As part of our attract, recruit, retain work, we recently partnered with Yolk Recruitment, a Cardiff-based recruitment agency, to publish a salary survey as guidance for the Welsh public sector when recruiting digital, data, and technology roles. 

This survey was carried out by Yolk Recruitment in 2023 and surveyed organisations across both the public and private sector in Wales. 

This survey helps us understand the salary gaps in the public and private sector, as well as the competitive salary bandings used in recruitment. 

What we found 

From this survey, we found that although it’s a misconception that the private sector typically pays more, there isn’t a lot of difference in salaries between the public and private sector when looking at digital, data, and technology roles. 

Often, the benefits in the public sector can help bridge the gap even more, through implementing benefits such as increased pension contributions, flexible working hours, holiday allowances and training and development plans. 

As best practice, we recommend listing your benefits on the job advert, so that potential candidates are aware of your benefits package.  

Note: The public sector salary guide is a range from junior to senior roles.

Data 

 

Job title: Data Analyst 

Public sector: £26,000 - £59,000 

Private sector: £45,000 

 

Job title: Data Architect 

Public sector: £39,000 - £77,000 

Private sector: £84,975 

 

Job title: Data Engineer 

Public sector: £30,000 - £56,000 

Private sector: £50,925 

 

Job title: Data Scientist 

Public sector: £33,000 - £77,000 

Private sector: £59,225 

 

Job title: Performance Analyst 

Public sector: £34,000 - £50,000 

Private sector: £45,101 

 

IT operations 

 

Job title: Application Operations Engineer 

Public sector: £32,000 - £35,000 

Private sector: £39,521 

 

Job title: Business Relationship Manager 

Public sector: £52,000 - £72,000 

Private sector: £47,062 

 

Job title: Change and Release Manager 

Public sector: £33,000 

Private sector: £54,426 

 

Job title: Incident Manager 

Public sector: £31,000 - £39,000 

Private sector: £48,817 

 

Job title: Infrastructure Operations Engineer 

Public sector: £34,000 - £45,000 

Private sector: £42,410 

 

Job title: IT Service Manager 

Public sector: £34,000 - £64,000 

Private sector: £40,000 

 

Job title: Service Desk Manager 

Public sector: £30,000 - £60,000 

Private sector: £31,930 

 

Product and delivery 

 

Job title: Business Analyst 

Public sector: £31,000 - £60,000 

Private sector: £48,410 

 

Job title: Delivery Manager 

Public sector: £27,000 - £64,000 

Private sector: £57,168 

 

Job title: Product Manager 

Public sector: £30,000 - £61,000 

Private sector: £55,000 

 

Job title: Programme Delivery Manager 

Public sector: £50,000 - £55,000 

Private sector: £73,645 

 

Job title: Service Owner 

Public sector: £61,000 - £68,000 

Private sector: £48,700 

 

Technical 

 

Job title: Development Operations (DevOps) Engineer 

Public sector: £36,000 - £77,000 

Private sector: £70,250 

 

Job title: Enterprise Architect 

Public sector: £43,000 - £65,000 

Private sector: £75,750 

 

Job title: Frontend Developer 

Public sector: £36,000 - £67,000 

Private sector: £51,500 

 

Job title: Infrastructure Engineer 

Public sector: £36,000 - £73,000 

Private sector: £48,410 

 

Job title: Security Architect 

Public sector: £50,000 - £67,000 

Private sector: £90,675 

 

Job title: Software Developer 

Public sector: £37,000 - £65,000 

Private sector: £55,620 

 

Job title: Technical Architect 

Public sector: £39,000 - £70,000 

Private sector: £82,675 

 

Quality assurance testing 

 

Job title: Test Engineer 

Public sector: £34,000 - £67,000 

Private sector: £41,200 

 

Job title: Test Manager 

Public sector: £52,000 - £59,000 

Private sector: £55,105 

 

User-centred design 

 

Job title: Content Designer 

Public sector: £37,000 - £43,000 

Private sector: £48,282 

 

Job title: Graphic Designer 

Public sector: £31,000 

Private sector: £35,962 

 

Job title: Interaction Designer 

Public sector: £50,000 

Private sector: £34,035 

 

Job title: Service Designer 

Public sector: £37,000 - £72,000 

Private sector: £64,143 

 

Job title: User Researcher 

Public sector: £31,000 - £80,000 

Private sector: £44,000 

 

Get in touch 

Do you need support in recruiting digital, data, and technology roles in your Welsh public sector organisation? 

Get in touch: lauren.power@digitalpublicservices.gov.wales  

 

Read more 

Example job description 

Writing inclusive job adverts 

Using social media to advertise jobs and attract candidates