Cybersecurity salaries rise 35pc as 2024 top tech wages revealed

Cybersecurity workers are now some of the most in demand in the country with salaries to match, topping the 10 highest paid professions in tech | SEE THE LIST

Cybersecurity architects can expect to be paid $222,000 annually in 2024, as the role rises to become tech’s second highest-paid.

Salaries in the Australian cybersecurity industry have risen 35 per cent on the back of major data breaches that have left tens of millions of people exposed online.

It is now one of the highest paying parts of the tech sector, new research reveals, with cybersecurity architects expected to be paid $222,000 annually in 2024, as the role rises to become tech’s second highest-paid.

The top paying role, according to new data released by Talent, is enterprise architects, who will earn $234,000 in 2024. After cyber security architects are cloud architects on $212,000, program managers on $210,000 and security operations centre managers on $205,000.

While there will be some salary hikes, competition for roles will be fierce this year as the industry experiences an overall softening in demand, according to Matthew Munson, Talent Australia’s managing director.

“Although we have a labour shortage and a massive skills shortage, there has been a massive drop-off in demand – similar to what it was during the GFC,” he told The Australian.

It would be much harder to land a role than in 2022, Mr Munson said, as Talent found employers had become fussier over the past 12 months.

“Particularly over the last six months, there’s been a huge influx of people looking for work,” Mr Munson said.

Talent believes that the majority of these workers are arriving from the contractors market. “Because they’re temporary labour, it doesn’t get reported,” he said.

Talent Australia managing director Matthew Munson.

The Australian government was one of the largest employers of contract workers and last year many departments reduced their workforce by about 15 per cent, Mr Munson said.

“One of the big shifts we saw last year was a move to offshoring. Companies were laying off their local contractors and then either employing directly in Southeast Asia or India or using outsourcing companies that have offshore resources to replace Australian workers,” he said.

Talent recorded contract rates for cyber security, data analytics, development roles and sales and account services had grown between 10 to 30 per cent. However, there may be some correlation between fewer roles and higher pay.

There was a 16 per cent decline in contract hiring between October 2022 and October 2023, the company found. Talent’s data also showed that large companies had increased their offshoring by between 10 to 40 per cent.

Demand for project services workers also decreased as a number of companies paused large-scale projects to cut costs.

As for what employees are looking for in 2024, a Talent poll found that flexibility ranked ahead of competitive salary for 35 per cent of respondents. Only 29 per cent of people said salary was most important.

Flexibility still largely relates to remote work for 78 per cent of respondents, while 16 per cent prefer flexible hours rather than location. Meanwhile 6 per cent want a four-day work week while 1 per cent wish to share a job – a growing phenomenon.

In terms of demand, artificial intelligence roles have topped the 2024 ladder for the majority of employers.

Originally published as Cybersecurity salaries rise 35pc as 2024 top tech wages revealed