Despite recent tech layoffs and slowdowns in Singapore, the salaries of talents in the tech industry have been increasing steadily over the years.
In fact, the salaries of Software Engineers (SWEs) have grown 7.6% in 2022, setting new record highs.
Interested to find out how much tech talents are being paid, what the most popular tech companies are, and the industry trends?
Let’s dive in!
Disclaimer: This salary guide is based on Nodeflair’s Tech Salary Report 2023. Salary data for are derived from NodeFlair’s proprietary database of over 169,000 data points from companies of all sizes and industries. This includes user submissions verified by documents (payslips and offer letters) as well as job advertisements from various aggregated from various job portals for the year 2022. All salaries indicated are in SGD.
TL;DR: Singapore Tech Salary Guide For Software Engineers and More
- Salaries of software engineers reached an all-time high after increasing by 7.6%.
- The 90th percentile of software engineers are paid as much as three times more than those in the 10th percentile.
- 6 of the 15 most searched companies pay 20% above the market median.
- Bytedance (parent company of TikTok) tops the list of most searched companies in 2022, joined by new entries including ShopBack, Dell Technologies, Binance, and IBM.
Jump to:
Tech Salary by Role
| Seniority | 10th Percentile | 50th Percentile | 90th Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software Engineer | |||
| Junior | $3,500 | $5,000 | $8,500 |
| Mid | $4,500 | $7,000 | $11,000 |
| Senior | $5,600 | $8,000 | $12,000 |
| Lead | $6,500 | $9,000 | $15,000 |
| Principal | $6,750 | $10,500 | $19,000 |
| Manager | $7,000 | $13,750 | $20,802 |
| Mobile Engineer | |||
| Junior | $3,900 | $5,500 | $9,000 |
| Mid | $4,750 | $7,000 | $10,000 |
| Senior | $5,500 | $8,000 | $12,000 |
| Lead | $7,000 | $10,000 | $15,000 |
| Blockchain Engineer | |||
| Junior | $6,000 (30th Percentile) | $7,500 | $10,000 (70th Percentile) |
| Mid | $7,500 (30th Percentile) | $9,250 | $10,500 (70th Percentile) |
| Senior | $9,000 (30th Percentile) | $10,500 | $12,500 (70th Percentile) |
| Data Engineer | |||
| Junior | $4,000 | $6,200 | $9,750 |
| Mid | $5,500 | $7,500 | $11,000 |
| Senior | $7,000 | $9,100 | $14,550 |
| Lead | $7,500 | $10,500 | $16,000 |
| Data Analyst | |||
| Junior | $3,150 | $4,500 | $6,700 |
| Mid | $4,500 | $6,500 | $10,000 |
| Senior | $5,000 | $8,000 | $12,700 |
| Lead | $6,500 | $10,500 | $17,500 |
| Data Scientist | |||
| Junior | $5,500 (30th Percentile) | $6,750 | $7,500 (70th Percentile) |
| Mid | $6,800 (30th Percentile) | $8,000 | $10,500 (70th Percentile) |
| Senior | $8,250 (30th Percentile) | $9,100 | $10,750 (70th Percentile) |
| Lead | $9,500 (30th Percentile) | $12,500 | $13,750 (70th Percentile) |
| Quality Assurance | |||
| Junior | $2,550 | $3,750 | $5,900 |
| Mid | $3,500 | $5,000 | $8,000 |
| Senior | $4,500 | $6,500 | $10,500 |
| Lead | $5,550 | $9,000 | $15,000 |
| DevOps | |||
| Junior | $3,700 | $6,000 | $8,500 |
| Mid | $5,500 | $7,500 | $11,000 |
| Senior | $6,750 | $9,000 | $12,500 |
| Lead | $6,750 | $9,000 | $14,500 |
| Site Reliability Engineer | |||
| Junior | $5,000 (30th Percentile) | $6,500 | $8,500 (70th Percentile) |
| Mid | $7,500 (30th Percentile) | $9,000 | $10,500 (70th Percentile) |
| Senior | $9,000 (30th Percentile) | $10,500 | $12,000 (70th Percentile) |
| Cybersecurity Engineer | |||
| Junior | $2,650 | $4,250 | $6,500 |
| Mid | $4,000 | $5,500 | $9,250 |
| Senior | $6,250 | $8,750 | $14,000 |
| Solutions Engineer | |||
| Junior | $3,500 | $5,000 | $9,750 |
| Mid | $4,250 | $8,300 | $15,000 |
| Senior | $6,900 | $10,500 | $18,000 |
| Systems Engineer | |||
| Junior | $3,000 | $4,000 | $6,000 |
| Mid | $3,900 | $5,250 | $7,500 |
| Senior | $4,750 | $6,650 | $8,895 |
| Lead | $6,000 | $7,500 | $9,000 |
| Systems Analyst | |||
| Junior | $3,600 | $4,600 | $6,250 |
| Mid | $4,150 | $6,000 | $8,750 |
| Senior | $4,500 | $7,000 | $10,000 |
Note: For roles with insufficient data (10th and 90th percentile), the 30th and 70th percentile salaries are shown instead. This is due to the limited size of the data set, which makes it unreliable to display these statistics.
Junior: Typically 0-2 years of experience. Mostly fresh graduates or engineers in their first job.
Mid: Typically 2-5+ years of experience. Able to mentor juniors and lead small-scale projects end-to-end.
Senior: Typically 5+ years of experience. Expected to own complex technical initiatives and have more responsibility in designing rather than implementing.
Principal: Have deep practical experience gained and mostly answer directly to the senior management of their company. Titles include “Principal Engineer” and “Staff Engineer”
Lead: Main responsibilities include leading a small team in the technical areas. Might occasionally be involved in people management, but much less common. Titles include “Technical
Lead” and “Team Lead”.
Manager: Main responsibilities include hiring and people management. Titles include “Engineering Manager” and “Software Development Manager (SDM)”.
Top Searched Tech Companies in Singapore
| Rank | Company | Percentage of Salary Paid Above Market Median |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ByteDance (Parent company of TikTok) | 35.2% |
| 2 | GovTech Singapore | 11.2% |
| 3 | Shopee | 18.6% |
| 4 | Binance | 22.5% |
| 5 | VISA | 10.7% |
| 6 | Grab | 19.5% |
| 7 | JP Morgan Chase & Co. | 22.0% |
| 8 | Apple | 34.9% |
| 9 | PayPal | 16.2% |
| 10 | FoodPanda | 24.9% |
| 11 | Meta | 50.6% |
| 12 | IBM | 6.0% |
| 13 | ShopBack | 13.0% |
| 14 | Dell Technologies | 11.6% |
| 15 | DBS | 7.3% |
Six out of 15 of the most searched tech companies paid 20% more than the market’s median salary.
While there is no clear correlation between how well a company pays and its popularity, it is clear that salary is a key factor in attracting talent.
One interesting fact is that American Tech companies (FAANG-ish) pay very well, at 35% to 50% more than the median.
Tech Sector Trends
Tech companies are now clamoring for top tech talent who can handle multiple roles and wear different hats, as opposed to specialists. Moreover, AI experts are now in high demand due to the growing adoption of AI in various industries.
AI Chatbots such as ChatGPT have also highlighted the importance of soft skills and problem-solving abilities. As manual and repetitive tasks become automated, skills such as creativity, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and communication will become increasingly valuable in the tech industry.
Thus, if you are looking to upgrade yourself, remember to include both hard and soft skills to give you a better shot at landing your next position.
Are you working in the tech sector? Share with us your insights in the comments below!
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