Tech has overtaken engineering to become Bristol’s dominant industry, boasting the most jobs and higher-than-average salaries, according to a new report.
There are currently 1,965 IT-related job openings in the city, the highest of any industry, with logistics and warehouse coming in second with 1,840, and a total of 1,315 engineering roles available, the report by Tech Nation, the UK network for ambitious tech entrepreneurs, and job search engine Adzuna reveals. 
The average IT salary in Bristol is £51,685, over £15,000 more than the general average salary for the city at £36,171.
Bristol’s tech scene has undergone a healthy year of growth despite the coronavirus pandemic, according to the report.
Start-ups and scale-ups in Bristol have raised a collective $1.07bn in venture capital investment since 2014 as the city competes with other growing regional tech hubs such as Oxford and Edinburgh.
The burgeoning industry is helped in part by strong links with the University of Bristol, which is among the Top 10 universities in the UK for producing companies, with a total of 130 companies spun out of the university, including Ziylo, a biotech company which uses tech to treat diabetes more effectively, which was sold to Novo Nordisk in 2018 for £623m.
The city is also gaining a reputation for its impact-focused start-ups, says the report. Vertical farming startup LettUs Grow has been named as one to watch while green energy company Ovo Energy became a certified ‘unicorn’ last year.
Haptic technology company Ultraleap and cybersecurity start-up Immersive Labs are predicted to join Ovo and semiconductor company Graphcore as Bristol’s next unicorns.
Overall, there are now 430 tech companies in Bristol, together employing more than 8,000 people. Along with start-ups, big tech firms such as Nokia, BT, Vodafone, Oracle and Amazon all have offices in the city.
Oracle is the employer with the most job openings in the city, with 31 IT vacancies, followed by Sanderson Weatherall with 23 and BT at 15.
The most advertised roles in Bristol are software developers, engineers and project managers, with software engineers commanding an average salary of £58,070.
Tech Nation head of insights Dr George Windsor said: “Bristol is a special part of the UK’s tech industry thanks to its strong robotics and microelectronics background.
“This new data demonstrates how important tech is to the city and wider south west region in providing jobs and higher-than-average salaries.
“This event will be a great opportunity to hear from those in the local tech community on how to ensure Bristol continues to flourish.”
Andrew Hunter, co-founder at Adzuna, added: “With a mixture of homegrown start-ups and established tech giants, tech workers in Bristol have their pick of employment opportunities.
“Despite the challenges of 2020, tech has proven to be resilient as long as there is enough skilled talent to go around. This will be a crucial challenge for Bristol’s tech companies over the next year.”
