Salaries for IT security professionals will increase by 8% in 2017
A new study has revealed that salaries for IT security and data analytics professionals are set to grow in 2017 by 8% and 4% respectively.
Conducted by Robert Walters, specialist recruiter for IT, information security and compliance, the Global Salary Survey found that in-demand specialisms can expect a significant rise in remuneration this year, as enterprises jostle to stay secure and scramble to make sense of their data.
“A string of data breaches concerning major firms has brought IT security into the foreground as a top priority for senior managers.” said James Murray, Associate Director at Robert Walters. “Senior stakeholders are acutely aware of the impact data breaches can have on a company’s image and their finances and as a result, they are willing to offer high salaries to top calibre candidates.”
In light of ongoing high profile data leaks, such as the large scale breach concerning Yahoo in 2016, employers are acutely aware of the high risks of failing to secure internal, customer and client data. As a result, demand for IT security specialists across all levels of seniority and in both permanent and contract positions is high.
Sexiest Job
Cited by Harvard Business Review as one of the sexiest jobs of the 21st Century, data scientists can now expect their pay packet to get even more sexy this year as professionals specialising in data analytics and business intelligence can expect to see salary growth of 4% on average in 2017, with junior to mid-level roles seeing the biggest increases.
Murray continues: “As employers recognise the importance of making sure infrastructure is set up correctly to support data scientists, there will be a focus on hiring lead data engineers. Due to the shortage of candidates with this skill set we expect an increase in salaries and a lucrative contract market for data engineers”
“Data analytics is seen as an industry agnostic skillset and as a result data analytics professionals have a wide range of job options. This, combined with an increase in investment in data analytics, has driven permanent salaries and contract rates up. In the first half of 2016 we saw technical roles being moved outside of London with companies looking to cut costs as technical data analytics salaries in London rose.”
