The job market in Australia is governed by a mix of complex factors and regional disparities, with Sidney and Melbourne dominating in new work opportunities and rural areas lagging somewhat behind. However, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate remained at 4.1% as of September 2024, showing little change from the beginning of the year.
Notably, there is a major disparity between employment opportunities in the public and private sectors. While the employment situation in the Australian public sector looks rather optimistic, with healthcare, education, and construction as leaders of job creation, the private sector shows some signs of stagnation, with only 0.1% employment growth. And still, there is slow growth — but in which occupations?
At SignalHire, we have just the means to answer this question because our contact database is primarily used by private-sector recruiters looking for human talent. So, we have decided to look into their recent search history to determine the top 10 in-demand jobs in Australia in 2024.
Table of Contents:
CEO
Median salary: $163,000
Employment growth: 10% (projected)
Typical educational requirements: bachelor’s degree in business, economics, or an industry-related field
Based on the KPMG Australia firm affiliation report, chief executives predict up to a 10% job increase in their roles in the next few years. These estimates are directly related to the adoption of generative AI, with over half of respondents seeing this as their top investment priority for further business expansion. As businesses expand, additional offices require careful leadership in new strategic divisions. This year alone, 1400 new CEO positions have emerged, with local job boards featuring a total of 4,500+ open CEO vacancies across various business sectors.
General Manager
Median salary: $197,000
Employment growth: 9% (all management jobs)
Typical educational requirements: bachelor’s degree in business or an industry-related field
The need for qualified leadership is also evident in lower managerial ranks, with the technical and professional sectors experiencing the highest talent shortage. The uneven distribution of Australian employment opportunities creates some contradictory figures — while projected growth estimates for management jobs stand at approximately 9%, the demand for general managers has decreased, with 300 fewer openings than in the past year. Regional disparities also play a part in this equation, with New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland featuring the most job openings while the demand in other states diminishes.
Business Developer
Median salary: $100,000
Employment growth: 9% (projected)
Typical educational requirements: bachelor’s degree in business, marketing, or an industry-related field
Depending on the industry and the specific company, the job responsibilities of a business developer can vary greatly. In the private sector, however, this occupation often implies corporate PR, building strategic partnerships, and sometimes, overseeing sales. While the demand and the actual duties may vary slightly depending on the industry segment, the need for strategic planning is obvious in all business niches — this year alone, official Jobs & Skills statistics report a total of 2,400 new job opportunities for policy and planning managers.
Account Manager
Median salary: $87,000
Employment growth: 9% (all management jobs)
Typical educational requirements: bachelor’s degree in marketing, customer relations, or industry-related field
Transforming business routines and technological advances imply new approaches to customer care, which is clearly reflected in the list of in-demand jobs in Australia. Even though employment opportunities are unevenly scattered across the country, almost 3000 new customer care management positions opened up in 2024. This trend will likely continue, increasing the demand for account managers with sales, customer relations, and AI skills, which will be especially transparent in the tech sector. However, retail will likely see some increase, too.
Program Manager
Median salary: $146,000
Employment growth: 9% (all management jobs)
Typical educational requirements: bachelor’s degree in business, management, or an industry-related field
Another managerial position on our list of in-demand jobs in Australia presupposes various activities, from strategic planning and organization to risk management and resource allocation. Program managers with the right skills might also be responsible for negotiating with the stakeholders and monitoring team performance. However, the actual job responsibilities will depend on employment specifics, and so far, the public sector offers more opportunities for program managers, especially in healthcare and education.
PMO Lead
Median salary: $130,000
Employment growth: 9% (all management jobs)
Typical educational requirements: bachelor’s degree in business, management, or an industry-related field
Similarly to program managers, project manager office leads may be tasked with risk management and resource allocation. However, their primary responsibilities include overseeing performance across different company divisions, allocating tasks, and providing mentorship if necessary. Expectedly, the demand for PMO leads is higher in the private sector, which, in 2024, shows very moderate growth percentiles. The situation is brightest in the tech and IT niche, with over 5,000 new job openings for ICT managers in 2024.
Sales Manager
Median salary: $100,000
Employment growth: 9% (all management jobs)
Typical educational requirements: bachelor’s degree in business, sales, or an industry-related field
In sales, Australian job market stats show great promise, with over 6,600 new job opportunities as of this year. Once again, the figure is not evenly distributed across industries and regions, with the technology, finance, and professional services segment in the lead. However, the retail industry also has room for optimism despite decreased consumer spending and economic uncertainties. Traditionally, most vacancies are concentrated in New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland.
Business Analyst
Median salary: $105,000
Employment growth: 6.5% (projected)
Typical educational requirements: bachelor’s degree in business or an industry-related field
Currently, the IT sector employs over 20,000 ICT business analysts, and this figure is expected to grow — soon enough, outside the private tech sector. Federal investment in healthcare and construction projects boosts employment opportunities in both niches, which is expected to spur the demand for business analysts with industry-specific experience. At the same time, the private tech sector in Australia shows steady growth and the need for new leadership, so experts with relevant skills should not be affected by current economic uncertainties.
ITSM Consultant
Median salary: $98,000
Employment growth: 6.5% (entire IT industry)
Typical educational requirements: bachelor’s degree in IT, computer technology, or an industry-related field
The tech sector in Australia experiences steady growth, pretty much like everywhere else around the globe. However, compared to the global demand for IT jobs, Australian companies are largely interested in hiring IT Service Management Consultants. This demand is most likely caused by the adoption of business suite platforms like ServiceNow. Considering the growing need to embrace new technologies across various business segments, the need for experts with an understanding of AI-powered service frameworks makes perfect sense.
Service Desk Manager
Median salary: $99,000
Employment growth: 9% (all management jobs)
Typical educational requirements: bachelor’s degree in an industry-related field
Growing business demand for ITSM experts logically increases the need for service desk managers with experience in technology and customer care. Even though this job ranks last on our list of in-demand jobs in Australia, the tech sector in the country is a striving one, with multiple employment opportunities. IT support gains special prominence and, soon enough, should not be limited to the tech sector alone. As more businesses adopt cloud-based frameworks in their routine operations, the demand for skilled professionals, preferably with industry-specific skills, will only increase.
Methodology
For this analysis, we have pulled all job search history made over our database in 2024, from January to September, and filtered out the results by location, thus limiting the number of actual job searches to Australia. Further, we calculated the number of requests for each unique position to determine the ten most popular ones and sorted the results, presenting them from high to low.
Information about job growth was taken from official government resources, primarily the Jobs and Skills section of the government website. Unfortunately, Australia does not collect detailed statistics on job growth percentiles for separate professions, so we had to present general industry figures instead. Median salary estimates, along with supporting pictures that show broader compensation ranges, were taken from Glassdoor — an open platform allowing employees to review their employers and share insights about their compensation packages. Information about educational requirements was primarily taken from Seek.com.au, a popular job search and career advice platform, and other publicly available sources.
Notably, this analysis of in-demand jobs is based on our internal database, mainly used by recruiters, sales, and business developers. That is, the insights may be skewed to digital and skills-specific occupations and may not fully reflect the employment market in Australia, especially as far as blue-collar jobs are concerned. At the same time, the data presented aligns with global trends and independent analytics resources, indicating that many businesses worldwide experience talent shortages for C-level, management, and IT-related positions.
Conclusion
The Australian job market remains tight, with huge disparities between public and private sector opportunities. Still, there is room for restrained optimism, as the combined annual growth rate for both sectors is projected at 1% for 2024-2025. The private sector, in particular, is going through a transformation, which affects its growth speed and job distribution. Today’s businesses keep adjusting to new technologies and operational routines, which creates an increased demand for talented managers and IT experts.
While the information presented in this post is based on our internal database findings, it corresponds to the global market trends, clearly indicating the need for new leadership, redefined client interaction approaches, and IT expertise to oversee the proper integration of new technologies into business routines. For comparison, you may want to check out our research of in-demand jobs in mid-2024, not tied to a specific location and showing global employment trends — the similarities are hard to miss!
