Privacy 108’s 2025 Q1 Privacy Jobs in Australia Report

In Q1 2025, the number of job ads increased marginally after a marked drop in Q4 2024. 

 Are we seeing a return to increasing job opportunities for privacy professionals?  Is continued digital transformation and growing concern around privacy compliance leading to increasing demand for privacy professionals.  Let’s see whether the Q1 2025 trends continue for the rest of the year.

Key Observations:

• As expected, we’ve seen a rise in roles advertised this period following the low in the last quarter of 2024. 
• Advertised jobs increased an average 38 jobs per month – up from 33 last quarter. February was particularly strong with 48 roles advertised.
• Government remained the largest advertiser, increasing to 41% from 29% of all positions, with corporate and professional services rounding out the top three sectors.
• Flexibility in roles is still important, with 18% of privacy roles offering remote options or the ability to work from East Coast capitals, particularly Melbourne or Sydney.
• Work-from-home or hybrid options returned to a more usual 50% of job advertisements, after a peak of 60% last quarter.
• There was a strong trend towards recruiting privacy leaders or managers this quarter with 36% of roles advertised for more senior positions, primarily (but not exclusively) in non-Government roles.
• Compliance-focused roles dominated the quarter, making up 73% of all advertised positions, showing a continuing move away from privacy as a legal function and towards privacy as a compliance function.
• The average salary this quarter dropped to $134,000, compared to $142,000 last quarter. Average contract rates remained at over $800 per day.
• The highest advertised salary reached $220k to $240k Plus Bonus per year for a Senior Corporate Counsel – Privacy, listed by a recruitment firm.
• Experience remains crucial, with most roles requiring 5+ years of relevant experience.
• Privacy certifications such as the CIPM are increasingly in demand, with 1 in 3 advertised roles in the Corporate Sector listing them as either a requirement or a desirable qualification.

Additional Observations:

There were five roles that were re-advertised across the 3 months Q1, perhaps indicating some challenges finding suitable candidates. These roles were looking for more experienced candidates (5+ years), primarily in the corporate or banking/finance sectors.  Desirable candidates for these were described as ‘self-starters, solution-oriented, and strategically minded’ and able ‘to address privacy matters in relation to AI governance, data strategy, and digital transformation.’

You can read our detailed report on Privacy Jobs in Australia in Q1 2025.