01 June 2018

Demand for Big Data professionals increased 78 per cent since the first quarter of 2017, according to the latest Tech Cities Job Watch report from Experis.

The recruitment firm’s quarterly reports track the changing tech workforce dynamics across the UK. Its study for Q1 2018 reveals that Big Data specialists command the highest salary of £67,464 compared to the four other ICT disciplines that are tracked – cloud; security; mobile; and web development.

But despite the increase in demand, Experis says permanent salaries for Big Data remained static compared to the same period last year, with the average salary standing at £67,464.

With a year-on-year growth of three per cent, London remains the highest paying city for Big Data professionals, with an average permanent salary of £73,026 – that’s 8.24 per cent higher than the average salary.

Outside of the capital, Newcastle and Bristol offered the highest salaries of £56,425 and £56,124 respectively. Bristol also experienced the highest year-on-year growth (17%) out of all the ten cities Experis includes in its reports (the others include Birmingham, Brighton, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester).

Unlike the permanent salaries, the report says day rates for each discipline across theten cities saw a year-on-year decline, offering an average of £432 for this quarter. Cloud experienced the highest decrease of nine per cent, whilst mobile only fell by one per cent.

Despite a five per cent decrease year-on-year, Big Data remains the highest paying discipline. When reviewing all cities, Experis says Newcastle offered the highest day rate of £578 – 16.68 per cent higher than the national average day rate. Manchester and London were the second and third highest-paying cities, with average day rates of £518 and £516, respectively.