Highest-paid IT & development jobs: 2025 hiring trends 

The information technology market has calmed significantly in the last year with slow but steady growth that is expected to continue into 2025.¹ Despite industry layoffs at the beginning of 2024 at Google, Amazon, and many others², the job market remains tight. Some companies streamlined teams after heavy hiring during the pandemic³, but overall, companies know tech talent is critical as it drives operational efficiency, business strategy, and topline performance.⁴ The unemployment rate for information technology remains low at 3.7%⁵.

Jobs in innovative fields like cybersecurity and generative AI grew, as did those in electrification and renewables.⁶ Automation roles are strong while software engineering flattened. Demand is rising for higher-level positions from first-line managers to executive-level positions. With the explosive growth in AI, companies are prioritizing management and leadership hires that will contribute to strategic decision-making as they navigate the future and digital transformation.

Sights set on perfection

Companies and candidates are becoming more selective during the hiring process. Many candidates are waiting to make a move until they find the “perfect” opportunity. The good news for employers is that the overall quality of available talent has gone up, and accordingly, companies have adopted more selective hiring standards. However, companies should be wary of stretching out the interview process in the search for perfection as they may lose out on the best candidates.

Although wages are still the top recruiting driver, candidates are no longer prioritizing culture and sometimes changing jobs for as little as a $10k increase if the fit is right. After a few years of extreme salary increases, tighter budgets are prompting companies to turn their focus to selling key benefits, like healthcare insurance and 401k’s, to compete for A-players.

Culture makes a resurgence

After several years of high turnover leading to “The Great Reshuffle”⁷, Addison Group has seen that companies are focused on recruiting long-term employees. There’s been a lot of press about tech CEOs like Open AI’s Sam Altman insisting that culture and productivity have been negatively impacted by fully remote work.⁸ And with some studies backing this up⁹, more tech employers are rebuilding their culture as they bring workers back to the office. But leaders now realize this means going beyond fluffy perks like ping pong tables and snacks to more employee training and networking opportunities.¹⁰ Most significant is maintaining some level of work life balance, which is still important to IT candidates.

Flexibility is more nuanced

There’s been a massive shift in employer expectations around work from home, in contrast to the many fully remote IT positions in the past few years. The new normal expected for 2025 is about 50% fully in-office roles with about 30% hybrid and 20% fully remote. No longer is ‘work from anywhere’ the norm. Companies now want IT workers nearby and expect them in the office at least 2-3 days a week. Hybrid roles also align with Information Technology pros’ values, with 47% of IT workers surveyed indicating they still highly value flexible work locations when evaluating a new employer.¹¹ While businesses manage this new normal, they must continue to address and prioritize streamlining IT processes and infrastructure to keep things running smoothly.

Highest-paid Information Technology salaries

Chief Information Officer	$250,001
VP of Development	$237,255
Chief Information Security Officer	$232,076
VP IT	$229,997
VP Engineering	$221,299
VP Infrastructure	$195,780
Cloud Architect	$190,959
PMO Manager	$187,292
Solutions Architect	$175,117
Data Architect	$172,874
Quality Assurance (QA) Manager	$172,336
Network Architect	$171,612
Senior Salesforce Product Manager	$170,006
Application Architect	$165,940

For more valuable insights and national averages of salaries across hundreds of roles in administrative, digital marketing, finance, accounting, healthcare, human resources, and information technology, download your free copy today.

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1. https://comptiacdn.azureedge.net/webcontent/docs/default-source/research-reports/comptia-state-of-the-tech-workforce-2024.pdf?sfvrsn=a8aa5246_2
2. https://techcrunch.com/2024/07/23/tech-layoffs-2024-list/
3. https://www.reuters.com/technology/amazon-lay-off-employees-prime-video-studios-divisions-information-2024-01-10/
4. https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/topics/talent/overcoming-the-tech-talent-shortage-amid-transformation.html
5. https://www.computerworld.com/article/1618780/how-many-jobs-are-available-in-technology.html
6. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/the-top-trends-in-tech#tech-talent-dynamics
7. https://www.uschamber.com/workforce/understanding-americas-labor-shortage-the-most-impacted-industries
8. https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/openai-ceo-altman-calls-remote-work-huge-mistake-18086265.php
9. https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2024-01-04/2024-year-employers-clamp-down-on-remote-work-not-so-fast#:~:text=It’s%20true%20that%20widespread%20studies,those%20working%20on%20company%20premises.
10. https://www.mnp.ca/en/insights/directory/what-tech-companies-can-do-to-rebuild-company-culture#
11. https://www.infotech.com/free-trial-thank-you