Why salary benchmarking is important in the IT industry

The world is changing at an almost unprecedented rate, driven by exciting innovation across a whole range of areas. However, top technology will always be powered by people - and the market is hugely competitive when it comes to finding the talent you need to stay ahead of the game. It has never been more important to get your remuneration strategy right when it comes to hiring new IT staff - and we have a range of tools to help you. Benchmarking provides information on the salaries being offered in the market today, so you can align with other businesses and offer fair salaries to the best candidates that are interested in your business, as well as employees who you want to reward with a bonus or salary increase.

Today’s market for IT leadership professionals is highly competitive. With the continued rise of ecommerce and digital transformation within businesses, and the amount of new roles being created to fill needs in this area, the industry has seen a dearth of top IT leadership candidates.

What is the current salary band?

In the market as it stands, you can expect to see salaries for leadership positions that range across a wide bracket. With managerial positions offering from £75k, and CIO or CDO positions offering up to £250k.
The wide range of roles with a variety of remuneration packages shows the need for professionals across all higher levels and highlights the need for skilled professionals within the IT sector. If you are looking to hire at a senior level, it’s important to understand the pull factors for candidates. We’re seeing that IT professionals are looking to join companies with cutting-edge technologies and want the opportunity to work on Greenfield sites. It almost goes without saying that ensuring your company is forward-thinking and innovative, will attract the best talent from your competitors.

Salary benchmarking in IT: are you getting it right?

In order to remain competitive in today’s market, firms can no longer simply offer upper quartile salaries and expect top talent to come running. Transformation and utilising the latest technologies need to be included. In the candidate-led market of today, individuals need to feel engaged with generous salaries, perks and long-term incentive plans (LTIP’s.)

The changes in the market

Over the last six months we have seen salary increases in the following sectors:
  • Healthcare (modernisation)
  • Financial services (data and cybersecurity)
  • Manufacturing (automation)
This is because of the decrease in available talent and the increase in work. Automation has been on the technology industry’s radar for a while, but now we are truly seeing the effects within the market as new roles are being created to prepare for the shift in the workforce.
If you are hiring within the technology sector browse our available jobs here. Alternatively get in touch with one of our expert recruitment consultants now.
Derren Bevington
Director, Michael Page Technology