Tech workers in Edinburgh and Glasgow see average salary jump to £80,000

Pay packets for tech jobs in Edinburgh and Glasgow have seen double-digit percentage increases since last year – with workers in both cities earning an average salary of about £80,000.

Hired, a recruiting marketplace specialising in tech and sales talent, has released its annual report titled 2022 State of Tech Salaries: Navigating an Uncertain Hiring Market. Key findings include a global increase in salaries across nearly all tech roles, mainly due to the growth in pay of those with three or more years’ experience, while remote salaries have continued to outpace their local counterparts.

The recruitment specialist has deemed Scotland as having a “healthy” average salary for technology roles, now coming in at £79,736 in Glasgow (up 17.3 per cent from 2021), and £80,886 in Edinburgh (up 13.2 per cent).

The highest figure in the UK was not London but rather Oxford (adjusted for cost of living) at £88,108 (up 27 per cent), followed by £87,976 in Cambridge (up 12.4 per cent), followed by the UK capital at £83,105 (up 8.3 per cent).

In terms of industries seeing the largest pay increases for UK-based roles, entertainment saw the largest growth, with a 17 per cent jump in average salaries between 2020 and July 2021.

Hired said the report’s overall findings are based on the global analysis of more than 907,000 interview requests over 47,000 active positions, facilitated through Hired’s marketplace from January 2019 through June 2022. The firm also surveyed more than 2,000 tech professionals on their salary, benefits, and flexible work preferences.

Additional key findings from the 2022 State of Tech Salaries report include businesses of all sizes being more open to interviewing candidates from other locations (4.4 markets in 2022 up from 3.3 in the beginning of 2021). Nine in ten workers denied an expected salary raise in the next six months would start looking for a new job immediately, and half of respondents expect salary increases by 2023.

The study has found that the average tech salary in Edinburgh is £80,886, up 13.2 per cent from 2021. Picture: Ian Georgeson Photography.

Furthermore, salary levels at corporates (companies with 300-plus employees) versus start-ups (under that threshold) in the UK narrowed to the smallest pay difference since 2019, with large firms paying just 4.53 per cent more on average (£84,061 versus £80,419).

Regarding diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), 61 per cent of surveyed candidates are worried that the 2022 economic climate will lead to a rollback of efforts, with 14 per cent reporting that they have already seen deprioritisation in this area.

Competitive

Hired chief executive Josh Brenner said: “The hiring climate this year has been full of contradictions and challenges. We've seen climbing salaries, aggressive hiring, and layoffs – all at once. However, the hiring landscape remains competitive as companies innovate and diversify their teams through remote work.

"We're seeing salaries rise globally as employers expand their talent pools and candidates find more opportunities outside their backyards. To ride out this storm of uncertainty, we recommend a shift from hyper-growth to more efficient growth. Be responsive and attentive to what's important to employees, stay the course on DEI initiatives, and continue to nurture your employer brand.”

A recent report said Edinburgh’s rapidly growing tech sector was among the parts of the UK with the greatest number of tech vacancies, while also seeing a record number of people employed, while another study found Scotland’s technology bosses enjoyed double-digit hikes in pay last year.