There's no doubt that the UK tech startup scene is going through a process of accelerated maturation in the past few years, with some recent sizeable exits from the likes of Just-Eat, Zoopla, King, DeepMind and Natural Motion, and hordes of promising younger startups working their way to a similar outcome.
A new study from Silicon Milkroundabout, a premier tech recruitment event in the UK, and job search engine Adzuna, shines a different kind of light on this ongoing ripening.
According to the study, UK-based tech startups are increasingly hiring more people, paying them more, and are also competing more fiercely for senior marketing and sales talent than before.
Hiring more + spending more
Across the UK, Silicon Milkroundabout and Adzuna estimates that tech startups are hiring for more than 8,500 positions, up 80% since 2013. London and the South East have the biggest pull, boasting 60% of all jobs (compared to just 2% for both Northern Ireland and Wales).
Unsurprisingly, a side effect is that the salaries are also on their way up. According to the study, UK tech startups pay salaries up to 26% above market rate today to attract the best candidates as the competition for talent intensifies.
A software developer in a UK tech startup can expect to earn on average £46,511 annually, 26% more than the tech industry average of £36,770, while sales and business development people can expect roughly £38,500 (+12% above the industry average of £34,560).
Designers are also apparently in vogue according to the research, as they can expect to make £46,511 per year (more than 47% above the industry average of £31,639).
Level playing field
Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna, comments on the results of the study: “Just like in Silicon Valley or New York, well-funded and profitable startups have levelled the playing field and can compete directly on salaries with the City and big tech companies for the most talented people.”
“This data backs up the feeling those of us on the inside have had for a while – that the UK tech scene is exploding,” adds Pete Smith, a co-founder of Silicon Milkroundabout. “Not only has the number of jobs on offer nearly doubled in 12 months, but salaries continue to outpace industry averages."
To get to those numbers, the joint study analysed over 500,000 UK job ads and 250 startup companies in October 2014 to determine the number of tech startup vacancies in Britain, salaries paid, and most in-demand roles. This data was then benchmarked against an identical study from 2013.
Featured image credit: Samot / Shutterstock
