Australian tech workers are earning more than many of their international counterparts but still lagging the Americans, according to new data.

Hays’ Tech Talent Explorer provides a benchmark of global salaries and contractor day rates across a range of tech roles.

It reveals that Australia is consistently in the upper tier of markets for permanent roles and contractor tech positions, and regularly provides better salaries than in comparable nations such as Canada, United Kingdom and much of Europe.

But Australian tech salaries are still significantly lower than in ultra-high markets and tech hubs such as the United States.

The strong pay rates come despite widespread fears over the impact of AI on tech roles, Hays ANZ regional director for technology Peter Marinis told Information Age.

“Despite heightened attention on AI, Australia’s tech pay environment remains resilient,” Marinis said.

“While salaries don’t match ultra-high markets like the US or Switzerland, Australian employers continue to outperform the UK, much of Europe and Asia-Pacific on a like-for-like role basis.

“What’s driving pay here isn’t AI replacing jobs, but sustained competition for scarce skills in software, cloud, data and AI.”

What tech roles pay

Some of the best paid tech roles in Australia are highly specialised and focused on emerging areas such as artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.

According to the report, AI engineers in Australia earn an average of about $164,000 per year, compared to $132,000 in the United Kingdom and $153,000 in Canada.

In contrast, AI engineers in the US are raking in an average of $238,000.

Software developers in Australia are paid an average of $135,000 annually, higher than their peers in Canada ($123,000), United Kingdom ($115,000) and New Zealand ($117,000).

Solutions architects are one of the few tech roles included in the study that earn less in Australia than in the United Kingdom, with $166,000 compared to $169,000.

Scrum masters are the highest paying role out of those analysed for the survey, with Australians raking in an average of $175,800 annually.

This is behind only the US, where scrum masters earn an average of $185,000 each year.

When it comes to day rates for tech contractors, Australians are earning more than even those in the United States.

AI engineer contractors earn an average of $1,292 as a day rate, higher than the US ($1,013), United Kingdom ($972) and Canada ($703).

Australian contracting software developers also boast significantly higher day rates than their counterparts in the comparable nations.

What’s driving pay rates

The Hays data also analyses each role in terms of how vulnerable it is to the rise of artificial intelligence, with a score out of 100 assigned. The higher the score, the higher the vulnerability to the technology.

This is based on Horsefly Analytics data using three metrics: skills likely to be greatly enhanced or replaced by AI; skills that may see some AI influence but not a total change; and skills largely unaffected by AI.

Of the 20 tech roles investigated, the role of test analyst was found to be the most vulnerable to AI, with a score of 68 out of 100.

Those highly paid AI engineers were marked as having 56 out of 100 for AI vulnerability in Australia, while software engineers were given 57 out of 100.

The report also provides figures on the number of permanent workers available for each tech role.

Despite its smaller population size, Australia has more available tech workers than comparable countries, such as Canada and the United Kingdom.

According to the report, there are nearly 6,500 available permanent AI engineers in Australia, far more than the just over 2,000 in Canada and the 5,300 in the United Kingdom.

There are more than 1,200 available cloud engineers in Australia, less than the 1,840 in the United Kingdom and more than 1,700 in Canada.

When it comes to data scientists, Australians are significantly outnumbered.

There are just over 7,000 qualified full-time data scientists in Australia that are open to work or moving roles, compared to more than 11,000 in Canada and 31,000 in the United Kingdom.