>>>> SALARY GUIDE
Newcastle | Sydney
FOREWORD
Welcome to the 2024-25 edition of our annual Technology Salary Guide. As always, we’ve created this guide to keep you informed and updated on salary information and employment trends across the technology industry.
In exciting news, this year’s guide includes salary information across the engineering sector, given our expansion into this community. The technical nature of engineering and strong ties to the Hunter region made engineering a logical and exciting expansion for our team.
After the significant salary rises during the pandemic period, when tech professionals were in high demand, the past year has seen a stabilisation, marking the emergence of a ‘new normal’ in the industry.
Our ‘new normal’ has seen technology salaries flatten across the board, many companies move to a hybrid work environment with more time in the office than the previous two years, and, in really positive news, increased investment in technology projects.
Continuing on the positivity, the top three roles to be hired across technology next year look to be software engineers, project managers, and business analysts, indicating a continued investment in new software and software improvements as well as investment in technology projects.
We extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who generously shared their insights in the survey, which played a pivotal role in shaping the information in this guide. Your real-world experiences have enabled us to provide an accurate insight into the technology landscape in which we operate.
We hope this guide helps professionals make informed career decisions and provides employers with value in shaping their attraction and retention strategies.
Linda Apostolidis and James MacDonald Directors
WHAT’S IN THIS GUIDE
KEY INSIGHTS
This salary guide features insights from our expert team of recruiters, data from over 200 technology and engineering roles we have recruited this past year and draws on the results from our extensive 2024 survey of the Australian Technology and Engineering Community. This survey was completed by members of our community across the east coast of Australia from a range of technology and engineering disciplines. We’d like to thank everyone who participated in this year’s survey.
SALARY GUIDE TABLES
We’ve compiled a guide for technology salaries across Newcastle and Sydney. The salaries listed in this guide cover the 80th percentile of salaries. This means that, on average, 10% of salaries will be higher than the values listed and 10% lower. These variations are due to a variety of factors, including personal experience, company size, industry and market competition at the time of hiring. The featured salary ranges should be seen as a guide only. For expert, tailored advice on your specific staffing needs, please contact the team at NTP. You can find our contact details on the last page of this guide.
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THIS YEAR WE EXPANDED INTO ENGINEERING.
We embrace the power of our niche and bring deep technical knowledge and insight to the fields we recruit for. Our team of recruiters is comprised of senior leaders in their respective spaces.
In early 2024, we welcomed Melinda Sietsma to the team. She brought with her 15 years of recruitment experience and her industry knowledge of engineering which has helped propel our launch into this exciting area. We’re delighted to now offer a domain expert in engineering as part of our services.
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KEY INSIGHTS
We surveyed technology and engineering professionals, hiring managers and leaders from across the country to gather insights about what the next 12 months hold for the Australian technology and engineering market.
TECHNICAL TEAMS EXPECTED TO GROW IN THE NEXT YEAR
There is positive news for tech professionals, with companies more confident in adding to their teams in the next twelve months than the 12 months prior. 59% of companies are looking at increasing permanent headcount in the next twelve months, a 12% increase from last year. From a contracting perspective, there isn’t significant change from 2023, with over half the companies indicating similar levels of contractors to remain and 26% of employers hiring contractors in the next 12 months.
The
in permanent
The change in temporary staffing levels seen by hiring managers in the past 12 months
How
How hiring managers expect temporary staffing levels to change in the next 12 months
Stay the same
change
staffing levels seen by hiring managers in the past 12 months
WAGE GROWTH HAS IMPROVED FROM 2023
The biggest change we’ve seen from a wage growth perspective is a move from ‘no expected increase’ to an expected increase in the 1-5% range.
Last year, 38% of professionals reported no wage growth, and that number decreased to 25% this year. This improvement is a positive indication that the industry is recovering from the instability seen in previous periods.
The change in salary of technical professionals in the past 12 months
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SALARY IS KING WHEN IT COMES TO MOTIVATION FOR MOVING ROLES
Both employees and employers agree that a higher salary elsewhere is the primary motivator for employees to leave a role. One of the biggest changes we’ve seen year on year is the reported number of employees leaving due to burnout, falling from 58% in 2023 to 12% in 2024, as reported by managers. The data shows management doesn’t view burnout as big a factor in 2024, while employees are still acknowledging burnout as the fourth highest reason for leaving a role.
The main motivators for employees to leave a role
90% of technical professionals rated hybrid and remote work options as an attractive benefits for new or existing employers
THE SHIFT BACK TO THE OFFICE CONTINUES TO GAIN GROUND
The hybrid work style remains dominant in our industry and looks to be here for the long term. The most significant change we’ve seen over the past 12 months has been a reduction in remote-first working environments, with only 24% of companies operating in this style compared to 44% last year. In a similar trend, there has been a 7% increase in office-first styles year-onyear.
Workstyle offered by employers of technical professionals
Fully remote (no office available)
Remote-first (we have an office to attend if I choose)
Hybrid (in office at least once a week)
Office-first (we are expected in the office most days with occasional remote work)
Office only
SOFTWARE ENGINEERING AND WEB DEVELOPMENT ROLES REMAIN HIGHEST IN DEMAND, WITH PROJECT MANAGEMENT SHOWING SIGNIFICANT GROWTH
The percentage of employers looking to hire software engineering and web development roles in the next 12 months has remained consistently high at 55% in 2023 and 2024. Also of note is the steep growth in demand for project managers, business analysts and change managers, which jumped by 25% between 2023 and 2024. Data analytics and data science roles showed the most significant decline, from 39% in 2023 to 24% in 2024.
Roles that hiring managers are looking to fill in the next 12 months
EMPLOYERS ARE OFFERING MORE FLEXIBILITY BUT LESS REMOTE WORK
When surveyed on benefits offered to employees, 94% of employers reported having a flexible work policy, up from 81% in 2023. With 94% of companies now offering flexible work, it can now be seen as a necessity rather than a differentiator in attracting top talent. Whilst flexibility is increasing, there is some movement in companies going back to the office, with a 3% decrease in companies offering remote/hybrid work options.
Benefits offered by employers to aid with retention and attraction
REMOTE OR HYBRID WORK OPTIONS REMAIN THE BEST WAY TO ATTRACT CANDIDATES
While the percentage of employers offering remote or hybrid work options has decreased, it remains the top-rated benefit for technology and engineering professionals year after year. Flexibility is a close second, with bonuses gaining ground in third.
Benefits appealing to technical professionals when considering new employers
EMPLOYERS ARE FOCUSING ON DIVERSITY
Almost all diversity initiatives showed growth in the percentage of employers offering them. The most significant increase was employers ensuring equal pay and benefits across their staff, which jumped from 41% in 2023 to 61% in 2024, possibly fueled by the heightened focus on this area since the Workplace Gender Equality Agency released its public reports.
Employer initiatives to improve diversity in staff retention and attraction
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One in every two technical professionals is looking to leave their job within the next two years
ALMOST HALF OF EMPLOYEES ARE LOOKING TO LEAVE THEIR JOBS WITHIN THE NEXT TWO YEARS
As also seen in 2023, almost half of respondents are looking to leave their company within the next two years. This is not a change in the market, so there is no need for alarm bells, but it does put the responsibility on the employer to provide opportunities for career progression, as this is the second-highest motivator for professionals when moving on.
How long technical professionals are planning on remaining with their current employer
< 1 year
1 - 2 years
3 - 5 years
> 5 years
Unsure
Prefer not to say
60% of technical professionals would turn down an office-only role.
MORE PROFESSIONALS ARE LIKELY TO ACCEPT A JOB OFFER REGARDLESS OF THE WORK STYLE OFFERED
Respondents who would say no to an office-based role dropped from 67% in 2023 to 60% in 2024. While this is a decline from last year, it still means that over half of the potential candidate pool would reject an offer if the employer is only able to offer office-only roles, which has a significant impact on an organisation’s access to the best talent.
The work styles that would be a deal-breaker for technical professionals accepting an offer
BUDGETS ARE NOW THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR ORGANISATIONS, TAKING OVER FROM TALENT ATTRACTION
The percentage of managers concerned about the challenge of talent attraction dropped by 18% year-on-year, while budget worries increased by 9%. Notably, the portion of managers facing challenges from competitors jumped from 11% in 2023 to 27% in 2024, making it the fastest-growing concern.
Challenges that employers envisage their organisation facing in the next 12 months
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NEWCASTLE & REGIONAL
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
ANALYTICS & DATA SCIENCE
& TESTING
PRODUCT & DESIGN
MARKETING
PROJECTS & CHANGE
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INFRASTRUCTURE & SUPPORT
CYBER SECURITY
SENIOR LEADERSHIP ARCHITECTURE
CLOUD ENGINEERING & DEVOPS
MECHATRONICS & EMBEDDED
ENGINEERING
ENGINEERING
ENGINEERING (CONT.)
SYDNEY
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
DATA, ANALYTICS & DATA SCIENCE
& TESTING
PRODUCT & DESIGN
MARKETING
PROJECTS & CHANGE
INFRASTRUCTURE & SUPPORT
CYBER SECURITY
SENIOR LEADERSHIP ARCHITECTURE
CLOUD ENGINEERING & DEVOPS
MECHATRONICS & EMBEDDED ENGINEERING
ABOUT US Community + Recruitment
NewyTechPeople is the region’s only exclusive technology and engineering recruitment agency.
James MacDonald Director
Linda Apostolidis Director
NTP recruits tech and engineering teams and is proud to help build and grow technical communities.
NTP provides recruitment services across Australia’s east coast. We recruit exclusively for technical roles and proudly serve some of Australia’s leading enterprises and scale-ups.
OUR BEGINNINGS
NTP was established in 2018 when James MacDonald and Linda Apostolidis joined forces in business and brought together their combined 24 years of experience in the booming tech and innovation hub of Newcastle, NSW. Our values, expertise, and community-first approach have made us the region’s leading specialist tech recruiter. The pandemic created the opportunity for us to expand our offering, working with companies from Brisbane to Melbourne on the east coast of Australia and expanding our team geographically to support the new markets.
NTP’s mission is to enable our team, clients and candidates to achieve their full potential.
We’re a trusted client partner and proud of the tenure and strength of our relationships with clients and technical professionals.
