Is IT still the “It” job this year? Here’s how much IT professionals earn in Singapore

SINGAPORE: With artificial intelligence (AI) roles rising among Singapore’s fastest-growing jobs, will the Information Technology (IT) industry remain the “it” job this year? According to the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM’s) latest data, the IT industry continues to see high demand, recording the highest job vacancy rate, as reported by Dollars and Sense. Many IT roles also come with potentially higher salaries.

Job search and career platform Glassdoor estimates that Singapore IT Specialists earn between S$3,000 and S$6,000 per month, with an average base salary of around S$5,000. Meanwhile, MOM figures show that the median salary in the Information and Communications industry is S$7,605, one of the highest median salaries across industries.

Nodeflair’s Asia Tech Salary Report 2024 highlighted key salary bands for tech jobs in Singapore and other Asian countries. It found that salaries vary widely at each experience level, especially in higher percentiles, suggesting that factors like performance, specialised skills (such as Data Science), and negotiation skills impact how much tech professionals can earn.

For example, Software Engineer salaries vary widely, from S$5,000 for junior positions to S$13,500 for managerial roles—a 2.7x difference between the 10th and 90th percentiles.

The report also found that among junior IT roles in Singapore, Data Scientist positions offered the best salaries. Those in the 50th percentile earned S$7,500 per month, an 11 per cent increase from 2023. Other well-paid junior roles included Site Reliability Engineers, with median salaries of S$6,250 per month.

Overall, salaries for Data Scientists (11 per cent), Quality Assurance (QA) professionals (8 per cent), and Cybersecurity Engineers (8.2 per cent) increased the most last year.

Large US tech firms were found to pay well above market rates. Nodeflair’s report revealed that around 10 of the top 15 searched companies in Singapore paid over 20 per cent more than the median wage. This included Meta (53 per cent), Google (40 per cent), Apple (39 per cent), and ByteDance/TikTok (38 per cent), which offered some of the highest salaries for software engineers.

While IT professionals in Singapore hold some of the highest-paying jobs in the city-state, factors like experience, job role, negotiation skills, and employer determine which salary band a tech professional falls into. /TISG

Read also: Nearly half of Singapore employers plan to hire more people next year, with 45% expecting the highest numbers in sales and business development

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