Australian cloud software experts command $150k-plus salaries while AI threatens entry level tech roles
Tech specialists building Australia’s digital infrastructure are earning well above six figures. See the highest-paying tech roles as AI begins to reshape the industry landscape.
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Tech professionals with experience in digital infrastructure and cloud computing are now earning well above six figures, making bank while artificial intelligence picks off entry-level industry jobs.
Azure and AWS architects are earning $150,909 on average, with platform engineers and Linux engineers earning $139,917 and $132,754 on average, respectively, according to new analysis of Indeed.com job listings by IT course provider Dynamic Web Training.
These roles are not to be confused with people working at the managerial level in tech infrastructure, who over the past three years have earned $231,000 on average per Talent’s 2025 Salary Guide, released in February.
Digital architects and engineers, who create the infrastructure on cloud computing platforms for businesses to build on and run their operations, have become increasingly important.
“Cloud and platform architecture roles have become indispensable in today’s enterprise tech stack,” IT trainer and data analyst Ali Noorani said.
“As more businesses shift to scalable, always-on platforms, they’re investing heavily in the talent that can build, optimise, and secure that infrastructure. This demand is reflected not only in salary growth but also in increased job openings nationwide.”
Mr Noorani, a Microsoft certified trainer, said despite the steady increase in salaries for tech workers in Australia, Australia “can do better”, especially when compared to the million-dollar bonuses being offered to tech workers willing to jump ship to Silicon Valley giants such as Facebook owner Meta or Apple.
“Australia is not leading. But, government policies do reflect what is in shortage,” Mr Noorani told The Australian. “They’re trying to incentivise universities and institutions so they have the right frameworks to train the people who are here, but at the same time, they are actually pulling them from countries where they already have the skills.
“If (workers are) offshore, they have a very straight path into Australia. So Australia definitely has a shortage of the right skill set.”
Just as it was revealed Australian universities were slipping in the world rankings, Mr Noorani’s message to prospective tech workers was simple: Listen to experts, not teachers.
“I would say globally, universities don’t really know how to train people anymore, because they don’t really know how the world will shift in the next five years, the kind of job roles and how the job roles will shift. No one actually knows.
“And universities generally are very slow to evolve. But in Australia, I think it’s actually a bit worse, because most of the people who are teaching in universities are not connected to the industry.”
The rising fear of mass layoffs and a lack of new roles which reflects the uptake of artificial intelligence in business hasn’t been realised just yet, however, with entry level tech workers finding a decent wicket.
QA (quality assurance) engineers are earning $99,537 per year on average and system administrators $96,423 per Dynamic Web Training.
As most businesses slowly increase their exposure to AI, entry-level positions will shrink, but the first wave of workforce disruption won’t be a ‘humans versus machines’ fight, but humans versus humans who know how to use AI, according to Mr Noorani.
“AI has not taken jobs, because, right now big businesses move slow,” he said. “They have confidential data. They don’t really know how to adopt this technology at a vast level, unless you are a very forward-thinking, internet business.
“But, eventually entry-level jobs start to vanish. (Entry-level workers) need to upskill and upgrade themselves, how do they use AI technologies to actually be more productive?
“What I see is all roles will become AI powered.”
Do you know more about how AI is reshaping Australian business? Contact joseph.carbone@news.com.au
Originally published as Australian cloud software experts command $150k-plus salaries while AI threatens entry level tech roles
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