Data scientist salaries in APAC continue to rise, survey reveals

Data scientists across Asia Pacific are still raking it in, with salaries further increasing over the past two years.

According to a survey conducted by data science recruitment firm Big Cloud, Singaporean data professionals are getting paid around S$83,000 (US$61,000) per year, an increase of about 5% since 2017. Moving up to the chief data scientist position in the city-state would almost double the pay to an average of roughly S$170,000 (US$125,000).

Photo credit: Pexels.

Similar positions in Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Thailand, and Japan have also seen salary hikes. Japan saw the biggest leap from 2017, with data scientist pay increasing up to 45% to about 7.5 million yen (US$67,000). Meanwhile, the highest salary growth for chief-level data experts was recorded in Malaysia, with up to 50% jump to 262,000 ringgit (US$64,000).

Even with these bumps in pay, over a quarter of the survey participants say they can net a 30% hike if they move to another job. Big Cloud says those people are considering “relocating to countries with a higher cost of living where a higher wage would be a necessity.”

Of the survey’s 600 respondents, almost a third are working in startups. The 72% who are not working in a startup are considering joining one in the future.

The survey also shows that the tech and IT industries remain the most popular industries to work in, with fintech and healthcare seeing increased interest from data scientists in the region.

Download the full report here.

Currency converted from Singapore dollars, Japanese yen, and Malaysian ringgit. Rate: US$1 = S$1.35 = JPY 111.42 = MYR 4.08