Techies with Generative AI skills see a 30-50 percent jump in salaries

Abhishek (name changed), a techie from Bengaluru, received an offer from Accenture to join as an Associate Software Engineer in 2019. As a fresher from a tier-II engineering college in Bengaluru, he would draw a salary of Rs 3.5 lakh per annum.

Before joining Accenture, Abhishek dabbled with natural language processing (NLP), a branch of artificial intelligence (AI) that enables computers to comprehend, generate, and manipulate human language, for his final year project. The brief experience ignited his interest in AI and adjacent skills.

Soon, as COVID-19 hit the world, with more time on his hands, Abhishek began upskilling into Python, one of the most popular programming languages for AI.

Slowly, he moved to Data Science, Machine Learning, Deep Learning and more, signing up courses offered by companies like upGrad to delve deeper into the technology.

What started out to be a pet project later helped Abhishek to multiply his income about eight times. In just four and a half years into his career, the 27-year-old techie now earns Rs 28 lakh per annum as an AI engineer at IBM.

Abhishek is not alone. Techies in India are driving up salaries with additional AI, Generative AI and adjacent skills, commanding as high as 30- 50 percent premium over those without such expertise, according to data from Careernet sourced by Moneycontrol.

This comes at a time when the generative AI (Gen AI) wave is quickly gaining steam globally, with India estimated to see an addition of a cumulative $1.2-1.5 trillion to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the next seven years, according to a recent report by EY India.

Roles, salaries and skills for top-tier AI talent

According to Careernet, professionals in GenAI can be bucketed into three large categories: GenAI technology developers, GenAI product developers and GenAI users.

Those in the first category, who possess the necessary AI-related skills, command the highest premiums in salary hikes, compared to their counterparts lacking these skills.

GenAI technology developers, who are engaged in developing GenAI technologies and frameworks, earn salaries starting from Rs 18 lakh per annum. Senior-level employees in this category can command salaries exceeding Rs 1 crore, putting them on par with global peers, data from Careernet showed.

“They have made significant contributions to the advancement of AI through research, innovation, and thought leadership. These professionals generally have top tier education background, advanced education of masters, PhD and previous experience of research, patents, publications and so on in addition to skills required…” Neelabh Shukla, CBO, Careernet, told Moneycontrol.

Shukla added that this is a niche area with a limited number of professionals available across the globe. “It is anticipated that India has under 50,000 professionals in this category with job titles like AI/ML Researcher/Scientist, Deep Learning Engineer, Machine Learning Engineer and Natural Language Processing (NLP) Engineer, Model Developer and Computer Vision,” he added.

Here’s a breakup of roles, skills and salaries in all three categories:

Techies driving up salaries with GenAI

Individuals in the GenAI product developer category are a more common sight. According to Careernet, an average mid-career software professional in the GCC (Global Capability Centers) segment, with approximately three to eight years of experience, can earn between Rs 15-35 lakh.

“Large system integrators and IT services organisations are training workforce en masse. It is expected that all large IT services organisations in India will end up training at least 70 percent of their tech workforce,” said Shukla.

To be sure, India’s largest IT firm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), said it plans to hire GenAI engineers with a salary range between Rs 30,000 and 50,000 per month, in its latest recruitment drive. The company has also begun training its current workforce in generative AI skills.

In the final category, for GenAI users who use GenAI technologies without direct involvement in their development or implementation, compensation ranges show little variation. Careernet’s Shukla believes that this is because adoption at the end-user level is still in its early stages.

Rahul Veerwal, founder and CEO of GetWork.org, told Moneycontrol that there is a potential for India to create a large-scale talent pool in this segment. GetWork.org is an AI-driven platform dedicated to provide placement solutions to colleges and freshers. This comes at a time when many are not able to afford upskilling into GenAI skills, Veerwal added.

Also Read: Generative AI courses in hot demand as more Indians flock to upskilling platforms

“In tier 2, 3 and 4 cities, there are individuals who have done BCA and MCA, and are earning Rs 5,000-20,000. But if they learn generative AI, after two-three months, they will command salaries upwards of Rs 30,000,” he said.

Veerwal believes that there is going to be a huge surge from India, which can become a global talent, especially with the huge demand for talent from Dubai, Germany, Japan, and other countries.

Shukla added that eventually all professionals will need to get comfortable using AI-enabled systems. “This is a mass movement similar to the offline functions like banking and retail getting digitised,” he said.