The Top 10 Fastest-Growing IT Jobs By Salary In 2021

From cybersecurity analysts and data scientists to cloud and DevOps engineers, here are the top 10 fastest-growing IT jobs by salary, according to the new 2021 Dice Tech Salary Report.

10 Tech Jobs You Want In 2021

The average salary for a technologist in America reached $98,000 in 2020, climbing 3.6 percent year over year despite the global pandemic causing many companies to tighten their budgets.

The IT professionals experiencing the biggest salary increases between 2019 and 2020 were those who helped organizations process and analyze data, digitize and innovate their product offerings, and ensure businesses remained efficient, profitable and secure during the pandemic, according to the new 2021 Dice Tech Salary Report. Many of the fastest-growing by salary tech jobs in the U.S. revolved around cybersecurity, data analysis and digital transformation.

CRN breaks down the top 10 fastest-growing IT jobs by salary in the U.S, according to Dice’s new salary report, which is based on a survey of over 9,000 employed technologists across the country.

10. Data Architect

Average Salary: $133,064

Growth From 2019 To 2020: 3.2%

IT professionals who specialize in data held three out of the top 10 fastest-growing by salary jobs in America, as data is becoming increasingly valuable to businesses across nearly every industry.

At No. 10, the average data architect saw a salary increase of 3.2 percent from 2019 to 2020 to $133,064.

Data architects translate business requirements into technology requirements and define data standards and principles for an organization. Data architects are responsible for visualizing and designing a business’ enterprise data management framework.

9. Cybersecurity Engineer

Average Salary: $134,340

Growth From 2019 To 2020: 4.3%

As the new remote workforce emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a vast need for security experts to accommodate all of the employees who began working from home.

Cybersecurity engineers saw their average salary increase 4.3 percent to $134,340 in 2020.

Security engineers identify threats and vulnerabilities in IT systems and software and implement strategies to defend against hacking, malware and ransomware, insider threats and other types of cybersecurity issues. Some of their job functions include performing assessments and penetration testing as well as creating secure network solutions.

8. Data Engineer

Average Salary: $118,621

Growth From 2019 To 2020: 4.7%

Salaries associated with data engineers increased 4.7 percent from $113,249 in 2019 to $118,621 last year.

In 2021, the need for data-related professions such as data engineers, data scientists and data architects will “no doubt see their worth continue to increase as businesses bind their long-term strategies to data analytics,” said Dice in its report.

Some of the top distinguished skills in the field of data engineering today include Amazon Web Services, data warehouse processing and Elastic MapReduce.

Dice projects that a data engineer’s salary will grow 11.5 percent over the next 10 years.

7. Web Developer

Average Salary: $81,550

Growth From 2019 To 2020: 4.9%

Driven by the need to rapidly retool digital stacks, web developers saw an average salary increase of nearly 5 percent from $77,753 in 2019 to $81,550 in 2020.

Web developers build technical front-end and back-end code that informs site functions. Web developers can work either on front-end code, back-end code or both, and many jobs also overlap into web design. Some web developers work independently on a freelance basis or with marketing and IT departments.

6. Business Analyst

Average Salary: $97,633

Growth From 2019 To 2020: 5.3%

As many organizations have reacted quickly to changing circumstances stemming from the global pandemic, the need to develop and implement long-term strategies has benefited anyone working as a business analyst, says Dice.

The average salary for a business analyst in the U.S. rose 5.3 percent from $92,760 in 2019 to $97,633 in 2020. Distinguishing skills today for busines analysts include systems development, business intelligence, data mapping, data warehousing and requirements for verification and validation.

Dice projects that a business analyst’s salary will increase 9 percent over the next 10 years.

5. Cloud Engineer

Average Salary: $136,479

Growth From 2019 To 2020: 6.3%

Cloud engineers have one of the highest-paying IT occupations on average in the U.S. compared with any other tech job, according to Dice. Not only do cloud engineers top this list of highest-paid IT jobs, but they also command one of the fastest-growing salaries.

Cloud engineer salaries increased 6.3 percent from 2019 to an average salary of $136,479, underscoring the increasing importance and ubiquity of the cloud.

Distinguishing skills for cloud engineers today include Cloud Foundry, DevSecOps, Docker software, agile development and AWS Elastic Compute Cloud.

4. Technical Support Engineer

Average Salary: $68,651

Growth From 2019 To 2020: 8.2%

The emergence of the new remote workforce likely had an impact on technical support engineer salaries, which rose 8.2 percent from $63,420 in 2019 to $68,651 in 2020.

A technical support engineer helps solve technical issues for an organization, which can include everything from resetting passwords to managing software licenses to offering training and support on programs. Dice said distinguishing skills for technical support engineers today include Macintosh OS, systems and network configuration, VoIP, network support and Microsoft Exchange.

Dice projects that a technical support engineer’s salary will increase 11.3 percent over the next 10 years.

3. DevOps Engineer

Average Salary: $115,125

Growth From 2019 To 2020: 12.2%

Salaries for DevOps engineering roles increased 12.2 percent from $102,606 in 2019 to $115,125 in 2020.

The increase comes as many companies seek to lower costs and speed product delivery by hiring DevOps specialists who can help teams innovate faster and become more efficient via DevOps best practices such as continuous integration and delivery, according to Dice.

As one of the fastest-growing tech jobs by average salary in the U.S., Dice projects that DevOps engineers’ salaries over the next 10 years will increase more than 30 percent.

2. Data Scientist

Average Salary: $119,898

Growth From 2019 To 2020: 12.8%

As data becomes increasingly valuable to businesses across the world, demand has significantly increased for data scientists who can successfully analyze data in ways that executives and employees can use to grow their business.

Salaries associated with data scientist roles increased 12.8 percent from $106,298 in 2019 to $119,898 in 2020. Data scientists can capture some of the highest salaries in the technology industry.

Some of the most distinguishing skills in the field of data scientists include Pipeline, Pandas, Keras, classification algorithms and NumPy. Dice projects that data scientist salaries over the next 10 years will increase 19 percent.

1. Cybersecurity Analyst

Average Salary: $103,106

Growth From 2019 To 2020: 16.3%

The widespread adoption of remote work resulted in widely dispersed networks and teams, with many employees working on their personal laptops and phones. This has led to increased vulnerabilities, providing hackers with unprecedented opportunities to attack and breach defenses. In response, the need for skilled technologists to identify and plug these security holes saw cybersecurity analysts enjoy the largest growth in salary of any occupation in America, Dice said.

The average cybersecurity analyst salary increased 16.3 percent from $88,663 in 2019 to $103,106 in 2020.

Dice projects that security analyst salaries will increase 28.5 percent over the next 10 years.