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SINGAPORE — Tech salaries in Singapore mostly fell in 2023 amid a tech downturn, but certain roles — including for data science and cybersecurity — saw wages jump, in accordance with a latest report.
The roles that saw the best wage increases year-on-year were data scientists (11.3%), systems analysts (8.27%), cybersecurity engineers (8.24%) and quality assurance (8.01%).
The report, compiled by tech salaries aggregator Nodeflair, took under consideration greater than 422,000 salary data points including pay slips, offer letters and job advertisements from different countries and firms of all sizes and industries.
Nodeflair said that a surge in compensation for data scientists might be attributed to “a rising interest in generative AI.”
Last 12 months saw an AI boom fueled by the launch of viral chatbot ChatGPT in November 2022.
“Data scientists are the one role experiencing a big 11.3% increase in average salaries, indicating a deliberate investment by corporations to draw and retain top talents,” the report said.
It added that Singapore is in keeping with this by launching an updated AI strategy last 12 months, outlining plans to expand using AI to spice up the economy.
The report also said salaries for cybersecurity engineers rose consequently of more cyber attacks in Asia-Pacific and organizations “prioritising cybersecurity measures.”
Asia-Pacific was the third-most targeted region in 2023, with malware and phishing being the highest incidents, in accordance with IBM’s 2024 X-Force Threat Intelligence Index released last month.
More broadly on an industry level, most tech salaries dropped in 2023 as tech funding in Asia fell, the Nodeflair report said.
In step with a worldwide tech funding downturn, startup funding in Asia last 12 months fell 38% to its lowest since 2015, in accordance with data platform Crunchbase. Enterprise funding in Asia was only $78.1 billion in 2023, down from $125.2 billion raised in 2022.
Compensation for software engineers in Singapore fell by a mean of 0.99% in 2023, in comparison with a rise by a mean of seven.61% in 2022. Solutions engineers and game engineers also saw wages drop 5.69% and 6.66% respectively.
Blockchain engineers’ salaries declined 5.41% “mirroring the crypto winter triggered by FTX’s collapse and Binance’s Changpeng Zhao resigning and pleading guilty to criminal charges,” the report said.
Global macro uncertainty resulted in widespread layoffs where greater than 260,000 staff across nearly 1,200 tech corporations lost their jobs last 12 months, in accordance with layoffs tracker layoffs.fyi.
In 2024, corporations are expected to leverage on cross-border and distant hiring amid a talent crunch and to avoid wasting costs.
“As we step into 2024, the tech industry grapples with talent challenges amidst the rise of generative AI and financial prudence,” said Ethan Ang, CEO and co-founder of NodeFlair, within the report.
