AI skills boost engineer pay by up to 25%, NodeFlair finds

The report shows AI capability now commands a clear salary premium across engineering roles.

Software engineers with AI-related skills earn up to 25% more than their peers, according to NodeFlair’s Tech Salary Report 2026.

The report by the recruitment firm for tech talent analysed over 230,000 verified salary data points across roles and markets. It found that Singapore engineers with AI capabilities receive a pay premium of 13% to 25%, depending on seniority.

NodeFlair said the gap reflects stronger compensation for engineers who can apply AI tools in production environments, rather than general software development skills alone.

The report also noted that the AI-linked premium appears across career levels, with higher increases observed amongst more experienced engineers who are expected to integrate AI into system design and delivery.

“AI fluency is no longer a nice-to-have — it’s now a salary advantage,” said Ethan Ang, founder of NodeFlair.

He said the shift had accelerated with wider adoption of AI-assisted coding tools and agentic workflows, which have changed how engineering teams approach software development.

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