How much is Hong Kong’s tech industry paying its employees?

There is an almost 100% pay jump from junior to senior roles.

Hong Kong firms’ demand for tech talent is reflected in how much they are willing to pay those with skills, with the pay jump from the highest junior salary to the lowest senior role salary increasing by more than 100%, a report by Grit revealed.

This has not been surprising as, since the pandemic, most companies have prioritised the search for tech talent leading to an increase of IT-job functions search by 35% within various industries in the last year. Meanwhile, the demand for tech talent increased by 18% in the first quarter of 2022 alone.

But how much are firms willing to pay?

For the front and back end junior developers could earn $20k up to $35k. Those in senior roles could see this salary more than double from $45k to $70k. Meanwhile, junior engineering managers could earn $45k to $70k, increasing to $80k to $150k for those with experience.

Cybersecurity experts and IT professionals are also in demand as data breaches could cost companies US$4.24m per incident according to the latest cybercrime statistics. In a survey by IDG Research last year, eight out of 10 senior IT security leaders think that their organisations aren’t sufficiently protected from attacks thus creating the demand for skilled cybersecurity professionals.

Junior cybersecurity consultants could earn $30k to $45k. This will also double from $60k to $83k for those with experience. Cybersecurity engineers meanwhile earn a starting salary of $25k to $35k. Senior cybersecurity engineers earn about $40k to $60k. Meanwhile, the chief information security officer (CISO) can earn $77k to $205k.

Another in-demand tech talent is in the data sciences. This is because an unprecedented number of organisations and businesses going through digital transformation, and the availability of data and the need for analytics plus data-driven solutions have skyrocketed.

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Junior data analysts could earn $20k to $26k, increasing to $30k to $48k when experienced. Junior data engineers earn slightly higher at $30k to $46k, increasing to $50k to $74k for those in a senior role. Principal Data Scientists have the highest pay at $43k to $129k.

The highest salary is within the Crypto, Blockchain and Web3 industries. Head of Marketing in regular tech and digital industries have a salary range of $71k to$167k.

Within the crypto, blockchain and Web3 industries, the same role would be looking at a salary between $100k to $200k. Product Managers within the crypto, blockchain and Web3 industries have a salary range of $60k to $90k

A similar role as a Junior would be seeing half of that amount, having a salary range between $22k to$40k, whilst a Senior position would be averaging between $50k to $73k.

According to the report, across various job functions, the chiefs of the various departments demand much higher salaries than those working in other industries, such as the Head of Legal ($112k to $169k) and Head of Technology ($120k to $200k). Grit said that due to the fast-growing nature of these technologies, employers are willing to pay higher salaries to develop their talent as they look to take the next step in the company’s growth.

“As the competition wages for talent, we have full confidence that individuals have plenty of opportunities to grow, develop and thrive in this booming market. Employers should look to improve their hiring processes to successfully recruit, train and retain their talent. At the same time, employees should keep upskilling to hone their skills and remain up-to-date with current market demands as they work to achieve their ideal job positions and salaries,” Paul
Endacott, CEO and Founder of GRIT said.