Privacy Jobs Report: July – December 2023

Published at 13:21 on 30 Jan 2024

Privacy 108 monitors and reports on privacy jobs advertised in Australia. We’ve tracked the number, location, position, and salary of privacy jobs in Australia over the past years to uncover the trends privacy professionals – and aspiring privacy professionals – should know about.

Our report on privacy jobs advertised in Australia between July and December 2023 is now available. These are some of our key findings:

Overall Job Market Trends:

  • Total job ads for privacy roles in the second half of 2023 decreased by approximately 25% compared to the first half, totaling 212.
  • The average monthly job ads dropped from 39 to 35, approaching the lowest recorded in recent reports.

A note: It seems counter-intuitive that privacy jobs fell over the last 6 months of 2023, but this likely reflects growing concerns around corporate budgets and leaner times ahead.

Sector-Specific Shifts:

  • Roles in Banking/Financial services and Higher Education sectors saw a significant decline, nearly halving during this period.
  • Government and Tech/Telecoms sectors experienced a compensatory increase, with the government sector being the largest advertiser, accounting for one in three jobs.

Geographic Distribution:

  • Sydney continued to be the primary location for privacy roles, followed by Melbourne. Perth notably saw growth, going from no roles in the previous half to 5% of roles in July-Dec 2023.
  • Fewer roles offered flexibility in location compared to the previous period.

Role Specifics:

  • Privacy Officers surpassed Privacy Managers as the most advertised roles, potentially reflecting the increase in government positions.
  • Privacy Specialists, Senior Privacy Advisors, and the newer position of Data Protection Steward tied for the third most advertised roles.

Job Functions and Qualifications:

  • 71% of roles were compliance-focused, indicating a continued trend towards privacy as a compliance role.
  • Legal qualifications were still often required despite the compliance focus.

Salary Insights:

  • Approximately one in four roles included a salary, with government roles being the most prevalent.
  • The most common salary range was $126k-$175k (incl super) based on 3-5 years of experience, but the average salary dropped to $126k, reflecting lower government salaries.
  • The highest advertised salary was $175,731 – $238,997 p.a. plus superannuation for a Specialist Privacy Lead with the Victorian Department of Health.

Industry-Specific Observations:

  • Private sector roles in banking, financial services, corporate, and tech constituted 40% of advertised roles, almost equaling public sector roles.
  • Professional services, including consultancies like RSM, CyberCX, and Deloitte, accounted for nearly 19% of roles.

Recruitment Challenges:

  • Specialist roles, particularly in data retention, people/HR privacy, and privacy outreach, seemed harder to fill.
  • Some organizations in international education and entertainment had to re-advertise roles, suggesting challenges in filling these positions.

Hiring Trends:

  • A stronger trend for contract roles emerged in the last half, predominantly from the Government sector followed by Corporates.
  • Commercial and tech industries, including Canva, TikTok, Optus, UNSW, and Woolworths, appeared to be actively re-building or expanding their privacy teams in response to anticipated amendments to the Privacy Act.

Read the complete Privacy Jobs Report: July – December 2023.

Privacy, security and training. Jodie is one of Australia’s leading privacy and security experts and the Founder of Privacy 108 Consulting.

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