Tech salaries level off as burnout & AI skills surge

Recruitment firm Talent has reported little movement in median tech and digital salaries heading into 2026, while pointing to ongoing strength in pay for specialist roles in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

The firm's latest salary guide covers permanent salaries and contract rates for technology roles. It draws on survey responses from more than 1,800 people across Australia and New Zealand, as well as Talent's placement data and market commentary across regions where it operates in Australia, New Zealand and the US.

The market has continued the "salary correction" seen in 2024 and 2025 after the post-pandemic boom. Talent reported no significant change in median salaries across job families going into 2026, with pay rises mainly concentrated in niche skillsets.

One example is Microsoft specialists, where the firm reported an average 6% increase at the top end of the salary range in Australia.

Hiring caution

The guide also points to weaker demand at the start of the career ladder. Talent's placement data showed a 19% decrease in entry-level hiring over the past two years.

Survey results suggest hiring caution has coincided with worker anxiety about job mobility. Across Australia and New Zealand, 52% of respondents said they did not feel confident they could find a new role in the current market.

Workplace sentiment also appeared strained. Only one in eight corporate workers said they were genuinely happy at work. Nearly two-thirds (68%) said they felt burnt out, stuck or unhappy.

Burnout risk featured strongly in the findings, with 76% reporting they had felt close to burnout at some point in the past six months.

Matthew Munson, Talent's managing director for NSW, linked low labour-market movement to perceived risk rather than improved employee engagement.

"We're seeing a lot of organisations mistake stability for loyalty. People aren't moving, but that doesn't mean they're engaged or confident about staying long term. In NSW, many candidates are sitting tight because the market still feels risky - not because they're fulfilled. That creates a real blind spot for employers who assume low attrition means low risk."

Skills in demand

Despite modest changes in median pay, the guide highlights areas where organisations continue to seek specific expertise. In-demand skills include Microsoft Azure Machine Learning, data architecture, threat and vulnerability management, Azure SQL, senior stakeholder management and large language model architecture.

Separately, 79% of professionals said they felt confident their skills were keeping pace with industry change. The guide also cited emerging research on workplace use of AI tools, suggesting heavy reliance may weaken critical thinking, memory and problem-solving over time.

The guide lists the highest-paid roles in 2026, excluding C-suite positions. Enterprise Architect was listed at AUD $262k, followed by Big Data Architect at AUD $250k and Cybersecurity Architect at AUD $246k.

Engineering Manager was listed at AUD $234k and Cloud Architect at AUD $233k. Several roles clustered in the low AUD $230k range, including AI Principal Engineer (AUD $232k), LLM Architect (AUD $232k), Program Manager (AUD $232k), Agent Architect (AUD $231k) and Applications Solution Architect (AUD $230k).

The 2025 comparison list had Enterprise Architect at AUD $231k and Big Data Architect at AUD $220k. Program Manager was listed at AUD $210k, Cloud Architect at AUD $209k and Engineering Manager at AUD $208k.

In 2025, security leadership and management roles also featured in the top bracket, including SOC Manager at AUD $205k and Cybersecurity Manager at AUD $202k. Cybersecurity Architect and Applications Solution Architect were both listed at AUD $200k, alongside Technical Salesforce Architect at AUD $200k.

Leadership focus

Alongside pay and hiring, the guide flags "capability gaps" across skills, leadership, culture and talent strategy. Talent's advisory unit, Solve by Talent, argued that organisational challenges often attributed to AI projects can reflect management and governance issues.

Sarah Blanchard, head of talent advisory at Solve by Talent, said leadership needs were changing as AI tools spread through corporate workflows.

"We're seeing organisations invest heavily in skills, technology and new operating models, but leadership capability is often the missing link. Many of the challenges being attributed to AI - slow adoption, resistance, underwhelming outcomes - are actually leadership issues. Leading in an AI-enabled environment requires different judgement, decision-making and accountability, and that capability needs to be built deliberately rather than treated as an afterthought."