Cybersecurity experts most wanted in Singapore

Skillsets in cybersecurity, project management, and IT development are among the top most sought after in Singapore, fuelled by growing focus on risk management and cost efficiencies.

IT heads were setting aside budget to safeguard their systems from potential theft and damage and prevent service disruption, pushing the number of jobs available in this space to the highest in the city-state, according to recruitment agency Randstad. It pointed to various roles needed to support cybersecurity operation centres, including intrusion and incident detection and response, malware research, and penetration testing.

Successful candidates could expect annual pay packages, excluding bonuses, of between S$120,000 and S$240,000, but would need to have Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC) and Certified Information Systems Risk Manager (CISRM). They also should have knowledge of the cybersecurity landscape as well as techniques.

The country's second-most sought after skills were in project management and business analysis, as companies looked to gain more cost efficiencies and streamline processes. "We see increase demand for strong project management individuals who are techno-functional and have a track record with delivering technology efficiency, and [are] comfortable with stakeholder management," Randstad said.

It added that business analysts were needed to "translate" business requirement documents into technical specification documents, and help business users and IT engineers better communicate. Candidates should have knowledge of business operations as well as in-depth technical understanding, and if successful, could earn between S$96,000 to S$180,000 a year, excluding bonuses.

Rounding up the top three most popular skills were application developers, which Randstad said were driven by companies operating centres of excellence in the country.

"A number of major banks are retaining their development centers in Singapore to deliver solutions into the front-, middle-, and backoffice," it said, noting that developers in the financial sector were required to have knowledge in these areas as well as product control and risk functions.

"However, there is a lack of experienced developers with demand exceeding supply in Singapore, particularly with the influx of dynamic startups that have entered the market with exciting product offerings," it added.

Oft-cited skillsets for such roles included Java, Scala, C++ and C# as well as HTML, CSS, and Javascript. Successful candidates could earn between S$72,000 and S$180,000 per year.

Among other top 10 IT skills in demand were DevOps, especially as more businesses looked to adopt agile and startup practices, embedded systems development, and mobile development. With more organisations looking to deploy Internet of Things, developers with experience in embedded software and firmware development were in high demand, Randstad said.

Data scientists, cloud experts, user experience designers, and IT engineering professionals rounded up the top 10 list.

"We are increasingly seeing demand for engineering talent, particularly at the vice president and director levels, to make sure companies prosper and stay attractive to investors and the market to which they belong," the recruitment agency said. "These senior resources will be heavily relied on for their ability to lead and mentor teams of 5 to 50 to ensure deadlines are hit and burn is kept to a minimum. They will also be responsible for executing the strategy and vision not just in the local Singaporean market, but also regionally to ensure consistency in the work delivered."