Data Analyst, Engineer & Scientist Salaries in Australia
Compare salary ranges across Australian data roles. Benchmarks for Data Analyst, Data Engineer, Data Scientist, ML Engineer, and AI Engineer positions by percentile and experience.
Where these salary figures come from
Every figure on this page is derived from salary ranges published on active Australian job listings, not from a survey. For each listing that states both a lower and an upper bound, the midpoint of that range is taken, and the role-level figures are the aggregate of those midpoints across current ads. Listings that advertise no salary are excluded entirely rather than being estimated, and no role or skill reports a salary figure until at least five salaried listings sit behind it.
That method has a specific and important limitation: a large share of Australian job ads never state a salary at all, and the ones that do are not a random sample. Advertised ranges are more common at the junior and mid levels, in government and larger enterprises, and in contract roles where a rate has to be quoted up front. Senior and executive positions are disproportionately advertised as "competitive" or negotiable. Treat the figures here as a floor on the market rather than a full picture of it.
What actually drives the spread
The gap between the bottom and top of a role's range is usually explained by four things before anything else. Seniority is the largest: a single job title routinely spans junior through lead, and most advertised ranges are quoting a band across that whole span rather than a specific level. Location is the second — Sydney and Melbourne carry the bulk of listings and generally the higher bands, with Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, and Canberra behind them, though Canberra skews differently because of federal government and cleared work.
Industry is third: banking, insurance, mining, and consulting tend to pay above retail, education, and not-for-profit for comparable work. Fourth is employment type — daily contract rates look far larger than an equivalent salary until you account for the absence of leave, superannuation, and job security, so comparing a contract rate against a permanent salary without annualising it is the most common mistake people make with this data.
How to read an advertised range
An advertised range is a negotiating band, not an offer. The top of it is generally reserved for candidates who meet every listed requirement, and employers routinely hire below the midpoint. If you are assessing whether you are paid fairly, comparing yourself against the midpoint for your role, level, and city will be more informative than comparing against the top of a national range.
Check what the number includes before comparing anything. Australian ads quote base salary in some cases and total package in others, and superannuation is a material difference between the two. A listing quoting a package figure will look higher than an equivalent base-salary listing for the same job. Where an ad is ambiguous, base is the safer assumption, and it is a reasonable thing to clarify early in a hiring conversation.