Hong Kong's rapid data centre expansion is driving salary increases of up to 20 percent for specialised engineering and facilities professionals amid a severe local talent shortage, talent solutions firm Robert Walters said on Thursday.
The hiring surge is increasingly extending beyond software developers to encompass electrical and mechanical (E&M) engineers, critical facilities managers, and operations staff. The demand is largely fuelled by the city's push into artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and major infrastructure projects such as the Northern Metropolis and the Sandy Ridge Data Facility Cluster.
Mid-level engineers with five to 10 years of end-to-end project experience remain the hardest to hire, said Jay Wong, a principal at Robert Walters Hong Kong. While candidates transitioning into data centre roles can secure 15 to 20 percent pay bumps, the sector's 24/7 operational demands—including shift work, on-call duties, and high-pressure emergency responses—continue to deter some professionals, according to Robert Walters.
To bridge the immediate gap, operators are actively poaching talent from other high-reliability sectors, including hospitals, aviation facilities, and financial institutions, targeting workers with transferable skills in high-voltage power and risk control, Robert Walters added.
Wong warned that offering higher salaries and relying on overseas recruitment, such as the Top Talent Pass Scheme, will not resolve the long-term shortage. Imported talent often requires significant time to adapt to Hong Kong's specific technical standards, service expectations, and regulatory requirements.
To sustain the sector's growth, employers and educational institutions must develop long-term local training pipelines rather than relying solely on external hiring, Wong added.
