Gain valuable insights into Malaysia’s dynamic job market directly from our experts, all captured in the 2025 Job Market Outlook and Salary Guide. This digital report offers analysis of labour market trends, hiring patterns and salary benchmarks across key sectors in Malaysia.
Malaysia’s tech industry is enjoying robust growth, with demand coming from cloud computing, AI, and foreign companies looking to leverage the country’s strong skills and lower operating costs by setting up shared service offices. All that creates hiring demand, and is good news for skilled talent who may see increasing competition for their services.
However, there is a clear shift away from lower-skilled positions. As a result, employers are raising their expectations when it comes to candidate qualifications, especially given the current tech talent shortages.
malaysia cloud job hiring trends in 2025
Cloud computing has been growing in Malaysia, driven by both global trends and substantial local investment. Key players such as AWS, Microsoft and Google, have made significant investments in the region, helping accelerate the adoption of cloud-based technologies.
With that growth has come a shift in hiring, with traditional, lower-skilled support roles slowly being phased out in favour of DevOps engineers who can handle both support requirements and more highly-skilled tasks such as automation and deployment.
That has created a shortage of talent in the market. Dedicated tech companies and start ups have typically enjoyed an advantage here because they use more advanced technology, making for more exciting (and CV-boosting) work.
In the past, MNCs were often viewed as more stable than start-ups. However, this distinction has blurred in recent years, as we witness restructuring at major companies and more start ups being successful. It can also be harder for MNCs using older technology to attract the best talent, especially when coupled with more rigid working practices.
Savvy hiring managers are working around this by offering exciting projects plus the opportunity to make an impact on a larger scale to try to offset the perceived downside.
new artificial intelligence job opportunities and demand for transferable skills
Artificial intelligence is certainly a growth area, but it remains in its infancy as companies try to figure out how it can benefit their bottom line. One of the key trends is the growing number of companies setting up AI Centres of Excellence to explore and implement AI technologies. However, this is typically still in the R&D phase, with companies focusing on smaller-scale projects to test the viability and potential business impact of AI technologies.
Rather than hiring large teams, many companies are partnering with technology vendors who can provide the services for them, with Microsoft, AWS and Google claiming most of the market. That creates demand for senior in-house roles such as AI solution architects, AI tech leads or AI specialists who can appoint and manage vendors and then oversee a project. However, there’s a noticeable shortage of experienced professionals, and many organisations are turning to foreign talent to fill these gaps.
The tech companies providing these AI and machine learning solutions are generally hiring for a wider variety of roles, and there is a growing need for junior AI engineers and data engineers who can work on AI-driven projects. Many companies are also hiring skilled talent with transferable skills from software engineering, particularly in Python, big data and cloud technologies who may not have AI exposure but who are willing to transition into AI-focused roles.
growth in cybersecurity increases demand for talent
The growth of cloud services and AI has placed even more emphasis on cybersecurity, which was already a growth area in Malaysia. Both the private sector and government have significantly invested in enhancing their cybersecurity capabilities, including a new Cyber Security Act introduced in mid-2024, which tightens requirements for sectors deemed critical.
There is a rising demand for cybersecurity professionals specialising in governance, risk management, and compliance.
As data protection regulations become more stringent, including revisions in 2024 to Malaysia's Personal Data Protection Act, companies are increasingly looking for experienced cybersecurity experts who can help develop and enforce security strategies. These roles are typically senior and require a strong technical background in security combined with expertise in managing risk and legal compliance.
We also see strong demand for penetration testers, network security engineers, and security analysts who can detect vulnerabilities and prevent cyberattacks, particularly in the financial services and telecoms sectors.
fullstack developers in high demand
Many global and regional companies continue to establish their first shared services centres in Malaysia, As in many markets, software development is undergoing a shift in Malaysia as routine coding is increasingly automated, or at least augmented, by AI. That reduces demand for less skilled developers, but conversely, we see continued demand for talent with advanced technical skills, in particular those who can work across multiple project types.
Employers increasingly want full stack developers due to their wide range of skill set, but these candidates are in relatively short supply. Candidates who take it upon themselves to learn new skills, or those with experience at smaller companies and start ups where teams are necessarily generalist, will find themselves in demand.
tech salary expectations in 2025
Candidates moving jobs in 2025 could expect an increase in the region of 25%. More junior roles, where 25% might not translate into a large difference in absolute terms, might expect a higher increment between 30-35%, or perhaps up to 50%, depending on talent’s skill set, experience and current salary.
Senior talent will have to content themselves with less than that, but we do see particularly niche roles, such as pockets of cloud security, where experienced staff might command 30-40%.
download randstad malaysia’s 2025 job market and salary trends report
Discover the latest talent insights and salary benchmarks for tech jobs, ranging from cybersecurity to cloud, infrastructure to data engineering and more, from our 2025 Job Market Outlook and Salary Guide.
The report examines key talent expectations as well as key sector trends and salary benchmarks in the following industries:
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