The Monthly Beat - September '25 Edition
A recap of the most interesting Pittsburgh tech news from the past few weeks, upcoming local tech events, and extras for the days ahead.
Good morning!
It’s fall y’all, and that means Steelers football is back baby. Let’s hope Aaron Rodgers doesn’t break or tear something, and we can actually make it past the first round of the playoffs this year. Yesterday’s game was pretty disappointing aside from Jaylen Warren jumping over a dude.
The local tech scene, on the other hand, did not disappoint this past month. Due to my posting this about halfway through September, I’m including some early September stories here in addition to August.
Here’s the latest.
What Happened This Past Month
The Big Story
Local Tech Job Market Worsens, Especially for New Entrants
It’s no secret that the job market has worsened considerably at the national level since the last time I focused on jobs with the Monthly Beat.
Contrary to popular belief, there’s no evidence that AI is affecting the job market quite yet. People can’t seem to agree why, and there has already been quite a lot written about this. So to do something more practical than rehash what’s already out there, for this month, if a company I’m reporting on has open roles, I’ve linked them at the end of each bullet.
Best of luck to everyone out there looking for employment!
The Headlines
As you may have guessed from the photo up top, Wabtec is now officially partnered with the Steelers. Next time you’re at Heinz Field (no, we’re still not calling it Acrisure) you’ll be able to check out interactive displays showing off train tech, as well as a bunch of Wabtec branding throughout the stadium. Wabtec is also sponsoring various community programs through the partnership. It’s unclear from my research if we will ever see the Pittsburgh Steelers concept train engine in real life. We can only hope. Wabtec has open roles here.
Also in partnership news, Gather AI inked a new partnership with warehouse equipment company Burwell Material Handling to distribute their drone and camera-based warehouse management products at 20 locations across the U.S. This is definitely a huge milestone for the company, especially considering it’s still based entirely in Pittsburgh and hasn’t migrated any of its operations over to Silicon Valley. Gather has a few open roles here.
Allegheny County published their first official generative AI policy, which applies to all employees of the county. The policy contains directives like “Users must disclose that GenAI was used to generate content.” and “Users are required to confer with the identified Data Steward to ensure they are using the information in the best way.” If you happen to be the Allegheny County Data Steward or know who that is, drop me a line! I’d love to chat about what that role entails. There are a few county tech jobs here, located under the “Computer Services - System Support” and “Information Technology and Security” categories.
Everyone locally is starting to get sus of AI data centers, and for good reason. Public Source published a great piece highlighting the impending workforce gap in Western Pennsylvania and how new data centers doesn’t necessarily mean new jobs for people in the community. Meanwhile, folks over on the Pittsburgh subreddit called out that increased Duquesne Light energy prices are a direct result of the advent of such data centers, and much discussion ensued. I am myself sus for multiple reasons, but that’s a topic for another post. Northern Data Group has 3 data center jobs open in Pittsburgh.
Super Powers Mobility, a New Kensington-based startup that is developing a drop-in electric engine replacement for off-road vehicles, had a great profile piece published in Technical.ly this past month. You can preorder the engine kit and a vehicle that already has it installed on their website, if you’re interested in off-road activities.
Speaking of Technical.ly, I had the opportunity this past week to meet some of their Pittsburgh RealLIST Innovators and Connectors last week, the former of which was published this past month. Both lists contain great summaries of what these folks are up to and links to their work. Some highlights from the event for me were learning more about local fashion tech startup Olive and music tech startup Lead-In Record Co from their respective founders.
Now for some quick hits. Gecko Robotics CEO Jake Loosararian posted his take on why the vast majority of generative AI pilots are failing to generate ROI. Gecko has several open roles here.
Astrobotic is going to be launching their rockets over in Norway. First launch campaigns will start in 2026. Open roles here.
Korion Health redesigned their website and now have a trademarked name for their smart stethoscope: SoundHeart™. Looks nice!
Niche published their 2026 Best Colleges Rankings. MIT is back on top. 9 open jobs here.
Last but not least, at the state level, Pennsylvania’s internet connection plan is a joke, providing only expensive satellite connections to rural folks and claiming those connections are equivalent to full fiber connections. I’ve already written to the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority about this and plan to publish a separate article. But if you have friends or family in rural areas outside the city, this is definitely work a read, and I’d encourage you to write to the Authority and your elected officials as well. 13 tech jobs with the state open here.
For the Days Ahead
Looking for a weekly hangout with other folks who are interested in technology and entrepreneurship? Technically Coffee is a great one, 8am every Friday at Bakery Square. Sign up here.
getWITit (Women In Tech Pittsburgh) is hosting a breakfast and panel exploring “the realities, challenges, and successes of being a woman in today’s tech world” this Wednesday from 8am-noon. Get tickets here.
Decoding Spatial Biology with Python: Multi-Modal Insights into Breast Cancer Progression is PyData Pittsburgh’s next meetup, which will be on the evening of Tuesday, September 30th. Sign up here.
Spaceburgh is coming up on Sunday, October 5th at Riverview Park, featuring local robotics firms and tons of space stuff. Earlier this year, I had the privilege of touring the Allegheny Observatory, and it was incredible. They’ll be doing tours as part of this event, so I highly recommend checking it out. More details here.
Pittsburgh Tech Week is November 3rd to 8th. The website is still pretty badly designed, but you can view the events for that week and sign up to sponsor or host an event there.
Probably the most exciting of that week’s events is Pittsburgh Robotics Network’s Robotics & AI Discovery Day 2025 on November 5th at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. This year’s discovery day will be focused on the integration of AI into robotics systems. Register to attend here.
Want to cut aside some time to attend these events? Check out Confirmed, a locally owned and developed time manager/scheduler app. Plans start at $5/month for a single user, and you can get your first month free with offer code
techbeat!
That’s all for now, but a deep dive local perspective on a particular breed of AI agents will be hitting your inbox sometime soon. Till then, enjoy a seasonal beverage!
—Austin