Published on the 26/02/2026 | Written by Heather Wright

Cautious confidence returns as digital investment resumes…

After 18 months of recessionary caution and stalled projects, the Kiwi tech employment sector is showing signs of meaningful recovery with a resurgence of major projects across ERP implementations, cybersecurity and data transformation.

Ronil Singh, Robert Half regional director, says businesses have started to see potential growth for the next 12 months ahead – meaning they also need to expand their teams.

“Businesses are coming to a realisation now that some of these projects are for the long-term benefit for their business.”

“We’ve started to see a slow lift in the business transformation domain,” he told iStart. “Businesses paused a lot of projects in the last 24 months, but they’re coming to a realisation now that some of these projects are for the long-term benefit for their business.”

As optimism grows, board approvals for large-scale digitalisation and ERP projects are slowly coming back.

Part of the resurgence is driven by practical necessity: At least one major ERP provider has an upcoming end of mainstream maintenance deadline approaching, forcing affected companies to reassess their platforms.

But Singh emphasises the bigger driver is strategic. Organisations are now prioritising faster access to better information, stronger analytics and the ability to make good decisions from trusted data. Those needs, in turn, require more modern systems and, in many cases, a unified ERP.

Others are exploring bolt-ons, including BI tools, reporting modules and integration layers, to extract more value from existing platforms without committing to full system replacements. Integration and transformation specialists, are among those seeing the first signs of renewed demand.

Unsurprisingly, AI and data is also an area gathering momentum along with demand for security engineers. The three are seeing the fastest growth.

Among permanent roles, senior software developers, AI tech leads, data, security and systems engineers, and IT support are the most in demand roles according to the 2026 Robert Half Salary Guide. For contractors, it’s systems/network engineers, IT support, business analysts, data engineers and senior software engineers who are most in demand. And when it comes to technical skills its .Net Core, Typescript, Python; Snowflake, dbt, Databricks and ERP systems including Netsuite, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and SAP S/4Hana.

But the growth isn’t a return to the frenetic post-Covid boom. Instead, Singh says New Zealand is in a period of measured optimism, where every hiring decision must be justified, every dollar of investment must prove its value, and every piece of talent must be strategically retained.

Over the past 18 to 24 months, the market has undergone a correction. Following the pandemic, organisations found themselves in an over-heated tech environment. Transformation programmes were everywhere, SaaS adoption was exploding and demand for developers surged. When recessionary pressures began to bit, software development teams were the first to feel the impact through downsizing, as companies shifted from expansion to survival mode, Singh says.

“Large development teams that were required during the boom became less important,” he says, noting that teams were pared back as organisations conserved cash and paused big capital spend and major programmes of work. That slowdown pushed a wave of candidates into the market and created a period of uncertainty.

Hiring scrutiny

Despite the wider market challenges, many organisations never stopped hiring entirely. Instead, they became far more selective. Singh says in the past 12 months, companies have been willing to move decisively on roles they deem essential, particularly those requiring hard-to-find skill sets.

What did change, was the level of governance around those decisions, with hiring centralised and many organisations introducing CEO-level approval gates. New roles often require approval before recruitment can begin, approval during the interview process and then again before the offer goes out.

Now, however, confidence is increasing on both sides of the equation.

The Salary Guide shows 80 percent of tech leaders say the economic outlook will positively impact their approach to setting salaries this year. On the candidate side, Singh says people are starting to ask for pay rises from their current employers – and those employers, according to the Salary Guide survey, are open to having discussions around increases.

But Singh warns that the market is not shifting back toward large, double-digital pay jumps. “Businesses are not in a position to give massive pay rises,” he notes.

Instead, the return of salary negotiation willingness reflects two strategic needs: Forecasted business growth which will require expanding teams over then next 12 months; and the increasing importance of retaining strong performers, particularly as skill shortages intensify.

The tightening labour market will prompt companies to earmark top talent and consider where salary adjustments – and other benefits – may be needed to reduce flight risk.

With that in mind, Singh says performance now plays a more significant role than ever. He says employees who show discretionary effort – going beyond their formal responsibilities, putting their hands up for new projects and embracing learning opportunities – are better positioned to negotiate. In a lean, SME-dominated economy like New Zealand (and Australia), employers increasingly value those who can wear multiple hats and stretch into adjacent areas.

Retention becomes make-or-break strategy

As the labour market tightens, companies face the challenge of preventing their top people from leaving.

Singh says counter-offers are already rising – but remain largely ineffective. Once a candidate has gone through the process of deciding to leave, identifying what the next role – and employer – needs to look like, interviewing, meeting a prospective manager and imagining their next career step, the ‘horse has bolted’, he says.

Even if the counter-offer is accepted, the employee often leaves within six to 12 months anyway. The Salary Guide shows 98 percent of tech leaders say they have extended a counter-offer to a worker who received an external offer. Forty-three percent of those were rejected – or accepted only to have the employee leave within 12 months. AI, data engineering and automation were the roles where counter offers are becoming most frequent.

Instead, employers need to get ahead of potential dissatisfaction. “Think about how you can be more proactive as an employer so they don’t have to get into that position.”

Singh notes that the three key reasons people move on are cultural fit, lack of growth and development and compensation. He urges businesses to ‘think outside the box’ and consider the benefits that they can offer to retain staff, whether its flexibility, learning and development budgets, more support or mentorship.

“There are different ways to skin a cat and not all employees are looking for a significant pay rise. What they are looking at is the cost of living… and at the same time they want to feel valued.”

He gives similar advice to employees as well, urging them to have a conversation with their direct manager before looking elsewhere. “If you’re happy with the organisation, the leadership team, what the business purpose is and the only thing that’s stopping you from being totally happy is your compensation, have a conversation. Because if you don’t you will never know what your options are, and you don’t know what they might be thinking and planning in the background.