June 2026 – New York – IT, Tech and AI Salary & Contractor Rates

The Reality Behind the Data

The big talking point as we hit the middle of Q2 is the massive tension between permanent hiring hesitation and contractor bidding wars across the New York tech sector and financial institutions.

Firms across Manhattan and the boroughs are caught in a tricky position right now. On one hand, corporate boards are incredibly hesitant to sign off on high-salary, permanent generalist roles while economic caution lingers. On the other hand, those same firms are aggressively outbidding each other for specialist contractors because mid-year transformation deadlines are looming, and the work simply has to get done. If you need a specialist in NYC to hit a milestone right now, you have to be prepared to pay a premium to secure them on a day rate.

Operational Stability Beats LLM & AI Hype

While the tech headlines and industry discussions remain heavily obsessed with AI execution, the real money in the commercial New York market is quietly moving back into core infrastructure. Organisations are realising that ambitious automation plans and Large Language Model (LLM) integrations are completely useless if their legacy systems are hanging by a thread.

Because of this, operational stability has thoroughly defeated the initial AI hype this month. The 3rd Line Engineers and Platform Specialists who keep legacy environments stable enough to deploy these new models are the ones quietly driving the most consistent day-rate growth across New York.

A Needed Reality Check on Management

You’ll also notice we have completely realigned our IT and ICT Manager benchmarks this month to match the high volume of live tri-state data. Frankly, mid-tier management in the city has had a sharp reality check. While top-flight strategic leaders (CTOs/CIOs) still command premium money to steer complex business changes, generalist managers who just handle basic oversight are seeing their market value flatten out.

We are tracking a much leaner, volume-driven baseline here. Today’s successful New York IT Manager needs to be highly agile, hands-on with data compliance, and capable of driving actual ROI from day one—not just managing spreadsheets.

  • Category
    Job Title
    Yearly Low ($)
    Yearly Median ($)
    Yearly High ($)
    Yearly Salary Change %
    Contractor Day Rate ($)
    Daily Rate Change %
    LEADERSHIP
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CTO
    $220,500
    $294,000
    $378,000
    1.50%
    $2,205
    2.30%
     
    CIO
    $199,500
    $273,000
    $346,500
    1.50%
    $2,100
    2.30%
     
    IT DIRECTOR
    $157,500
    $199,500
    $252,000
    1.50%
    $1,575
    2.30%
     
    HEAD OF DATA / AI
    $189,000
    $262,500
    $325,500
    1.50%
    $1,785
    2.20%
     
    HEAD OF IT
    $136,500
    $168,000
    $210,000
    1.50%
    $1,365
    2.30%
     
    IT MANAGER (Aligned)
    $88,200
    $115,500
    $157,500
    2.40%
    $1,050
    1.80%
     
    ICT MANAGER (Aligned)
    $79,800
    $101,850
    $136,500
    3.20%
    $912
    2.10%
     
    CISO
    $199,500
    $262,500
    $336,000
    1.80%
    $2,310
    2.50%
     
    IT OPS DIRECTOR
    $168,000
    $210,000
    $273,000
    1.40%
    $1,680
    2.20%
    OPERATIONS
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    3RD LINE (SYSADMIN)
    $79,800
    $94,500
    $115,500
    3.90%
    $788
    5.20%
     
    2ND LINE SUPPORT
    $58,800
    $71,400
    $88,200
    3.90%
    $525
    5.10%
     
    1ST LINE SUPPORT
    $46,200
    $54,600
    $67,200
    3.80%
    $389
    5.00%
     
    IT SUPPORT MANAGER
    $88,200
    $109,200
    $136,500
    3.90%
    $1,000
    5.20%
     
    INFRASTRUCTURE ENG
    $94,500
    $115,500
    $147,000
    4.10%
    $1,050
    5.40%
     
    NETWORK ENGINEER
    $84,000
    $105,000
    $136,500
    3.70%
    $945
    5.10%
     
    SERVICE DESK LEAD
    $73,500
    $88,200
    $105,000
    3.80%
    $735
    5.00%
     
    M365 / AZURE ADMIN
    $84,000
    $105,000
    $136,500
    4.20%
    $945
    5.50%
     
    MAC ENGINEER
    $79,800
    $100,800
    $121,800
    3.50%
    $788
    4.80%
     
    NOC ENGINEER
    $67,200
    $84,000
    $105,000
    3.20%
    $683
    4.50%
    ARCHITECTURE
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    ENTERPRISE ARCHITECT
    $157,500
    $199,500
    $252,000
    3.80%
    $1,785
    5.70%
     
    SOLUTION ARCHITECT
    $147,000
    $178,500
    $220,500
    3.80%
    $1,575
    5.70%
     
    CLOUD ARCHITECT
    $157,500
    $210,000
    $262,500
    3.80%
    $1,680
    5.70%
     
    SECURITY ARCHITECT
    $168,000
    $220,500
    $273,000
    3.80%
    $1,890
    5.70%
     
    DATA ARCHITECT
    $164,325
    $188,475
    $214,725
    3.90%
    $1,628
    5.80%
     
    SOFTWARE ARCHITECT
    $157,500
    $199,500
    $241,500
    4.00%
    $1,680
    5.90%
    ENGINEERING
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    AI / ML ENGINEER
    $147,000
    $199,500
    $252,000
    3.00%
    $1,680
    4.40%
     
    DEVOPS / SRE
    $136,500
    $178,500
    $220,500
    3.10%
    $1,470
    4.50%
     
    CYBER SECURITY ENG
    $115,500
    $147,000
    $189,000
    2.90%
    $1,313
    4.60%
     
    SOFTWARE DEV (SNR)
    $126,000
    $168,000
    $220,500
    3.10%
    $1,313
    4.50%
     
    FULL STACK DEV
    $105,000
    $136,500
    $178,500
    3.20%
    $1,155
    4.70%
     
    PLATFORM ENGINEER
    $130,200
    $163,800
    $199,500
    3.30%
    $1,418
    4.80%
     
    QA AUTOMATION ENG
    $88,200
    $109,200
    $142,800
    3.40%
    $893
    4.90%
    DATA & PM
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    DATA ENGINEER
    $115,500
    $147,000
    $189,000
    3.00%
    $1,313
    4.60%
     
    DATA SCIENTIST (SNR)
    $136,500
    $178,500
    $231,000
    3.20%
    $1,523
    4.90%
     
    DATA ANALYST
    $73,500
    $88,200
    $109,200
    3.10%
    $788
    4.90%
     
    IT PROJECT MANAGER
    $115,500
    $147,000
    $178,500
    3.20%
    $1,208
    4.80%
     
    BUSINESS ANALYST
    $94,500
    $121,800
    $147,000
    3.20%
    $1,000
    4.70%
     
    TECHNICAL PM
    $136,500
    $168,000
    $210,000
    3.50%
    $1,470
    5.10%
     
    PRODUCT MANAGER
    $126,000
    $163,800
    $203,700
    3.40%
    $1,365
    4.90%

 

If your company is thinking of hiring, do it now. As demand rises, so too with the rates of pay and the difficulty levels of attracting and securing the right talent.

If, however, your company is slowing down – beware! If your IT staff start to feel insecure, talent competitors and recruiters will find it very easy to persuade your staff to interview elsewhere. Despite the stress and negativity that may exist, take the time to focus on reassuring your team and, where appropriate, reward their loyalty. It’s a false economy to avoid salary increases for your best people. Doing so risks leave yourself vulnerable to losing key staff and the larger costs in both time and money of replacing them.

Should you be considering recruitment or simply would like some advice on anything recruitment related, please do not hesitate to give us a call and see how we can really help you to Recruit Someone Worth Recruiting.

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