Actalent
Actalent staffs engineers and life-sciences workers for companies across the US and beyond.
On the record
Checkpoint: Next SIA staffing rankings cycle, watch for share decline in engineering or life sciences
The call
Actalent holds the top spot in engineering and life-sciences staffing while AI tools quietly erode the commodity sourcing work beneath that ranking.
Actalent finds and places engineers and life-sciences workers for companies, and it leads the market in the U.S. with about one in ten engineering placements and one in six pharma placements. The company has a real advantage in high-security defense work and pharmaceutical roles that need special approvals, because those jobs are locked behind government rules that new competitors cannot easily copy. However, AI-powered hiring tools are eating away at its everyday staffing business (the kind that makes up most of its money right now), which has shrunk by 38 percent since 2023, and the company has been slower than its own sister companies to roll out AI tools of its own. The big question is whether Actalent can shift its focus to the locked-in, hard-to-automate work fast enough, or whether AI will squeeze the profit out of its core business before it can make that turn.
Why
01
AI pressure: AI-native recruiting platforms like Paradox and resume-screening tools now used by 44% of employers. Job postings dropped 38% from 2023 peak as AI tools let companies source commodity talent without paying agency markup. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.
02
Bigger players: None apparent. No single big-company rival named, pressure comes from many small AI tools chipping at sourcing fees, not one giant. Could a giant copy it? Probably.
03
What protects it. Cleared defense work and GxP pharma placements need regulatory trust and vetted talent pools that AI tools cannot replicate yet.
What would change this call
SIA's next staffing rankings (~Aug 2026) show Actalent's engineering/life-sciences share unchanged or down. Would show whether the regulated-work moat is holding or eroding.
Actalent announces Agentforce or similar AI deployment matching TEKsystems/AGS. Would show Actalent closing the AI adoption gap with its own parent company.
An AI-native sourcing vendor names a cleared-defense or GxP-pharma client win replacing an MSP incumbent. Would show the regulatory moat is being breached by AI-native competitors.
Actalent announces Agentforce or similar AI deployment matching TEKsystems/AGS. Would show Actalent closing the AI adoption gap with its own parent company.
An AI-native sourcing vendor names a cleared-defense or GxP-pharma client win replacing an MSP incumbent. Would show the regulatory moat is being breached by AI-native competitors.
Key numbers
- 10.5% US engineering staffing market share
- New job postings fell from 52,291 to 10,198 per month
- Parent Allegis Group revenue near $9.11 billion
Named risks
- AI-native sourcing tools eroding commodity screening/matching revenue layer.
- Recurring employment litigation pipeline (FLSA, discrimination, arbitration disputes).
- Financial opacity, Actalent revenue embedded in Allegis Group with conflicting third-party estimates.
- Next SIA ranking cycle (~Aug 2026) could show share erosion amid industry-wide hiring softness.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Insight Global | contesting | $3.28B 2025 IT staffing revenue vs Actalent's regulated-niche leadership, per SIA as of 2026-06-30 |
| Randstad, Adecco, ManpowerGroup | gaining on | Global staffing giants outrank Allegis Group's overall scale historically (per wikipedia.org, n.d.) |
| AI-native recruiting platforms (e.g. Paradox) | gaining on | Undercut Actalent's 15-35% agency markup on commodity sourcing, as of 2026-05-20 |
| TEKsystems (sister Allegis brand) | gaining on | Deployed Agentforce Feb 2025 with 25% recruiter throughput gain, ahead of Actalent's own disclosed AI use |
Questions people ask
- Is Actalent profitable?
- Actalent's own financials are not disclosed separately; they sit inside Allegis Group's consolidated results, estimated at $9.11 billion revenue for 2025 per SIA data as of June 10, 2026. No standalone profit figure for Actalent exists publicly.
- Could AI replace Actalent's recruiters?
- AI is eroding Actalent's commodity sourcing and resume-screening work, with hiring velocity down 38% from its 2023 peak (Revelio Labs, 2026-06-29). Its cleared-defense and GxP-pharma placements remain harder to automate due to compliance and liability requirements.
- Who owns Actalent?
- Actalent is a privately held brand of Allegis Group Holdings, Inc., based in Hanover, Maryland. It has no public listing or disclosed outside investors and operates alongside sister brands Aerotek, TEKsystems, and Aston Carter.
- Is Actalent laying off workers or shrinking?
- Third-party estimates from Revelio Labs put Actalent headcount at about 2,249 worldwide as of December 2025, roughly flat versus 2023, but new job postings collapsed from 52,291/month in 2023 to 10,198/month in 2025, a hiring slowdown, not confirmed layoffs.
- Who is Actalent's biggest competitor?
- In IT/engineering staffing, Insight Global ($3.28B 2025 revenue) and Kforce ($1.22B) are direct rivals per SIA data (2026-06-30). Globally, larger public players Randstad, Adecco, and ManpowerGroup outrank Allegis Group's overall scale.
- How dominant is Actalent in its niche staffing markets?
- Per Staffing Industry Analysts, Actalent ranked #1 in US engineering staffing (10.5% share) and #1 in US life-sciences staffing (15.3% share) for three consecutive years as of August 18, 2025.
Timeline
- 2026-06-10SIA estimates Allegis Group 2025 revenue at $9.11 billion
- 2026-04-22Francois v. Actalent Scientific FLSA collective action removed to federal court in Florida
- 2026-03-16Tucker v. Actalent arbitration compulsion order issued
- 2026-02-17Challenger Gray reports ~55,000 US layoffs tied to AI adoption industry-wide
- 2026-02-02Allegis Global Solutions reports AI-related IT job assignments up 723% since Jan 2023
- 2025-08-18SIA ranks Actalent #1 in US engineering and #1 in US life-sciences staffing, third year running
- 2025-02-25Allegis Group deploys Salesforce Agentforce in TEKsystems APAC, reports 25% recruiter throughput gain
- 2025-01-23Konate v. Actalent pregnancy discrimination claim dismissed
- 2024Aston Carter realigned as a sub-brand under Actalent
- 2021-07-12Actalent brand launches, combining Aerotek's engineering arm with EASi
Revision history
22 July 2026
First assessed. Protection under test. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- SIA Ranks Actalent No. 1 in Engineering & No. 1 in Life Sciences (2025-08-18)
- Allegis, Aya and Insight Global top SIA list of largest staffing firms (2026-06-10)
- 12 Best Recruiting Agencies in 2026 (2026-05-20)
- Actalent Number of Employees 2026 (2026-06-29)
- Actalent Ranks No. 1 in Engineering, Life Sciences (2024-08-20)
- Actalent Launches as an Engineering and Sciences Services and Talent Solutions Company (2021-07-12)
- Aerotek separates into three operating companies (2023-09-05)
- Allegis Group Accelerates Candidate Placement with Agentforce (2025-02-25)
- AI-Driven IT Assignments Surge 723% (2026-02-02)
- 2025 Talent Trends: AI in HR (2026-07-09)
- Konate v. Actalent, Inc. (2025-01-23)
- Francois v. Actalent Scientific, LLC (2026-04-22)