After a difficult 2020 and an unpredictable 2021, employers and employees alike were hoping for some stability in the 2022 job market. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be. Last year started with the "Great Resignation”, leading to a record number of vacancies caused by burnt-out and disgruntled workers seeking new employment opportunities, and ended with the some of the largest and most widespread rounds of layoffs ever to hit the technology sector.
Despite news of ongoing layoffs in the industry, including Amazon's recent confirmation that it would be laying off more than 18,000 workers, demand for skilled workers has never been higher, according to recruitment specialist Robert Half’s 2023 UK Salary Guide. This has resulted in retention concerns for many employers, and organisations are now relying on counteroffers to retain employees, particularly in software development, DevOps, and cloud infrastructure roles.
Although the consequences of hypergrowth have fuelled the recent wave of layoffs, according to data collected by Robert Half, 79% of UK-based CIOs and CTOs are feeling very confident about their businesses’ growth prospects in the year ahead, with 30% planning to add new positions for permanent full-time employees. The top focus areas for 2023 are IT security, increasing efficiency and cloud computing projects. However, if organisations need to reduce teams, project managers, business analysts and temporary workers are likely to be the first to go.
As with the 2022 salary guide, the 2023 instalment continues to list the UK average salary ranges according to candidate percentiles. In our breakdown of the report, the lowest figure is the 50th percentile, representing an 'average' candidate, while the 75th percentile represents a candidate with above-average experience that has most or all the necessary skills.
So which roles will see the biggest change?
Leadership roles
Chief information officer (CIO):
2022: £141,000 (50th percentile) - £176,000 (75th percentile) / 2023: £141,000 (50th percentile) - £176,000 (75th percentile)
Chief technology officer (CTO):
2022: £130,000 - £165,000 / 2023: £130,000 - £165,000
Chief information security officer (CISO):
2022: £141,000 - £158,000 / 2023: £141,000 - £158,000
IT director:
2022: £105,000 - £114,000 / 2023: £94,000 - £112,500
Head of IT:
2022: £75,500 - £85,000 / 2023: £76,750 - £82,500
Chief architect:
2022: £100,000 - £120,000 / 2023: £130,000 - £150,000
Architecture
Enterprise architect:
2022: £87,000 (50th percentile) - £105,000 (75th percentile) / 2023: £93,000 (50th percentile) - £110,000 (75th percentile)
Infrastructure architect:
2022: £74,000 - £87,000 / 2023: £74,000 - £87,000
Data architect:
2022: £78,750 - £87,000 / 2023: £78,750 - £95,000
Solution architect:
2022: £86,000 - £103,000 / 2023: £86,000 - £103,000
IT, systems, and digital transformation
Programme manager:
2022: £81,000 (50th percentile) - £100,000 (75th percentile) / 2023: £87,000 (50th percentile) - £114,000 (75th percentile)
Project manager:
2022: £60,000 - £63,000 / 2023: £60,000 - £74,000
Senior business analyst:
2022: £57,000 - £73,000 / 2023: £61,000 - £69,000
Business analyst:
2022: £40,000 - £53,000 / 2023: £49,000 – 58,000
Business intelligence and data analytics
Data scientist:
2022: £55,000 (50th percentile) - £64,500 (75th percentile) / 2023: £64,500 (50th percentile) - £69,500 (75th percentile)
Data analyst:
2022: £28,000 - £34,000 / 2023: £42,000 – £55,000
Database administrator:
2022: £46,500 - £53,500 / 2023: £49,500 - £56,500
Business intelligence analyst:
2022: £39,000 - £45,000 / 2023: £39,000 - £51,500
Cloud, infrastructure, and engineering
Infrastructure manager:
2022: £65,000 (50th percentile) - £74,000 (75th percentile) / 2023: £67,500 (50th percentile) - £78,000 (75th percentile)
Network manager:
2022: £63,000 - £71,000 / 2023: £65,000 - £74,000
Network engineer:
2022: £53,000 - £59,000 / 2023: £53,000 - £61,500
IT support manager:
2022: £44,000 - £48,000 / 2023: £47,000 - £53,000
Network administrator:
2022: £39,000 - £43,000 / 2023: £39,000 - £43,000
First line support:
2022: £24,000 - £27,000 / 2023: £22,750 - £26,000
Compliance, audit, risk, and security
Information security manager:
2022: £70,000 (50th percentile) - £84,000 (75th percentile) / 2023: £70,000 (50th percentile) - £88,000 (75th percentile)
Security network engineer:
2022: £53,750 - £64,000 / 2023: £53,750 - £64,000
Security architect:
2022: £65,750 - £74,750 / 2023: £73,750 - £89,750
Software development, testing, and DevOps
Head of engineering:
2022: £91,000 (50th percentile) - £105,000 (75th percentile) / 2023: £88,000 (50th percentile) - £109,000 (75th percentile)
Lead engineer:
2022: £65,250 - £77,250 / 2023: £60, 250 - £67,250
Full-stack developer:
2022: £48,000 - £65,000 / 2023: £54,250 - £73, 750
DevOps Manager:
2022: £66,000 - £74,000 / 2023: £100,000 - £110,000
DevOps Engineer:
2022: £57,500 - £66,000 / 2023: £60,500 - £69,000
Test manager:
2022: £48,350 - £58,250 / 2023: £57,250 - £77,500
Test analyst:
2022: £35,000 - £40,000 / 2023: £35,000 - £49,250