If you’re looking for a job in Colorado, don’t look at the data. Prospects may be depressing.
The data shows the number of job openings in the state is half what it was three years ago, when the post-pandemic labor shortage reached a peak, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The situation is very different today as an uncertain economy has companies putting hiring on hold. Unemployment is up, job openings are down.
But there still seems to be an enormous number of job openings in the state. The monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics put Colorado’s open jobs number at a preliminary estimate of 136,000 in June (and down from 286,000 peak in late 2022). JOLTS is based on a rotating sample of surveys of about 600 employers.
A report by Aspen Tech Labs, which tracks online job listings for the Colorado Chamber Foundation, put the online listings count at around 127,600 at the end of June.
Meanwhile, Colorado’s official job board at Connecting Colorado, which got a major facelift this summer, had listed 140,970 available jobs last week, according to the state Department of Labor and Employment. Many of the jobs come in through the state’s workforce centers, which work with area employers. But the job board also includes an unspecified number of out-of-state gigs, officials said.
We asked more than a dozen Colorado employers who are hiring to share more about their openings and what it takes to get hired. Heading into the Labor Day weekend, the response rate was low, some declined to share, and many were out on vacation already.
But others shared good tips and actual jobs, plus insight into what hiring is like these days at their company. Here are a handful of locals who opened up about what they’re seeing in today’s job market and a key role they’re trying to fill.
▶ More: Where to find a job in Colorado
Trimble, based in Westminster, develops software and sells it as a service to companies in the construction, geospatial and transportation industries. (Handout)
Trimble, Product Manager, Agentic AI Integrations
Pay range: $105,682 to $142,676 annually
Job description: The role will be part of the company’s new Agentic AI Integration Team and will connect various product teams to how they can best use the latest artificial intelligence to improve their products. Agentic systems software is smart enough to make decisions and complete multistep tasks with little human intervention based on the information provided.
“We need someone with a deep understanding of AI concepts, specifically agentic frameworks and large language models but is also a hands-on builder,” said Sara Benjamin, the company’s associate vice president of talent attraction. “The person should be able to experiment and prototype new ideas to show what’s possible rather than just writing a list of requirements.”
Trimble, based in Westminster, develops software and sells it as a service to companies in the construction, geospatial and transportation industries. One of its products is an augmented reality system called Trimble SiteVision, which helps contractors visualize in real time whether building plans fit a property to check spatial constraints of a construction project.
Benjamin estimates that Trimble has 60 active job openings in the Denver area, including roles for data scientists, product managers and engineers.
Don’t apply if: “We’re not looking for someone who just has a passing interest in AI or can only talk in abstract terms,” she said.
We want you if: “The ideal candidate would be someone who doesn’t wait for the business unit to come to them with a finished product. They’re proactively hunting for opportunities in the organization where AI can create new value and really solve long standing industry challenges.”
Location: Hybrid role and “ideally” live near the company’s headquarters in Westminster.
Pro tip: Make sure your LinkedIn profile mirrors your resume. “Some engineers believe they don’t need a LinkedIn” profile, she said. But that added professional history helps the employer verify information and cut down on fraudulent credentials.
“Reach out on LinkedIn,” she added. “Some of the most impressive candidates, they’ve emailed me or the recruiter directly. It just shows they’re going above and beyond their network.”
▶ Apply
The Alpine Bank branch in downtown Grand Junction on June 2, 2025. (Tamara Chuang, The Colorado Sun)
Alpine Bank: Officer Trainee
Pay range: $26.44 to $31.44 an hour
Job description: This entry-level role is for someone interested in growing with the bank and provides a yearlong training program to become a bank lending officer, essentially, “a full-blown banker and financial expert,” said Glen Jammaron, president of Alpine Bank, which has about 40 locations in Colorado.
It’s a really good program if you want a career, he added. The company, based in Glenwood Springs, employs about 850 people with roughly 200 in leadership roles.
“Of those 200, half of them started with us at the officer training program,” Jammaron said. “Another 25% of them … started as a teller, a customer service rep, loan analyst and they worked their way into a leadership or loan officer position. So of our 200 people in leadership at the bank, 150 of them essentially grew up with us.”
On any given day, the bank has about 15 to 20 openings around the state, compared with as many as 50 during the labor shortage a few years ago. He feels the bank’s 50-year history and reputation help attract quality workers back then and today.
But the types of jobs at a bank have changed as technology helped workers become more efficient. When Jammaron started in 1985, the rule of thumb was to have one employee for every $1 million in assets. Alpine had $60 million in assets so they had 60 employees.
“Today, we’re a $6.5 billion bank. If we use that same model, we’d have 6,500 employees instead of 850,” he said. “Technology allowed us to do some things differently than we used to. … We used to have to drive our checks (to) the Federal Reserve Bank in Denver. We don’t do that anymore. You can move images electronically so we don’t have couriers.”
Don’t apply if: You can’t pass a background or drug test.
We want you if: You willing to learn about a career in banking.
Location: All over Colorado
Pro tip: “My personal opinion on this is I care way less about what you know and way more about who you are and how willing you are to work and get along well with others. We can teach you to do the job if you’re willing to learn,” Jammaron said.
▶ Apply
A produce assistant stocks apples at a Natural Grocers in Golden in 2022. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun file)
Natural Grocers: Store Manager, Salida
Pay: $84,000
Job description: This is the person responsible for running the entire store. “They manage, motivate, supervise and train their teams,” said Susan Lyle, director of recruiting for Vitamin Cottage Natural Food Markets, aka Natural Grocers.
This specific opening happens to be in Salida. Pay is different by location. An open store manager job in Durango pays $100,000. The company is also looking for assistant managers in Golden, Evergreen, Brighton, Green Mountain, Longmont, Central Park, Lafayette and Wheat Ridge. Plus, there are a number of entry-level openings for cashiers, health coaches and vitamin managers.
With 45 stores in the state, the volume of applicants differs by location. In resort areas, where it’s more expensive to live (an open cashier job in Frisco pays $19 an hour, compared with $17 in Colorado Springs), they could certainly use more applicants. But other metro areas? “We receive lots and lots of applications,” she said.
An interesting twist about Natural Grocers compared with other grocery chains operating in Colorado is it was founded in Golden 70 years ago. The company now is headquartered in Lakewood, which means there are a lot of corporate jobs available.
One that’s close to being filled: Director of Data Analytics and AI, a position that will “leverage data analytics and AI to drive organizational growth, efficiency and innovation.” It’ll be on the business side of the company, not the food side.
“I honestly can’t talk a lot about the specifics of that job but I can tell you it’s the first time we posted something like that,” Lyle said. “I didn’t really have an expectation but the response was robust.”
Applicants came from all over the nation. The job offers a hybrid schedule, which means the person must live in Colorado.
Don’t apply if: You don’t care for healthy food.
We want you if: Have experience managing hourly groups of people. “Restaurant managers work out for us, but we’re mostly looking for retail experience,” she said.
Location: Salida. But lots of stores also have management openings.
Pro tip: “We are still looking for people that are passionate about natural foods and nutrition, and would love to have them reach out to us if they’re interested,” she said.
In other words, do some research into the company before applying — or expecting a response.
▶ Apply
Gusto, an HR and benefits company, has an office in downtown Denver on 16th Street. (Tamara Chuang, The Colorado Sun)
Gusto: Machine Learning Engineer
Pay range: $165,000 to $205,000 (Denver)
Job description: This job works with Gusto’s data science team to essentially build products that will help the company grow.
The Denver-based company offers human resources, like handling payroll and benefits, for small and midsize businesses. It’s like an outsourced HR department for companies that don’t have one.
The company has more than 150 jobs open in Denver, and many offer a hybrid work schedule, so you’ll need to be in the office two to three days a week. But many roles, including this machine-learning one, can be done in other cities where the company has offices, including San Francisco and New York (where the pay is higher, too).
Kristin Ruehle, Gusto’s director of recruiting, said that applications “have remained consistently strong,” in Denver and elsewhere, particularly in those R&D roles and go-to-market jobs, like product marketing and sales.
Don’t apply if: You don’t have a secure and reliable internet connection.
We want you if: You can show proven results and how you’ve used the technology. There’s also standard criteria, like seven-plus years of experience “building sophisticated and scaled data products” and a “deep domain knowledge of machine learning techniques.”
Location: Denver area
Pro tip: Highlight measurable impact — “for example, not just listing responsibilities but showing outcomes, like ‘reducing onboarding time by 20%,’” Ruehle suggested. And use the same language in the job description to describe what you’ve done because “it helps showcase fit more clearly.”
▶ Apply
The Connecticut-based Spectrum, shown here at a 2023 tech expo in Denver, is a cable provider with a large workforce in Greenwood Village. (Tamara Chuang, The Colorado Sun)
Spectrum: Product Analyst
Pay range: Between $66,990 and $107,470 annually
Job description: This role requires someone who is good at finding and analyzing data used in Charter Communication’s Spectrum internet business and can model and forecast trends based on historical data sets and planned product changes or launches.
Spectrum, aka Charter Communications, has “dozens of corporate open roles in Colorado,” Ashley Houseman, its vice president in human resources, product and technology, said in an email. On its job page Friday, there were 79 openings in the Denver area, Colorado Springs, Durango, Grand Junction and Gunnison.
The company is based in Connecticut but has a tech hub of more than 5,000 employees in Greenwood Village.
We want you if: You’re a candidate who will “bring initiative, adaptability and a collaborative mindset,” Houseman said.
Location: Greenwood Village
Pro tip: “Job seekers can differentiate themselves by showing ownership of projects, solving problems, and understanding how their skills connect to our mission,” Houseman added.
▶ Apply
Coinbase is a remote-first company based in Delaware. The crypto exchange site has several jobs listed on its site that are open to remove workers who live in Denver. (Handout)
Coinbase: Product Manager II – Martech
Pay range: $180,370 to $212,200 annually
Job description: Coinbase, the online site where folks can buy and sell crypto, seemed like an odd one to pop up on the state’s job board. It’s based in Delaware and has a remote-first work policy.
An opening in Denver for a marketing-tech product manager job allows for remote work but does require some “in-person participation” at regular company meetings. The same exact job is posted in several other states.
But they are hiring, a spokesperson confirmed.
Don’t apply if: You do not have product management experience or your adtech experience is limited to selling ads or marketing to other companies.
We want you if: You do have five-plus years of product management experience, and have worked in “performance marketing, ads platform integration, customer data platforms) focused on helping their company grow.” Nice to have: “Experience or passion in crypto.”
Location: Remote first
Pro tip: “A helpful tip to applicants would be to review the resources on our website and blog. We have published many articles that give insights into our mission and culture,” said a spokesperson in an email.
▶ Apply
Where to find a job in Colorado
All of these sites have Colorado jobs posted in the past 30 days, as of August 2025.
Have a job or quality job board to share with other Coloradans? Let us know at tamara@coloradosun.com
Type of Story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.