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2024 Technology Salary Guide

Discover how the new normal has shaped the landscape of tech

Balancing Act

Empowering You to Weigh Your Options in 2024

2023 turned out differently than expected. Instead of a recession and increased unemployment, technologists experienced steady salary growth with a slight increase in employment. The tech market returned to pre-pandemic levels, with just under 3% salary growth and IT unemployment at only 1.94% by the end of Q3. However, the market still feels uncertain despite some stability heading into 2024.

Let’s talk about the big question everyone is asking. Will we see growth in technology hiring and salaries in 2024? This guide aims to assist both candidates and employers in weighing their options effectively, enabling them to make informed decisions during uncertain times.

BridgeView's 2024 Salary Guide provides insights into the salaries of technical positions nationwide, categorized as low, mid, and high. Our projections are based on a combination of proprietary candidate and client data, the growth rate of median wages in online job postings, and data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Navigate the Guide

Here's What You'll Learn

Tech Scene at-a-Glance

Get a high-level view of the current state of technology hiring across the United States.

National Tech Scene

Explore the evolving dynamics of the tech job market this past year and how we can leverage these insights.

Nationwide Analysis

Read our insights on the current state of technology careers across the entire United States.

Salaries by Job Title

Discover salary trends for junior, mid, and senior tech roles across 65 specific job titles spanning 8 job sectors.

Weighing Your Options

Empowering candidates and employers to make informed decisions in a dynamic landscape.

2024 Outlook Survey

Discover the insights and perspectives of hundreds of tech leaders as they share their thoughts on 2024.

National Tech Scene

Contrary to the candidate-driven market of the last few years, 2023 saw a slight power shift back to employers. Previously, companies competed for the best technologists, leading to candidate scarcity, rising salaries, and more employee perks and flexibility. Job openings for technologists slowed down, resulting in the elimination of over 100,000 job requisitions. Additionally, many tech companies had to lay off around 250,000 employees, which was a necessary move to rightsize after the pandemic hiring blitz.

Despite the wave of tech layoffs in the first half of the year, the supply-demand gap in the tech talent market remained largely unaffected.

However, starting in July 2023, the monthly rate for tech job openings began to rise again, which helped to offset the previous losses. Despite this, there were over 167,000 unfilled jobs for technologists at the end of Q3, which far exceeded the tech hiring levels. TechServe Alliance’s IT Employment Index concluded that IT employment continues to “run in place;” it remains a “weird market.” Hiring has slowed, yet supply is scarce for in-demand skill sets. Employers need help to fill long-term job requisitions, with hiring costs increasing and a changing recruiting landscape making it difficult to find suitable new hires.

Nationwide Analysis

Employee Paradigm Shift

Some pertinent pent-up employee wants and needs will take center stage in 2024. This is mainly because technologists are working more hours and taking on additional responsibilities due to a demand for more staff. According to BLS data, the tech job market lost 41,000 job openings in September 2023 and 24,000 resignations. This indicates that most tech workers plan to ask for a raise next year, while employers plan to reduce merit increases. Additionally, Hired reports that enterprise and midsized companies now require remote employees to work on-site or in a hybrid environment. However, seniorlevel technologists, particularly software developers, have preferred working from home full-time. According to a Monster poll, 41% of workers would rather quit than return to the office full-time.

Navigating New Technologies

In 2023, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) were the most prominent emerging technologies. According to CompTIA's Tech Jobs Report, one quarter of job postings for positions that require emerging tech skills were for AI jobs. Due to the rise of generative AI and tighter corporate budgets, junior technologists have seen a 5% decrease in salaries as some of their responsibilities have been automated. However, evidence has not shown that these technologies have reduced software developer jobs. Instead, companies are investing in training and upskilling their employees to learn these emerging technologies, allowing them to earn up to 10% more in their next position.

The Impact of Contract Workers

As early 2023 saw considerable layoffs of full-time employees, tech projects struggled to meet deadlines and release dates due to short-staffed teams. Since no permanent headcounts were approved, companies had to hire contractors and freelancers to fill the talent gaps. This trend looks to continue into 2024 as the SIA | Bullhorn Staffing Indicator shows that temporary staffing levels started to tick upwards progressively in the summer of 2023. Contract technologists offer the flexibility to scale up or down and can provide niche skills that full-time employees don’t possess. Additionally, hiring contract professionals can be a more budget-friendly option by avoiding the costs of hiring full-time employees. Many employers are increasingly hiring contract professionals with the potential to offer them permanent roles.

Show Us the Money

Attracting talent is best achieved by offering a competitive salary. Employers have found that including a base salary range in job postings attracts more applicants, increasing the chances of finding qualified candidates. Employers who advertise their pay may have an advantage in attracting better candidates than their competitors who do not disclose salary information. According to Indeed's Hiring Lab, pay transparency laws and tight labor market conditions have led to higher rates of salary advertising in US job postings on Indeed, with a peak of 50% of all jobs in August 2023. Colorado is the most salary-transparent state, with 81% of job postings featuring salary data. 2024, this trend will continue as New York's statewide disclosure laws are enacted.

Salaries by Job Title

Product Management & Design Project Management & SDLC Software & Application Development Data & Analytics Networking & Cloud Operations & Support Security Executive

Product Management & Design

Product Managers develop the vision, understand user needs, and ideate product features to address those needs. At the same time, designers build a product experience to solve user problems. These functions are integral to creating a successful software product, and we see demand for these roles staying steady in 2024.

Position	Low	Mid	High
Product Management Director	$154,000	$168,500	$196,000
Product Manager	$118,500	$147,000	$170,250
Product Owner	$94,500	$133,000	$155,500
UX Designer	$92,750	$126,500	$142,000
UX Researcher	$89,000	$113,000	$129,500

Project Management & SDLC

Project Managers are responsible for overseeing the process of managing, planning, and developing information technology projects. Alongside them, several other roles assist in the software development life cycle's requirements, analysis, and design aspects. Due to the crucial functions of Project Managers and Business Analysts, we anticipate a slight increase in demand and salaries for these positions.

Position	Low	Mid	High
Product Management Office (PMO) Manager)	$137,250	$160,000	$188,000
Program Manager	$129,500	$151,000	$180,250
Project Manager	$108,000	$144,500	$170,500
Project Coordinator	$66,750	$89,000	$107,500
Business Analyst	$96,000	$121,250	$144,500
Scrum Master	$109,000	$131,500	$156,000
Agile Coach	$125,000	$142,000	$163,500
Technical Writer	$78,500	$94,750	$155,000

Software & Application Development

Software engineers are taking on more responsibilities than ever. In addition to designing, developing, and implementing software, many engineers are now involved in requirement gathering, testing, and production support. They are the backbone of any software application and play a crucial role in the success of a project. Recent reports show developers specializing in Full-Stack, AI/ML, and ERP will see some of the most significant salary increases in 2024.

Position	Low	Mid	High
Software Development Manager	$141,000	$172,500	$191,000
Software Applications Architect	$146,000	$175,250	$195,750
Team Lead Software Developer	$138,000	$160,750	$181,000
Front-End Software Developer	$99,500	$139,000	$165,000
Back-End Software Developer	$112,500	$152,500	$179,000
Full-Stack Software Developer	$117,500	$158,000	$184,000
Mobile Applications Developer	$109,000	$141,500	$166,000
Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Engineer	$120,500	$160,250	$186,000
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software Developer	$122,500	$139,750	$168,250
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Analyst	$112,500	$132,000	$158,750
DevOps Engineer	$147,000	$164,500	$188,750
Manual Test Engineer	$86,500	$107,000	$124,000
Automated Test Engineer	$105,000	$120,750	$146,000

Data & Analytics

Data Engineers are responsible for designing systems that collect, manage, and store data from various sources. On the other hand, analysts help to transform, analyze, and model the data. This job category will progressively increase in demand due to the need for big data platforms, cloud-based data management, and real-time data processing and analysis. Data Engineers and Analysts will also play a crucial role in implementing advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms to derive meaningful insights from vast amounts of data.

Position	Low	Mid	High
Database Manager	$138,000	$166,000	$182,500
Data Architect	$136,000	$162,250	$187,000
Data Scientist	$109,000	$142,500	$179,750
Big Data Engineer	$123,250	$153,000	$178,000
Data Warehouse Engineer	$120,750	$142,500	$165,000
Database Developer	$95,000	$133,000	$147,500
Database Administrator	$97,750	$131,000	$144,750
Business Intelligence Analyst	$100,250	$135,000	$160,500
Data Analyst	$90,500	$115,750	$136,000
Data Reporting Analyst	$88,000	$112,250	$131,000

Networking & Cloud

For a long time, Network Engineers have been responsible for designing, implementing, and troubleshooting computer networks. As more and more data centers move to the cloud, this role works closely with engineers responsible for building and managing cloud infrastructure. Due to the rapid pace of technological advancements in software-defined networking, anything as a service, and hybrid cloud environments, professionals in this job category can expect some of the highest salary increases in 2024.

Position	Low	Mid	High
Networking/Cloud Engineering Manager	$136,500	$154,000	$180,250
Networking Architect	$141,750	$162,500	$192,500
Network Engineer	$117,500	$142,500	$168,000
Network Administrator	$98,000	$125,750	$140,000
NOC Technician	$61,500	$81,000	$97,500
Cloud Architect	$146,000	$172,500	$195,000
Cloud Engineer	$128,750	$148,750	$176,250
Cloud Administrator	$110,000	$132,500	$147,000

Operations & Support

Desktop Support Analysts and Systems Administrators help keep all users running. Maintaining the infrastructure for an entire organization while they support and troubleshoot technical issues is a big job. While the need for these roles has spiked to support the rise of remote workers over the last couple of years, we expect the demand to level out in 2024.

Position	Low	Mid	High
IT Operations Manager	$131,250	$148,000	$175,750
Systems Engineer	$105,000	$137,500	$152,000
Systems Administrator	$90,000	$122,500	$141,250
Applications Support Analyst	$52,000	$84,250	$106,250
Desktop Support Analyst	$53,500	$66,000	$79,750
Help Desk Technician	$43,750	$55,250	$64,250
PC Technician	$41,500	$50,000	$61,750
IT Auditor	$81,000	$107,500	$135,500

Security

IT Security Engineers are highly sought-after professionals who protect a company's valuable digital assets. They design secure networks, conduct regular vulnerability assessments, and monitor security threats. Network, data, and cloud security engineering will significantly increase salary.

Position	Low	Mid	High
Information Security Manager	$147,500	$171,750	$200,500
Security Architect	$145,500	$173,000	$195,500
Network Security Engineer	$119,500	$148,250	$172,750
Applications Security Engineer	$124,000	$152,500	$181,000
Cloud Security Engineer	$128,750	$155,500	$188,000
Information Security Analyst	$108,000	$134,500	$157,500
SOC Analyst	$86,500	$108,000	$126,500
GRC Analyst	$91,000	$115,500	$134,250

Executive

IT executives, especially CIOs and CTOs, are responsible for aligning technology strategies with the overall business goals. As companies must undergo digital transformation, these executives play a crucial role in evaluating emerging technologies and trends to maintain the organization's competitive edge. We anticipate growth for these roles in 2024, with the most significant increases expected for VPs, directors, and managers who can work onsite or are willing to relocate to lead their teams more effectively.

Position	Low	Mid	High
Chief Information Officer (CIO)	$198,000	$247,500	$302,500
Chief Technology Officer (CTO)	$185,000	$237,500	$288,750
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)	$179,500	$233,750	$265,000
VP of Information Technology	$160,500	$194,000	$242,500
Information Technology Manager	$145,000	$175,000	$198,250
Information Technology Manager	$124,750	$152,500	$177,500

Fluctuations By Title

Job titles with the strongest demand and higher salaries

• Full-stack and Back-end Software Developers

• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Engineers

• Cloud and Network Architects Information and Network Security Engineers

• Systems and ERP Analysts

Job titles with the largest decreases

• Quality Assurance Engineers

• Technical Writers

• Systems Administrators

• Database Administrators

• Telecommunications Specialists

Weigh Your Options

The Future Landscape of the 2024 Tech Job Market

Much like the stock market and interest rates, the technology job market has cyclical trends that we can sometimes predict based on prudent data analysis. According to CompTIA’s Tech Jobs Report, tech occupation employment is rising while tech unemployment is decreasing. However, the number of tech occupation job postings, particularly for remote jobs, has significantly reduced. This trend is expected to continue throughout the first half of 2024, resulting in a tech job vacancy rate that falls below pre-pandemic levels.

Many companies that try to run lean and refrain from hiring new technologists may face an unintended consequence of increased employee turnover. The best technologists will still be able to find new jobs that offer more money or remote work, creating a massive need to fill vacated positions.

This has led to a rise in technology contractors, augmented by consulting and managed services engagements. If the economy remains stable, non-farm-based employment continues to slow growth, and interest rates stay down, full-time employment roles should increase steadily in the second half of the year. Although technology salaries increased close to 6% year-over-year in 2022, we expect the overall tech salary growth to be like that of 2023, around 3%.

In 2024, job seekers will need to weigh their options carefully. Switching jobs may be a good idea if you have the qualifications for one of the job titles expected to be in high demand. Employers should immediately hire critical roles, especially if they have the budget. Hiring early before the market fluctuates later in the year is wise.

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