Is There a talent shortage in AI in Portugal?

The demand for AI professionals shows no signs of slowing down. We spoke with two Portuguese startups, which presented different realities: a shortage of senior profiles, but many young talents in the field.

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Artificial Intelligence is identified as the area with the “greatest shortage of talent” in Portugal. These words come from the country manager of IDC Portugal, in a recent interview with the Lusa agency, cited by ECO. The market intelligence company also predicts that demand for these professionals will grow by more than 20% annually until 2026. With this data in mind, we asked two Portuguese startups, DareData and Smartex, companies that deal with AI in their daily operations, to find out if they experience difficulties in recruiting workers for this field. The answers were divided.

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Ivo Bernardo, Partner and Senior Data Scientist at DareData Engineering, does not believe there is a lack of AI talent in Portugal. Why? “I think we have very good engineering schools. AI talent often migrates from software engineering or statistics, and we have a lot of talent in those areas as well. Nowadays, the world changes so quickly, and I think some companies are also partly to blame for what they are looking for in the AI field,” he begins by saying.

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The DareData Engineering Partner justifies his statement with a story: “There was a company that required 10 years of experience in a certain AI technology, and that technology had only existed for 5 years, so what they were asking for was impossible. The founder himself tweeted jokingly, saying that even he wasn’t qualified to work with the technology he had invented. I don’t think you need specialists in these technologies to have good AI talent,” concludes the Senior Data Scientist at the company, which specializes in developing data infrastructures and projects based on generative AI and machine learning.

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Is There a Lack of Senior Professionals?

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On the other hand, Rita Santos, Director of People at Smartex, a startup that fights waste in the textile industry with Artificial Intelligence, claims that Portugal lacks senior talent in this area. “What we feel is that, when we’re looking for senior professionals in AI, it’s difficult to find them, and this is not only because the market is demanding but also because it’s a very recent role, and there are very few senior profiles,” she explains.

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“Our product is made for the textile industry. Often, when we talk about AI in Portugal, we mention companies like Defined.ai or Unbabel, which are AI companies but don’t have a hardware product per se. The fact that we have our machine learning working on a hardware product and not in the cloud makes the process much more complex,” details Rita Santos.

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She contrasts that “when we are looking for junior profiles, it is not as complicated, because the truth is that this is a super attractive area, and all junior profiles want to work in machine learning.” For Rita Santos, the increase in AI-related courses at Portuguese universities also contributes to the availability of young AI talent in Portugal.

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Global Competition

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According to both startups, the AI market is becoming increasingly competitive, both nationally and internationally. Rita Santos notes that “there is competition in Portugal,” but emphasizes that the real challenge lies in global competition. “Yes, without a doubt, the market is increasingly global, and this makes everything more difficult. Competing with foreign companies often has a challenge: the salary.” The Director of People at Smartex notes that in countries like the United States, for example, salaries are often more attractive than those in Portugal.

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Ivo Bernardo also mentions globalization as another factor that pressures Portuguese companies trying to retain talent. “Globalization allows those who graduate now to have access to opportunities in any country in the world. I would say that having access to many opportunities also gives people the chance to have other international experiences, which are always very enriching.”

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How to Retain Workers?

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Aware of this competition, Rita Santos says that Smartex invests in stock options as a strategy to retain AI talent. Stock options are options to buy shares offered to employees or other members of the company as part of a compensation package or as an incentive for talent retention. “The company’s success is also their success, and I think stock options are something that exists very little in Portugal. You’re starting to hear more about them in some startups, but I’d say the majority don’t use this form of compensation. It’s much more common in the United States, for example.”

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Both professionals agree that there are measures, namely fiscal, that can be taken to improve the AI talent situation in Portugal. Ivo Bernardo argues that “there could be some fiscal improvements to ensure that people can take home more of their salary. I think this is something that should be done and would have an impact, but I also place some responsibility on companies, especially in their culture. I think we still have a very traditional management culture in Portugal, which alienates younger talent because it’s a culture associated with presenteeism and micromanagement.”

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The DareData Engineering Partner mentions the Netherlands as an example of a country that is attracting a lot of AI talent. The Senior Data Analyst details that the Dutch “have a culture that greatly respects the balance between personal and professional life, and they don’t have that notion of presenteeism or working more hours.”

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Is There an AI Bubble?

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Ivo Bernardo also warns of the risk of inflated expectations around AI. “There is an ongoing disconnect between people’s expectations and what AI services or solutions can realistically deliver. But that doesn’t mean AI won’t transform society from end to end,” he says. The expert also doesn’t believe in a moment when the AI bubble will burst. “I think there will be players offering a certain type of service that doesn’t have the necessary quality to survive, and they will naturally disappear from the market.”

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The Senior Data Analyst concludes by saying that what will continue to be crucial is the high quality of AI services offered and transparency about what these solutions can really achieve. Companies that can’t maintain these standards are unlikely to survive in the market.