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While there are signs of life in the technology hiring market, things aren’t going back to how they were before, leaving candidates in uncharted waters. In a post-hypergrowth era with high interest rates, 48% of managers are finding it challenging to meet candidates’ salary expectations, often turning to benefits and perks like flexible working to bridge the gap, according to recruiter Robert Half’s latest technology salary guide.
“There’s less churn in today’s market, which means employers are increasingly focused on strategies to keep their best employees and attract new candidates to address skills gaps,” said Dawn Fay, operational president at Robert Half, speaking about the hiring landscape as a whole. “While salary remains a critical factor for today’s professionals, flexible work arrangements, career development, and other perks are also top of mind.”
What impact is this shift having on salaries?
Software engineering salaries have stagnated after a sustained period of unfettered growth. But as hiring activity starts to bounce back, candidates are in demand again, and good engineers should be positioned to negotiate on salary.
“Low unemployment and competitive hiring allow high-demand tech candidates to be selective about the jobs they pursue, putting the onus on managers to give compelling reasons to join their team,” Robert Half’s latest trends report concluded. As a result, 45% of technology managers say they intend to increase starting salaries to attract talent this year.
This is particularly pronounced for in-demand skills like proficiency with AI and machine learning, as well as cloud technology, migrations, and cybersecurity,
Managers are also looking to tempt employees back to the office, with 78% saying they are willing to increase starting salaries for new hires to work in the office full or part-time. Of those, 48% are offering workers up to 20% more pay to come in four to five days a week, according to Robert Half. Candidates say their ideal scenario is to work in the office three days per week.
Below, we have picked out the average starting salaries for engineering and management roles in the US from Robert Half’s 2025 Salary Guide, which is based on research conducted in June 2024. These figures represent the national average salary range for the 50th and 75th percentile of applicants.
Chief technology officer (CTO): $218,750-$275,750
Applications architect: $165,500-$198,000
Software and applications manager: $154,250-$181,000
Senior software engineer: $147,500-$177,250
DevOps engineer: $141,500-$172,250
Site reliability engineer: $136,000-$166,750
Software engineer/developer: $130,750-$153,000
QA manager: $116,250-$132,250
