Technology salary benchmarks and trends

Name: Salary negotiations
Creator: Robert Half

2027 Salary Guide

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Job seekers: Explore opportunities and grow your career.

Technology and IT salaries are growing more competitive for roles requiring data, AI, cybersecurity and systems modernization expertise. Companies need professionals with these specialized skills to advance critical technology initiatives—but they remain in short supply. While higher application volumes driven by AI-generated resumes can create the appearance of a deeper talent pool, it doesn’t always mean more qualified candidates.

Employers who assume the market has softened risk underpricing critical roles and missing out on top hires. The same job title can also carry very different pay expectations depending on the required experience with certain software, tools and platforms. Current salary data helps employers understand those differences, pressure-test role requirements and better align budgets with hiring needs.

Hiring managers: Meet with us to get customized salary insights and guidance so you can build offers candidates say yes to.

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View salaries by job category

The salaries below default to national averages. Select a job category and city to find figures for a specific market. Starting compensation can vary significantly based on a candidate’s skills, experience and certifications, as well as other factors including industry; company size, complexity or revenue; and demand for the role. To reflect this variability, we report our compensation data in 3 levels: low, mid and high.

Business Analysis

Data & Business Intelligence

IT Infrastructure

IT Management

IT Project Management

Product Management

Software Development

Job Title

Low

Mid

High

ERP/Application Consultant

3899

4577

5419

Functional Analyst

3989

4689

5691

IT Business Analyst

4069

4821

6504

Low

The candidate is new to the role or has limited experience and is still developing core skills.

Mid

The candidate has moderate experience in the role or one similar, meets most requirements, and may hold transferable skills or relevant certifications.

High

The candidate has extensive experience in the role, demonstrates advanced skills, and often brings specialized certifications or industry experience.

Technology and IT compensation trends

Data at a glance

72%

of technology leaders are making more competitive offers, especially for business-critical roles with limited talent pools.

65%

are offering salaries above their planned range, citing the need to secure candidates with specialized skills as a top reason.

92%

are offering higher pay for relevant AI skills, with 60% offering more for AI-related expertise than for other tech skills.

Specialized skills commanding premiums

Professionals with the following skills may command higher pay:

Financial analysis

Budgeting and forecasting

Excel (Advanced)

Big data

ESG reporting

AI skills

National accounting standards

Financial modeling

Salary negotiations

Specialized finance and accounting professionals have greater leverage in salary negotiations as employers increasingly reward hard-to-find expertise with targeted pay premiums instead of broad salary increases.

72%

of managers are willing to negotiate base pay.

58%

say candidates frequently negotiate higher salaries based on specialized skills.

34%

of professionals struggle with knowing their market worth.

Rewards that prompt career moves

When base pay is similar, technology professionals weigh the full compensation package before deciding to accept a job offer or change employers. Top benefits and perks that influence a job change:

Work‑life balance and flexibility

Paid time off, hybrid or remote work options, flexible hours

Financial incentives

Bonuses, profit-sharing programs, stock options

Explore more total rewards insights

Roles, industries, certifications on the rise

Roles requiring specialized skills in areas such as data, AI, cybersecurity and cloud modernization are expected to have salary growth above the projected +2.1% average for technology positions.

+ 3.3% Business Intelligence Developer

+ 3.3% Data Scientist

+ 3.1% Cybersecurity Engineer

+ 3.0% Network/Cloud Engineer

+ 3.0% Software Engineer

+ 2.9% AI/ML Analyst

Employers in these industries need skilled professionals to advance security, digital transformation, data strategy and infrastructure modernization.

Financial services

Tech and IT

Manufacturing

Pharma and biosciences

Certifications can justify higher pay when they validate expertise in cloud, security, data, AI and project delivery.

AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner

Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP)

Certified Data Professional (CDP)

Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA)

CompTIA (A+, Cloud+, Security+)

IBM AI Engineering Professional Certificate

Microsoft Certified Azure Solutions Architect Expert

Project Management Professional (PMP)

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Salaries and trends by profession

Get 2027 starting salaries and salary insights in our other professional fields.

Finance and accounting

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Administrative and customer support

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The salary benchmarks listed in the Salary Guide From Robert Half are the result of a rigorous, multistep process so that our projections accurately reflect the marketplace. They are based on actual compensation for professionals Robert Half has matched with employers across the country and third-party job posting data from Textkernel that we use to independently validate the salary levels. Learn more about our methodology.

Non-salary data referenced in the Salary Guide is based on online surveys developed by Robert Half and conducted by an independent research firm. Respondents include hiring managers and workers from small (10-99 employees), midsize (100-999 employees) and large (1,000-plus employees) private, publicly listed and public sector organizations across the United States.