Hays' Tech Talent Explorer examines how AI is influencing tech roles globally, highlighting the technology's role in augmenting human expertise. It also benchmarks global salaries across key tech roles, with the UK performing solidly against international peers.
- UK technical roles show a moderate exposure to AI impact, with AI augmenting roles, not replacing expertise.
- UK tech professionals command competitive pay globally, ranking 15th out of 34 countries for average salaries and 16th for contractor day rates.
- UK contractors in technical roles rank among the highest paid globally.
AI impact varies sharply by role
Software intensive roles such as Software Developers, Data Engineers and AI Engineers are set to see the highest relative exposure to AI across the 20 technical roles assessed, where routine tasks are increasingly supported by automation. However, even for these roles, the overall impact remains modest, and, rather than eliminating roles, the technology is expected to remove specific tasks. These professionals continue to play a critical role through human oversight, design, problem solving and quality control.
By contrast, roles that rely on judgement, coordination and organisational oversight, including Project and Change Managers, show lower levels of AI impact. Infrastructure focused roles such as Security and Network Engineering are even lower in terms of expected impact, and remain essential to safe, reliable AI deployment.
Together this reflects a two-speed transformation: AI reshapes software-intensive work fastest, while governance, change and leadership and operational safety roles grow in strategic importance.
Strong UK tech wages persist despite AI
UK technical roles command solid pay levels, demonstrating the resilience of the sector even as AI reshapes the world of work. Salaries are being driven by skills scarcity, demand and the system critical nature of roles, particularly across Cloud, Cybersecurity, DevOps and Platform Engineering.
While not among the very highest paying markets globally, the UK remains competitively positioned, sitting in the top half of countries for both permanent salaries and contractor day rates. For permanent employees, UK salary levels rank particularly well internationally: Security Engineers place 4th globally, while Java Developers, DevOps Engineers, Solutions Architects and .NET Developers all sit at 10th. Reflecting this strength, the UK appears in the top half of highest salaries across 18 of the 20 job categories.
The contractor market shows an equally robust picture. UK day rates rank 3rd globally for Java Developers and 5th for Cloud Engineers, with Security Engineers in 7th place. .NET Developers rank 8th, Full Stack Developers 9th and Business Analysts 10th. Overall, the UK appears in the top half of highest day rates across 13 of the 20 job categories.
Based on the mean average salary across all roles, the top five highest paying countries for permanent tech employees, are the United States, Switzerland, Denmark, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. For contractor day rates, the leading markets are Switzerland, Denmark, Australia, Germany and Japan.
What UK tech professionals can expect to earn
In the UK, wage levels reflect market dynamics rather than AI impact, with pay bands influenced primarily by supply, demand and budget structures, not by automation risk.
The highest average salaries for permanent employees include Solutions Architect (£84,249), Security Engineer (£75,702) and DevOps Engineer (£67,532). Contractors also command strong day rates in specialist areas, with Java Developers (£695), Cloud Engineers (£684) and Security Engineers (£659) sitting at the top end of the market.
By contrast, roles with broader talent supply or more standardised entry pathways typically sit lower on the pay scale. Current averages include Project Manager (£41,736), Test Analyst (£43,971) and Data Analyst (£44,415). Contractor rates show a similar pattern, with Project Managers (£388), Test Analysts (£391) and Network Engineers (£407) among the lower paid day rates.
David Curtis, STEM Senior Managing Director, Hays UK&I comments:
"The findings of our report clearly show that AI isn't replacing human talent but amplifying it. As automation accelerates routine tasks, the roles that thrive are those grounded in judgement, coordination and strategic oversight. For professionals, this creates significant opportunities to build future ready careers by developing adaptable, strategic and tech augmented skill sets. For organisations, the findings underline the growing importance of continuous development and flexible workforce strategies.
To remain competitive, the UK must continue to position itself as an attractive destination for the world's best tech talent. That means ensuring wages and benefits remain attractive, but also creating an environment where innovation, skills development and career progression can accelerate. In a global market defined by rapid technological change, competitiveness is measured not only by pay, but by how effectively a country supports and invests in its people."
UK average salary and day rate rankings across 34 countries
Job Title | UK average salary rank | UK average day rate rank |
AI Engineer | 13th | 18th |
Business Analyst | 17th | 10th |
Change Manager | 17th | 15th |
Cloud Engineer | 12th | 5th |
Data Analyst | 17th | 19th |
Data Engineer | 13th | 19th |
Data Scientist | 12th | 19th |
DevOps Engineer | 10th | 17th |
Full Stack Developer | 14th | 9th |
Java Developer | 10th | 3rd |
Network Engineer | 12th | 19th |
Project Manager | 23rd | 20th |
RPA Engineer | 18th | 11th |
Scrum Master | 11th | 18th |
Security Engineer | 4th | 7th |
Software Developer | 14th | 12th |
Software Engineer | 16th | 10th |
Solutions Architect | 10th | 15th |
Test Analyst | 14th | 12th |
.Net Developer | 10th | 8th |
The Tech Talent Explorer, a decision-making platform designed for professionals and organisations in the tech industry, delivers clear, data-driven insights built on global workforce intelligence and tech professional input. The platform offers interactive visuals that help users confidently navigate contracting and permanent career options, as well as supporting organisations with their workforce strategy.
The Hays Tech Talent Explorer research was updated in December 2025 and features talent market analytics across 34 countries and input from almost 10,000 tech professionals worldwide. The report allows users to investigate the costs, availability, plans, desires, and skills priorities of IT/Tech professionals (permanent and contracting) across markets globally.
The findings combine Hays' proprietary data with additional data obtained through its partnership with Horsefly.
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About Hays
Hays plc (the "Group") is the world's leading specialist in recruitment and workforce solutions. The Group is the expert at recruiting qualified, professional, and skilled people worldwide, being the market leader in the UK, Germany, and Australia and one of the market leaders in Continental Europe, Latin America, and Asia. The Group operates across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments. As of 31 December 2025, the Group employed over 9,100 staff operating from 198 offices in 30 countries. For the year ended 30 June 2025:
- the Group reported net fees of £972.4 million and operating profit of £45.6 million.
- the Group placed around 46,400 candidates into permanent jobs and around 211,500 people into temporary roles.
- 12% of Group net fees were generated in Australia New Zealand, 32% in Germany, 20% in United Kingdom Ireland and 36% in Rest of World (RoW).
- the temporary placement business represented 62% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 38% of net fees.
- Technology is the Group's largest division, with 25% of net fees, while Accountancy Finance (15%), Engineering (11%) and Construction Property (11%), are the next largest.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260408477961/en/
Contacts:
Eunice Lee, Global External Communications Executive, Hays
T: +44 333 010 2648
E: Eunice.lee@hays.com
