Revealed - The Most In Demand Tech Roles in APAC

We started this series of articles wondering whether the War for Tech Talent was being over-hyped in the media. Could it be as bad as the commentators were saying? Certainly, in our own stable of investees and clients we knew there was pressure, in some places acute – but we had hoped it was episodic rather than universal.

Regrettably, the more research we did, and the more in-the-know people we spoke to, the more we realised it’s even worse than we had thought. In fact, if you think the tech talent crunch can’t get any tighter, think again.

A 2022 Digital Talent Insight report from international consultant Korn Ferry estimates a tech talent shortfall of 47 million people in the Asia-Pacific region by 2030. The Straits Times quotes PwC as saying more than 50 per cent of Asia-Pacific chief executives acknowledge difficulties in hiring digital talent with the right skills.

Bridget Gray, Korn Ferry VP IT Services APAC, says that while it is best to be wary of some of the more outrageous stories you see in the media around salaries — there is an important caveat — the market is definitely tight.

“What I can say is in some markets across SEA, in areas such as DevOps, Business Intelligence and SaaS, the pay demand is real. Some professionals are receiving well in excess of 100 per cent pay increases to move locally or in some cases 150 per cent.” 

According to Gray, “Engineering talent remains the technology job category most in demand by volume across Southeast Asia.” Particular areas of demand include full stack developer and DevOps talent. “The product job families including product, user experience, user interface design, and of course data science skillsets are only shortly behind this in demand across the region.”

There are some challenging and never before seen tech talent dynamics driving the APAC technology market, according to Gray. “This relentless growth is driven by the scale-up/start-up ecosystem locally and the international expansion of Chinese and US tech giants.”

Gray says the delta between jobs and available talent in engineering and product is increasingly problematic, with clients telling us that the Asia talent crunch is affecting both developed and developing economies and could cost trillions in unrealised annual revenues if left unaddressed.

Even when the worst effects of the pandemic abate, it would be a mistake to assume traditional methods of managing a national talent shortfall — such as importing employees — will be as effective as in the past.

Gray says Southeast Asia is also undergoing a shift. “We know we have lots of qualified talent, and their compensation is continuing to surge. We overlay this with the impact and uncertainty of COVID-19 and it is no wonder we are seeing talent in these countries have less appetite to move geographies for work.”

“This is one of the interesting dynamics we see playing out. Salaries are harmonising across the region, decreasing the push factor for talent to move around. With the option to stay closer to family and earn a healthy salary we are seeing talent less open to geographical moves. The knock-on effect of this pattern is hard to read with any forensic accuracy as yet, but is certainly one that any of us in talent acquisition are keen to understand as soon as possible as it will drive effective talent strategies for leaders across SEA.”

Salvation in Diversity

According to Kevin Griffiths, Partner and ANZ country lead for TrueSearch, the need to attract the world’s best talent — especially for senior executives in the globally focused, scale-up businesses where TrueSearch specialises — is also leading to a willingness to hire from a more diverse talent pool.

“The trend that we’re seeing with the listed tech companies that we’re working with is there’s a greater demand than ever for diversity.”

Previously, for a market like Australia, the diversity discussion more or less started and stopped with gender, he said.

Australia, with its smaller population, faces an additional headache because clients want more than just technical expertise. “Companies we’ve worked for want people with domain expertise, and if they’re the only company in Australia within that domain, we have to go global. We have to bring people in from outside of Australia, which has been challenging for the last 12 months because of COVID.”

That’s an issue Susan Chen, Director, Head of People for Hong Kong and Singapore Game Development Studios, Riot Games, understands. “You can’t go into a general tech talent pool and transport them into gaming.”

Chen is aware of the commentary around salaries but believes it is more nuanced than some of the reporting.

“When you hear about salaries doubling that's not happening at the junior level. They have a lot more employment choices. The way we think beyond monetary compensation for the junior folk, for example around distributed workforces and meaningful mentorship, will be even more important.”

The main inflation is happening in the mid-level she says. “It is less common among the executive class for whom mobility is really difficult, she says.”

Board Diversity

The recognition of the need to be more open to diversity extends beyond technology jobs or even C-suite executives. 

It is also just as true at board level. According to Griffiths, “There’s a demand now — and a real awareness — that international technology companies need international representation on their board.” 

Taking this one step further, Griffiths notes, “The other thing that I think is common with ASX technology company boards is that they want board members to have a lean-in mentality and not just be on the board for governance reasons or just to build their portfolio out. They actually want people that can help the business grow and can offer value and want to be part of that.” 

Perhaps nothing exemplifies the current state of the technology market as the impact on TrueSearch itself. The company is so busy at the moment that it has doubled from 300 to 600 people in the last year — and is hiring new staff at the rate of one a day.

And the profile of its customers is changing. “Scale-ups, which in the past were reluctant to use search businesses, are now a core part of our business.”