By Jack Ashley, Development and Testing Expert at Reed Technology
Technology is one of the UK’s fastest-growing sectors, not only as demand for digital initiatives continues to rise post-pandemic, but also due to the sector’s fast-paced technological developments. However, the market’s evolution, coupled with its rising demand, means professionals are now looking for higher salaries, and businesses need to meet these rising expectations to secure and retain top talent.
The software development and testing market has long been more candidate-driven than most. With this in mind, Chris Adcock, Managing Director, Reed Technology, highlights the specialist tech sector roles in short supply using Reed’s latest technology salary guide – analysing which roles have seen the sharpest salary increase over the past year, while also providing some key considerations for businesses hoping to recruit in this area.
Shifting salary trends and expectations
As businesses look to attract the most talented professionals in a candidate-led market, many are offering increased flexibility, such as hybrid or remote working, alongside other benefits. In the technology industry, this has seen many companies rapidly adapt their entire recruitment processes, so they don’t lose out to faster competitors.
In 2022, talent demand was particularly prevalent in areas where top-quality candidates were in short supply, including DevOps, cloud and front end. The development and testing industry alone has seen an average salary increase of 12.6%, highlighting the strong demand for professionals in this area.
On a national scale, the top three roles seeing the biggest salary increases over the past year are software development managers (21.2%), manual test analysts (20.4%) and front-end developers (20%). However, not every role is experiencing the same growing demand, with automation test analysis and software architects seeing 4.3% and 1.5% salary decreases respectively.
Across different regions in the UK, there were also varying demands and spikes. For example, London saw its sharpest salary increases for manual test analysts (15.8%) and .net developers (15.3%), whereas in the Midlands, the highest increases were for test managers (17%) and mobile developers (14.3%).
Understanding where different roles are more competitive is important for maximising recruitment success, especially for remote-based jobs. Over the past year, for example, businesses recruiting software development managers have seen salary increases of almost 14% in the North of England, compared with a hefty 24% increase in the South.
For job seekers, this means more options are available, especially where jobs are remote. For businesses, salary fluctuations like these are making finding talent more challenging, and as a result, remaining competitive is critical.
How can businesses looking for development and testing talent remain competitive?
In recent years, more focus has been placed on culture, and – since the normalisation of working from home – work-life balance. As a result, if they want to attract, secure and most importantly, retain top talent, organisations need to provide flexible working opportunities for employees, supported by a strong company culture, in addition to a strong salary and benefits offering.
This is essential when you factor in the lack of geographical boundaries when it comes to hiring. With more companies adopting a hybrid working model, businesses are now not only competing locally, but also nationwide.
When recruiting, businesses should consider the factors most important to development and testing professionals. Remuneration is always a top priority, but candidates are also valuing companies that offer exciting technologies and greenfield projects.
Economic uncertainty is inevitably going to be a key driver in how the recruitment market will look in 2023. While the cost-of-living crisis has impacted much of the UK economy, it doesn’t seem to have slowed the development and testing market to date, but it’s tricky to predict how this will change over the next year.
As a result, looking at our annual salary guide survey, we uncovered that a big driver for professionals looking to switch roles is financial factors, perhaps unsurprisingly as the cost-of-living crisis continues to take hold. The primary reason for those wanting to move was because their current salary was not sufficient enough (19%). For candidates working in in-demand areas, where we’ve seen big salary increases, it often makes financial sense to seek new opportunities.
Overwhelmingly, the push for ‘purpose’ within roles remains strong post-pandemic, with 17% stating they are considering a new job as it is time for them to move on. While the third most popular reason relays back to salary, with 15% stating there is better pay available elsewhere, closely followed by 13% claiming the benefits and salary they receive are not good enough – emphasising the need for businesses to strike the right balance between offering a strong salary and providing desirable benefits.
