Software engineer salaries in S'pore rebound, but pay for AI roles shrinks

Firms increasingly opting for cost-effective, off-the-shelf AI services, says expert

- Krist Boo

Software engineers in Singapore reversed 2023's 1 per cent dip in salaries with a 3.3 per cent increase in 2024, reaffirming their status as talent in demand.

However, their peers in AI-related roles – specialising in areas like machine learning and natural language processing – saw their pay cheques shrink by up to 2.4 per cent, despite the global excitement around generative AI (artificial intelligence).

The contrasting trends, highlighted in tech talent portal NodeFlair's Tech Salary Report 2025, reflect shifting priorities among enterprises.

Mr Ethan Ang, NodeFlair's founding director, said firms are increasingly opting for cost-effective, off-the-shelf AI services like OpenAI interface solutions instead of building custom systems from scratch.

He said: "This allows them to focus on tailoring the technology to their specific use cases, an effort that typically requires more software engineers than specialised data science or machine learning talent."

The report also revealed that multinationals such as Meta, Amazon and Google, as well as cryptocurrency exchange OKX, were the best paymasters for software engineers, giving 35 per cent to 52 per cent more than the median.