• Three of the top five fastest-growing salaried roles in the past year were for IT jobs.
• The role of branch manager had the highest average salary rise of 15.30%.
• The national average advertised salary only rose 2.6% year on year in February.

Jobs in IT dominated fastest-growing advertised salaries in the past 12 months but it was an unlikely role that took top spot, new data from Seek shows.

The role of branch manager within the retail and consumer industry had an average salary rise of 15.30% in the three months from February to April compared with the same period last year.

The average salary for a branch manager is now $83,944, Seek said.

Advertised salaries for security officers on average rose 12.80% to $55,965.

Three of the top five fastest-growing salaried roles were for jobs in IT.

A systems administrator saw on average a 12% rise in advertised salary to $96,755.

Data engineers’ salaries rose 11.60% to $131,952, while roles for data analysts increased 11.10% to $98,265.

“Businesses are increasingly building their digital capacity and preparing for the AI revolution, which requires robust IT infrastructure, resulting in salary growth for those with the skills to support the ongoing digital transformation,” said Seek senior economist Blair Chapman.

“With these skills in demand across several countries, New Zealand businesses are increasingly competing to keep and attract these workers, supporting robust advertised salary growth.”

Average salaries for project engineers ($120,688) and therapists ($90,153) both increased 10.60%.

“With numerous infrastructure projects ongoing across New Zealand, project engineer roles for people with the skills to contribute to these projects have had relatively quick average advertised salary growth over the past 12 months,” Chapman said.

Also making the top 10 fastest-growing advertised salaries were roles for a technical lead in IT, which rose 10.30% to $155,775.

Meanwhile, the national average advertised salary only rose 2.6% year on year in February, according to the latest Seek Advertised Salary Index.

“Annual average advertised salary growth continues to slow but remains above inflation,” Seek country manager Rob Clark said of the data.

“Slower advertised salary growth in some of the largest industries is dragging down the national average, with some smaller industries like science and technology growing much faster.”

Cameron Smith is an Auckland-based journalist with the Herald business team. He joined the Herald in 2015 and has covered business and sports. He reports on topics such as retail, small business, the workplace and macroeconomics.