eFinancialCareers

Singapore is increasingly becoming the location of choice for banks offshoring development roles from the UK, but they’re also keen to hear from experienced Western techies for more senior positions.

When Barclays announced it was offshoring 1,800 IT jobs to various locations across the world, it was assumed India might be the main beneficiary.

However, it seems the vast majority of jobs will be housed in the newly-established technology centre in Singapore, which has just recruited 110 staff, plans to add 400-500 by the end of 2009, and intends to raise the total to 1,500 within five years.

Barclays joins the likes of Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, RBS and Standard Chartered, who all have IT hubs in the Lion City.

Chris Mead, general manager of Hays in Singapore, tells us that though lower-level development can be catered for within the local talent pool, banks are looking west to recruit for more senior roles.

“Generally, banks are looking to hire from the UK, Europe and the US for specialist senior developer or project management roles that they can’t recruit for locally,” he says.

And as opportunities dry up in Western markets, Mead says he’s seen an influx of CVs in recent months, “especially from the UK”.

The pay’s pretty good as well, with senior developer or project manager roles generally coming in at around SG$200k-$250k (£78-£97k). This can rise to up to £120k depending on how specialist your knowledge is – if, say, you can combine development expertise with an understanding of pricing derivative products.

The income tax range falls between 10% and 15% in Singapore.