AI salaries in S’pore rose 5x faster than overall wages, with fresh grads landing S$90K AI jobs

Salaries for AI roles in Singapore have climbed 15-25% in the last 12 months

Artificial intelligence builders are winning even as AI is used to justify cutting jobs in big tech and global banks. In Singapore, salaries for workers developing these systems are climbing up to five times faster than average wages.

The pay for AI roles has climbed 15–25% in the past year, with fresh hires starting at S$70,000–S$90,000 annually, according to a Robert Walters report cited by The Straits Times. Meanwhile, overall nominal wages for full-time workers rose 4.9% in 2025, down from 5.6% in 2024, per Ministry of Manpower figures.

“AI and data-based roles remain among the most in-demand positions in Singapore this year,” said Kirsty Poltock, country manager at Robert Walters Singapore. “Companies are racing not just to experiment with AI, but to put it to work at scale in their businesses.”

While hard numbers are scarce, Poltock said AI-related hiring “has continued to grow strongly over the past 12 months, particularly in AI engineering, machine learning, data science, AI product management, and AI governance roles.”

For instance, Chinese technology companies are intensifying efforts to recruit AI graduates from Singapore’s two flagship universities, offering sharply higher pay packages from S$200,000 a year to entice PhD holders to work in China, reported The Straits Times.

On May 20, OpenAI committed over US$300 million (S$386 million) to build Singapore’s applied AI sector, including an Applied AI Lab and a training programme to create over 200 Singapore-based technical roles in the coming years.

Its rival, Anthropic, the creator of AI assistant Claude, is also hiring its first Singapore-based product support specialists and offering a lucrative salary, according to an advertisement on LinkedIn.

Meanwhile, Chinese tech giant Alibaba’s cloud computing arm had also set up a global artificial intelligence innovation hub in Singapore in 2025.

Too many jobs, not enough people

AI is “clearly an outlier” for high demand, talent shortages, and premium salaries—even if not the only high-growth area, Poltock said.

She added that the demand for AI talents “has consistently outpaced the supply of qualified candidates”, resulting in salary hikes.

AI openings are everywhere. A quick search on the job portal MyCareersFuture.sg on Jun 10 revealed 150 listings for AI engineers, 45 for machine learning and 15 for data science. On the other hand, LinkedIn is advertising over 800 posts for AI engineers, more than 4,000 for machine learning and over 5,000 for data science.

However, fresh talent is scarce. AI roles often take longer to fill than other professional positions, Poltock said, because employers are competing for a limited pool of candidates.

Employers are particularly hungry for “deep tech” talents who can go beyond building AI prototypes to embedding systems into real‑world operations.

“Chinese tech firms tend to have a much stronger emphasis on deep technical AI capabilities and infrastructure, including research,” she added. “In Singapore, employers are generally placing greater emphasis on commercialisation and enterprise integration—using AI to improve productivity, automate workflows and enhance customer experience.”

No need for PhDs for AI roles

Typical entry routes into AI roles include bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science, data science, mathematics, or engineering—especially from local universities—plus programming skills and hands-on AI project work or internships.

“For the vast majority of AI roles we see in Singapore, a good bachelor’s degree plus practical experience and the right skills are sufficient, but to earn the absolute top end of the spectrum, a PhD would be required,” Poltock said.

An “absolute expert in AI research or leading major AI initiatives in Singapore” could command close to S$350,000 in total compensation, she added. Such an expert is expected to lead a team and has responsibilities that are increasingly global in scope, which recruiters said companies tend to look beyond Singapore for suitable candidates.

However, the silver lining lies in the fact that such AI leadership rarely fly alone but builds local teams, which creates downstream opportunities, said Yuan Yijia, founder of Singapore‑based AI recruitment agency Dada Consultants.

“They anchor an AI organisation here—then around them you start to see hiring for applied AI engineers, data analysts, platform and product roles. Those are exactly the kinds of positions that Singaporean graduates and mid‑career professionals can qualify for if they build the right skills,” she told The Straits Times.

Poltock urged Singaporeans to regroup and consider how AI can complement their careers, whether through AI-related degrees, mid-career technical upskilling, or applying AI within familiar sectors.

But riding the AI wave takes more than checking a box by taking a single course.

The candidates who stand out are “proactive, inquisitive and willing to get their hands dirty—through internships, internal pilot projects, or even self-initiated work at home.”

• Read other articles we’ve written on Singapore’s current affairs here.

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