Salary and Total Rewards Trends in Canada’s Tech Sector
August 02, 2024
The Canadian tech sector is an expanding, volatile, and rapidly evolving landscape. Understanding the current conditions and salary trends within the industry is crucial to navigate the changes for both employers and employees. Our comprehensive Tech Sector Salary and Total Rewards Survey has provided an in-depth view of compensation packages across a wide range of tech roles for the past 30 years in Canada. It helps companies with their compensation planning, and it has fostered a stronger tech ecosystem in Canada, promoting equitable pay and supporting pay transparency for the tech job market.
What does the data tell us?
Our findings last year revealed that despite a volatile job market, salaries in Canada's tech sector remained highly competitive, reflecting the industry's demand for skilled professionals. For instance, software developers and engineers typically earn between $70,000 and $130,000 annually, depending on experience and career level. Data scientists and cybersecurity experts can expect salaries ranging from $80,000 to $120,000, while Senior IT Analysts often earn upwards of $100,000. These figures highlight the value placed on technical expertise and the critical roles these professionals play in driving innovation and growth in the tech sector.
Total Rewards Trends
In 2023 some of the fastest growing perquisites and benefits were RRSP matching, paid time off to volunteer and condensed work weeks. Our 2024 Benefits Survey showed that 67% of companies are offering Group RRSP’s and an additional 26% are planning to add group savings plans in the next 2 years, indicating that this is one of the fastest growing components of total rewards packages in the tech sector.
What will we see more of in 2024 and beyond?
In addition to base salary ranges, our survey examines incentive eligibility and total rewards, including benefits and perks, which are increasingly important in attracting and retaining top talent. Many tech companies offer flexible working arrangements, professional development opportunities, and comprehensive health benefits. Private equity and performance bonuses are also increasingly common, providing employees with a stake in the company's success. By understanding these trends, businesses can better align their compensation strategies with industry standards, ensuring they remain competitive and transparent in their approach to compensation planning.
Learn more about 2024 salary trends - coming soon.
The 2024 salary and total rewards data will be available by September 1st! This year’s survey continues to expand to include geographic growth, unique subsector data, and a growing job library. The survey now reports national and regional data across BC, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada.
Notably, the survey reports on 60 Creative Technology positions with results that provide reliable national and regional data sets for VFX, Animation, and Video Game and Digital Interactive Media.
We have also expanded the policy and practices section in 2024 to include detailed data on long-term incentives, pay transparency policies, and remote team practices.
TAP Network’s Tech Sector Salary and Total Rewards Survey
TAP Network’s annual Tech Sector Salary and Total Rewards Survey, produced by Mercer, is a unique survey with unique value. It focuses on the Canadian tech sector, reporting on local and national salaries, total compensation, detailed policy data, and more. Survey participants include start-ups, scale ups and large multinationals representing a broad cross section of subsectors such as software products and services, AI, clean tech, hardware design and manufacturing, VFX, animation, gaming, life sciences and more. Survey submissions are collected in Spring and results are published by the end of August.
Learn more and purchase the full Tech Sector Salary and Total Rewards Survey here.