anyone. The next biggest hiring hotspot in commerce is E-commerce and D2C brands (who they hire). In online marketplaces the global names, like eBay and noon, hire senior engineers for native Android and iOS, while India's own, like Meesho and Flipkart, open the door wider. Around them sit resale and classifieds platforms, with apps like StockX, Poshmark and Carousell, and on-demand services apps, like Curefit and Snabbit. India's direct brands, like Purplle, Licious and Lenskart, are direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands, and they are among the friendliest places for a fresher. In Travel tech, mobile matters most at India's own booking apps in online travel agencies (OTAs), like ixigo and MakeMyTrip.

Gaming, streaming and media is another consumer hiring hotspot. In Streaming and broadcast, the work is OTT and live streaming platforms, in the video apps of JioHotstar, Crunchyroll and DAZN that must play live sport on millions of phones at once. In News, publishing and social media, the hiring hotspot is social media, dating and matrimony apps. Its apps, like FRND and Shaadi.com, hire mobile engineers for most of their work. Both are open to juniors.

In Traditional industries going digital, the hiring hotspot for mobile is Edtech. The exam-coaching apps of test prep and exam coaching platforms, like ALLEN Digital and Unacademy, are among the most junior-friendly mobile employers in the market. For language and writing apps, Duolingo and Speechify build polished apps for learners worldwide.

Industrial tech and mobility is a different kind of mobile career, closer to hardware. In Automotive and mobility, the work in automotive infotainment systems, at HARMAN, Visteon and Xperi, is Android built into the car itself, and it is senior work. Beside it, ride-hailing and shared mobility apps, the ride apps of Uber and Rapido, need native Android and iOS for both the rider and the driver. In Electronics and devices, Zebra Technologies builds Android apps for the handheld scanners in enterprise devices and professional AV equipment, and Logitech and Motorola build the companion apps in smart home appliances and consumer electronics. In Proptech, construction software makers like Procore, Trimble and RIB Software build apps for people on building sites, with more iOS work than most.

Fintech hires mobile engineers at an ordinary rate overall, but one corner stands out. In Payments, the work in UPI apps, wallets and neobanks, the UPI and wallet apps of PhonePe, Paytm and super.money, is some of the most demanding app work in the market. Nearby, the lenders behind digital lending and BNPL, like Bajaj Finserv and Navi, take juniors readily. In core banking and banking as a service (BaaS), Candescent and FIS build banking apps for other banks.

In Healthtech and life sciences, mobile work sits in medical device makers, where Medtronic, Smith+Nephew and Solventum build the companion apps for medical devices, under medical rules.

The rest of the product world hires few mobile engineers. Business software is used on desktops, and the companies that build networks, data platforms and chips have no consumer app to build.

Among the GCCs, mobile hiring follows the parents that sell to the public through an app. The retailers lead. Inside the retailers and consumer-goods companies, Walmart, Tesco, Albertsons and Best Buy India build their shopping and store apps natively, mostly Android with a large iOS share (who they hire). The banks hire about as many, though mobile is a smaller part of a bank's hiring. Inside the banks and financial institutions, mobile banking apps are built at the centres that make the bank's apps and platforms, like JPMorganChase, Commonwealth Bank and Barclays, much more than at the centres that run the bank's wider engineering (who they hire). Inside the media, entertainment and publishing groups, at Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery, the centres are small, but hire mobile engineers heavily for their streaming and news apps. GCC mobile roles are mostly for experienced engineers, and the banks are the likeliest to take a junior.

In the services world, mobile engineers build apps for clients. The IT services giants, like Wipro, IBM, Infosys and Capgemini, hire the most of any services tier, and hire heavily for cross-platform frameworks such as Flutter and React Native, because clients want one app for both phones. Accenture is the largest single employer of mobile engineers in India, though mobile is a small part of its work (who they hire). The app studios among the small software shops, like GeekyAnts and CodeVyasa, are where mobile is a large part of what a services firm does. Among the firms where the work is hardware, cars and chips, Sasken and Tessolve build Android for devices. Across services, junior mobile openings are rare. More on all of them is in the services world's frontend and mobile hiring.

In big tech, Amazon hires the most mobile engineers, almost all for its shopping app, mostly at the mid level. Google hires a few, mostly for Android, and is one of the likelier places for a junior. Apple and Microsoft hardly hire app engineers in India.

The hiring platforms, like Uplers, hackajob and Weekday AI, are a route to remote app work for companies abroad, with a larger iOS share than most. The staffing companies place mobile engineers less often, but the established ones, like Recro and TekWissen, take juniors more readily than most of the market.

Mobile engineers are rarely hired by the companies that build networks, data centres, chips and business software, or by the GCCs of insurers, healthcare groups, manufacturers, logistics firms and energy majors. These companies have no app that their customers use every day.