Although demand for employees in IT departments has been declining for several years, in 2025 the pace of this trend slowed significantly. At the same time, growing technological and market challenges are strengthening the importance of IT competencies in companies, especially in areas supporting operational efficiency, security, and process quality. As a result, competency requirements for specialists are increasing, and the highest demand today concerns roles related to cybersecurity, data analysis, and process automation, according to the “Salaries in Enterprises 2025” report by Grafton Recruitment.

Demand for specialists in in-house IT support departments has clearly declined in recent years. Data from Grafton Recruitment shows that in the third quarter of 2025, the demand index in this area was 0.54—half the market benchmark for all roles (1.01), and three times lower than at the beginning of 2022, when companies were intensively expanding IT teams.

In recent months, the downward trend has clearly slowed. Although companies are not recruiting intensively, such sharp employment declines as a year earlier are no longer being observed. Organizations are maintaining a new approach to building IT teams—focusing on acquiring specialists with key competencies and systematically developing the skills of those already employed.

– The slowdown of the downward trend may indicate upcoming stabilization in demand for specialists in IT departments. At the same time, a shift in approach to acquiring and developing technical teams is becoming increasingly visible. Recruitment processes are currently more selective and focused on specializations and competencies that genuinely support technological transformation – explains Julia Łamacz, IT Recruitment Project Manager at Grafton Recruitment.

Although a decline in recruitment is observed in IT support, in many other company departments demand for employees remains above the average for all positions. The highest demand index was recorded in logistics (1.09), sales (1.05), and customer service (1.01). Slightly lower, but still moderate demand remains in areas such as marketing (0.82), administration and procurement (0.75), and finance (0.73), while it is significantly lower for specializations such as tax (0.57) and audit (0.47). A similar trend is visible in HR (0.63) and PR (0.54).

– The data clearly shows that over the past year, companies focused on operational activities and activities directly related to sales or customer service, which translated into the scale of recruitment. In the case of other departments, even those as important as finance or marketing, employment dynamics were lower. This results not only from pressure on efficiency and cost optimization, but also from the specifics of particular departments, process and task automation in those departments, and the scale of earlier recruitment – explains Joanna Ciężkowska, Senior Brand Manager at Grafton Recruitment.

Competencies worth their weight in employment

In IT support departments, the competencies currently in greatest demand are those related to cybersecurity, ERP systems, process automation, and Business Intelligence. These areas are now the foundation of efficient and secure organizational operations, especially in the context of the growing complexity of the technological environment.

At the same time, demand is increasing for specialists who combine technological knowledge with analytical competencies and the ability to implement modern tools automating business processes. Alongside hard technical skills, soft skills that enable effective collaboration with business are also gaining importance. These increasingly influence decisions on selecting the right person, especially in conditions of high competition in the candidate market.

– We are observing a clear increase in companies’ demand for specialists in areas that directly support digital transformation—especially where technologies must be combined with security, analytics, and process scalability. Candidates with such competencies are among the most sought-after on the market today – adds Julia Łamacz, IT Recruitment Project Manager at Grafton Recruitment.

Salaries in IT support departments

In 2025, salary levels in corporate IT departments remained relatively stable compared to the previous year, and pay ranges differed depending on location, position level, and the expected degree of technical specialization. The highest salaries were traditionally offered in Warsaw, which concentrates the largest number of IT centers and global support structures.

Thus, service desk specialists in the capital could expect salaries in 2025 in the range of PLN 7 000 - 9,500 gross, while in Kraków, Wrocław, or Poznań the lower end of the range was PLN 5 800 - 6,000. The differences were even more pronounced in more specialized positions: those working in third-line support in Warsaw earned PLN 17 000 - 23,000, and in Kraków and Wrocław—from PLN 10,000 to 16,000. Meanwhile, technical support department managers in the capital received salaries of around PLN 22 000 - 30,000, while in Katowice PLN 16 000 - 21,000.

An even wider salary range applied to expert roles. Cybersecurity consultants in Warsaw could expect offers at the level of PLN 26 000 - 32,000, and in Kraków and Poznań up to PLN 28,000. The highest rates concerned the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) position – in Warsaw the range was PLN 33 000 - 54,000, while in other locations the upper limit rarely exceeded PLN 40,000. Regional differences result not only from the cost of living and the competitiveness of local labor markets, but also from the scale of technological operations.

How did salaries increase in 2025?

Analysis of average rate increases in corporate IT support departments shows clear differences in salary change dynamics. The highest raises were recorded in managerial and strategic roles—technical support managers saw increases of +15.5%, while cybersecurity consultants and CTOs reached +14.3% and +12.5% respectively. Significant rate growth also covered SAP consultants at +8.1%, and second-line (+9.3%) and third-line (+11.4%) support specialists. The lowest increases—ranging from +3.4% to +5.4%—concerned positions with greater candidate availability, including network engineers, system administrators, and service desk specialists.

– Rate increases in IT departments in 2025 reflected the growing value of specialized skills and the limited availability of certain competencies on the market. The largest raises covered positions related to security, advanced technical support, and managing IT teams; however, the entire sector remains one of the most attractive in terms of salary levels– adds Julia Łamacz, IT Recruitment Project Manager at Grafton Recruitment.

Link to the report: https://pl.grafton.com/pl/raport-wynagrodzen-i-trendow-w-przedsiebiorstwach-2025-0

About the report: “The “Salaries and Trends in Enterprises” report by Grafton Recruitment was prepared based on job posting data and a quantitative survey conducted among employees. The analysis covered 4,975,256 job postings from one of the popular recruitment services in Poland. From this set, 1,414,836 offers related to the private sector were identified. After a deduplication process aimed at removing duplicate records, the final number of unique postings was 637,793. Positions included in Grafton Recruitment’s salary grids were included in the study.