← Poachd

Early access

Every trade building the AI economy - and the contractors chasing them - in one place.

One way in for both sides of the data centre workforce. Every trade that energises a site joins free and gets approached. Contractors register demand and see capability depth before they pay. We open each city once both sides of it are deep enough to actually match, so joining early moves your city up the queue.

Modelled AU/NZ relevant electricians

21,600

Modelled estimate

Modelled APAC relevant electricians (incl. Johor)

110,200

Modelled estimate

Modelled US relevant electricians

112,900

Modelled estimate

Modelled poaching approaches per working day

3,006

Modelled estimate

Modelled from ABS/BLS and equivalent national electrician employment counts, published data centre construction pipelines and the 3–4 approaches per worker per year observed in the sector. Rate bands are base hourly pay in local currency for a data-centre-grade electrician, benchmarked August 2026 against enterprise agreement and collective-agreement scales (ETU/NECA in AU, CIF-Connect SEO in IE, JIB in UK), IBEW local scale and Davis-Bacon determinations in the US, and published public-works labour unit prices in JP/KR. They exclude on-costs, allowances, per diem and union fringe packages, which can add 25–60% to the total cost of an hour. Estimates, not platform counts.

Where demand is concentrated

Modelled shortage by market. Join from any city - we prioritise the ones filling fastest on both sides.

Sydney

Western Sydney availability zones in staged fitout

7,400 tradespeople480 roles96/dayA$62–95/hr

Melbourne

Truganina / Derrimut campus cluster plus BESS pipeline

6,100 tradespeople350 roles78/dayA$58–90/hr

Brisbane

Competing with resources sector rosters

3,300 tradespeople190 roles42/dayA$55–85/hr

Perth

FIFO premiums pull teams away from urban builds

2,900 tradespeople150 roles36/dayA$62–100/hr

Auckland

Small pool feeding both local campuses and AU rosters

1,900 tradespeople95 roles22/dayNZ$48–78/hr

Johor

Sedenak and Kulai campuses absorbing teams faster than the state can license them

9,200 tradespeople1,250 roles165/dayRM28–60/hr

Singapore

Moratorium-constrained capacity, so commissioning talent commutes to Johor

5,400 tradespeople430 roles74/dayS$20–36/hr

Jakarta

Emerging hyperscale pipeline with a shallow HV commissioning bench

6,800 tradespeople380 roles58/dayRp40k–95k/hr

Tokyo

Inzai and Tokyo Bay clusters competing with grid and rail programs

11,200 tradespeople640 roles82/day¥3,100–5,600/hr

Osaka

Keihanna campus growth pulling from advanced manufacturing

6,400 tradespeople310 roles44/day¥2,900–5,100/hr

Seoul

Semiconductor fabs and AI campuses bidding for the same HV licences

9,800 tradespeople520 roles70/day₩26k–46k/hr

Mumbai

Navi Mumbai landings scaling ahead of verified commissioning depth

18,500 tradespeople1,450 roles190/day₹260–620/hr

Chennai

Ambattur and Siruseri clusters plus cable landing works

12,400 tradespeople890 roles120/day₹210–520/hr

Hyderabad

Hyperscale campuses at Chandanvelly and Shamshabad drawing controls teams

10,600 tradespeople760 roles104/day₹230–560/hr

Kuala Lumpur

Cyberjaya and Bukit Jalil builds competing with Johor for the same licensed teams

7,600 tradespeople520 roles84/dayRM22–50/hr

Batam

Nongsa landing point campuses inside the Singapore latency ring

3,400 tradespeople210 roles34/dayRp32k–78k/hr

Taipei

Fab expansions and AI hosting builds absorbing HV and controls capability

8,900 tradespeople460 roles62/dayNT$450–1,150/hr

Northern Virginia

Largest data centre concentration on earth

21,000 tradespeople2,600 roles320/dayUS$48–74/hr

Dallas–Fort Worth

Fastest growing AI campus corridor

15,500 tradespeople1,700 roles230/dayUS$34–58/hr

Phoenix

Semiconductor fabs competing for the same licences

12,800 tradespeople1,500 roles205/dayUS$36–60/hr

Columbus

Hyperscaler build-out against a thin local pool

8,600 tradespeople980 roles140/dayUS$38–62/hr

Atlanta

Douglas and Coweta County campuses with the fastest load growth in the southeast

11,200 tradespeople1,240 roles168/dayUS$34–56/hr

Abilene–West Texas

Gigawatt megacampus demand against almost no resident critical-power pool

2,400 tradespeople1,450 roles150/dayUS$38–68/hr

Salt Lake City

West Jordan and Eagle Mountain campuses plus grid reinforcement works

6,100 tradespeople620 roles88/dayUS$35–58/hr

Reno–Tahoe

TRIC campuses and battery manufacturing bidding for the same electricians

4,300 tradespeople540 roles76/dayUS$37–62/hr

Chicago

Elk Grove and Aurora clusters with deep union HV capability

17,400 tradespeople1,120 roles150/dayUS$56–88/hr

Santa Clara–Bay Area

Power-constrained retrofits and AI hosting upgrades at the highest rate floor in the US

13,600 tradespeople840 roles118/dayUS$56–92/hr

Dublin

Grid moratorium pushing capability into Nordics and mainland programs

5,200 tradespeople410 roles66/day€26–46/hr

London & Slough

Slough, Docklands and the new AI growth zones drawing on the same M4 teams

14,200 tradespeople980 roles132/day£28–55/hr

Amsterdam

Middenmeer and Schiphol-Rijk builds inside a hard grid connection queue

7,800 tradespeople520 roles74/day€30–50/hr

Frankfurt

Largest interconnect market in Europe, competing with grid and rail programs

12,600 tradespeople890 roles120/day€32–54/hr

Madrid & Aragón

Zaragoza megacampuses making Iberia the fastest growing EU corridor

9,400 tradespeople640 roles82/day€22–38/hr

Oslo & Nordics

Cheap firm power and cooling, but a small pool spread across remote sites

4,600 tradespeople380 roles48/daykr350–560/hr

Warsaw

Central European hub supplying mobile teams to Germany and the Nordics

8,200 tradespeople470 roles58/dayzł80–135/hr

Riyadh & Dammam

Sovereign AI campuses staffed largely by imported HV and commissioning capability

9,600 tradespeople1,180 roles128/daySAR40–85/hr

Abu Dhabi & Dubai

Gigawatt-scale programs on compressed schedules with heavy expatriate mobility

11,400 tradespeople1,320 roles145/dayAED30–70/hr

All figures modelled. See the mission page for the workings and sources, and the anonymised talent pool for capability depth.