THE HIGHEST PAYING

IT JOBS IN AUSTRALIA

2023-2024

The IT sector continues to make significant impact on the economy and how we live and work. The Australian Government and the Australian tech sector have a shared commitment to reach 1.2 million tech jobs in Australia by 2030. This means we will need to employ an additional 653,000 tech workers by the end of the decade.

However, we haven’t yet built the skills needed to keep pace with this expected industry boom, meaning that there are a number of highly skilled roles now paying over the $200K mark in order to fill the current capability gap.

Of course, any career path shouldn’t be dictated solely by the salaries a role can offer, but it’s always helpful to have an understanding of what different roles and industries can earn. It might even help you decide which way you’d like to steer your future career. 

Below, we’ve put together the highest paying IT jobs in Australia based on the findings from the latest IT Salary Guide.
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While Sydney is usually home to the highest average salaries across many sectors, the top earners in IT are not all located in Sydney but spread out across the country, with cities like Canberra and Perth out offering pay for certain roles. We've listed the highest reported salaries for each role across a range of Australia's IT industry verticals. 

The chief information officer (CIO) remains the highest paying job in the IT sector in Australia, with an average salary range of $255-$375K in Sydney. In today's complex and changing technology landscape, effective CIOs are relied on more than ever to spearhead digital transformations and deliver business value. This is reflected in their generous remuneration packages. 

Australia's leading CIOs are not only skilled in IT strategy but also have excellent business acumen, people management skills and the ability to navigate complex organisational politics. As their organisation's chief guide into future tech applications and trends, CIOs need to maintain a deep understanding of the latest innovations and how they can be applied to solve business problems. 

Workforce transformation has also put other IT leadership roles in the spotlight. Currently, chief technology officer (CTO) follows closely behind CIO as the second highest paying IT job in Australia, earning between $255-$357K on average (also in Sydney).

In contrast to CIOs, CTOs in 2023 focus mainly on the technical aspects of their organisation's digital transformation strategy and play a key role in driving innovation.

Another leadership position worth highlighting is the IT manager which, as of 2023, has an average salary of between $130-220K in Melbourne. IT managers have proved important to organisations as they juggle competing priorities, manage remote and hybrid teams and keep business-critical systems up and running. 

The constant demands of digital transformation have created the need for robust project management capabilities within organisations. Within the discipline of projects & change management, project directors have emerged as vital in ensuring the successful planning and execution of complex digital transformation projects, many of which involve multiple stakeholders and large budgets.

In recognition of their importance, project directors are the highest paid professionals in projects and change management, earning an average salary between $200-$300K.

Enterprise architects are the next highest paid projects and change management professionals, with those working in the ACT taking home $240K on average. Such high salaries are not surprising when you consider how integral enterprise architects have been in helping organisations migrate to the cloud.

Other high paying roles include Sydney-based program managers ($210K) and senior project managers ($200K), both of which have played a critical role in ensuring that digital transformation projects are delivered on time and within budget.

The cloud has been one of the most transformative technologies of the past decade and is only set to grow in the years ahead. This is reflected in the growing salaries of dedicated cloud architects, now one of the highest paying IT jobs in Australia, earning between $200-$280K per annum in the ACT.  

In contrast to enterprise architects who plan migration, cloud architects are focused specifically on designing, implementing and managing cloud-based solutions. As organisations increasingly move away from on-premise data centres to the cloud, the demand (and compensation) for skilled cloud architects will only continue to grow. 

Other high paying IT jobs in the cloud include Sydney DevOps engineers ($170K) and site reliability engineers ($165K) and Melbourne cloud engineers ($170).   

As organisations strive to become more data-driven, the demand for skilled ERP and CRM professionals has increased. The effective use of relational databases that can store and analyse large amounts of data relies on a deep understanding of how data is organised and accessed, making talented ERP/CRM architects the most in-demand (and highest paid) professionals in this space, earning between $200-$250K on average in the ACT.  

Other jobs in ERP/CRM that command high salaries include Canberra-based functional consultants ($150K-$220K) and technical consultants ($140K-$220K). Functional consultants advise on how best to utilise ERP/CRM systems to meet business goals, while technical consultants are responsible for the implementation and customisation of these systems.

As digital transformation accelerates, so too does the need for organisations to protect themselves against an ever-growing array of cyber threats. Instead of responding reactively, organisations are relying on cyber security architects to take a proactive approach to security, designing and implementing systems and processes that will anticipate and defend against attacks. 

The high-pressure nature of the role is reflected in the compensation, with cyber security architects in the ACT earning an average salary of $275K. This is followed by professionals in Melbourne and Perth who both earn an average of $250K. 

The other highest paying tech jobs in cyber security are Brisbane-based cyber security managers ($190K) and Melbourne-based IDAM architects (also $190K). 

A strong IT infrastructure is the backbone of many organisations and as such, network architects who can design, implement and manage complex networks earn high salaries as a result. In the ACT, network architects have an average salary of $200K, while those in Sydney and Melbourne earn $170K on average.  

Alongside network architects, infrastructure architects also earn an average of $200K in the ACT. The next highest paid infrastructure specialists are Melbourne and Perth-based infrastructure managers, both earning an impressive $160K on average.

Big data is here to stay and it's been driving plenty of growth in the tech industry over the past few years. Not surprisingly, data-related roles are some of the highest paying in Australia. According to our research, Perth-based data architects have been earning the most at an average of $200K. This is followed by their counterparts in Sydney ($190K), Melbourne ($185K) and Canberra (also $185K).  
 
Others in the data field are also securing large pay packages. Perth is the home of the highest paid data scientists in Australia, earning $190K on average, followed by Melbourne at $170K.  
 
Data engineers, who are key to building and maintaining the data infrastructure that supports these roles, are also being well paid. In Canberra, they have an average salary of $165K.  

The last few years of digital transformation have not just pushed organisations onto existing platforms but necessitated the creation of new software to support business needs. Software development teams are in overdrive as they attempt to meet these demands. Development managers who can captain these efforts have joined the ranks of Australia's highest paid tech professionals, earning up to $250K in Sydney.  

The next highest paying roles in software development belong to solution architects in Sydney and Melbourne ($190K). Talented solution architects are proving important for organisations that wish to build bespoke software solutions that will give them a competitive edge in their respective industries.  

Another standout is Sydney-based technical leads, who are taking home $180K on average. 

As businesses race to meet the needs of the digital economy, many are finding that their traditional quality assurance (QA) processes are no longer fit for purpose. They are now turning to test/QA managers to help them build more agile and effective testing regimes.

As a result, test/QA managers are being well-compensated for their efforts, with those based in Canberra and Perth topping the pack with an average salary of $150K, while those in Sydney and Melbourne earn $140K.

The other highest paying IT roles in the realm of testing are automation test analysts ($140K) in Canberra and test leads ($145K) in Perth.

Tech professionals have become some of the highest earners in Australia, with many tech jobs paying over $200K. Whether you're passionate about data, software development, QA testing, or aspire to a leadership position like CIO or CTO, there's money to be made if you have the right skills and work ethic. If you're thinking about a career change to the IT industry, now's the time to start learning the necessary skills so you can join the ranks of the highest paid IT professionals in Australia. 

For more information on the highest paying IT jobs in Australia, download our Hays Salary Guide IT Edition. The guide contains market insights and trends for both employers and job seekers who want to understand more about the average pay across different skillsets, geographies and seniorities in IT.