Survey: Here are the highest paid supply chain roles throughout APAC

Bastian Consulting shares their latest findings on the highest paid supply chain roles throughout Asia Pacific as of 2021.

Skills in inventory management and the ability to communicate effectively could be the answer to a six figure salary, reaching up to $500,000 per year.

Research conducted by Bastian Consulting, a leading supply chain recruitment company focused on sourcing leaders across Australia and the Asia Pacific, has revealed that top supply chain, logistics and procurement executives are among the highest paid managers and directors in the region.

In Bastian Consulting’s latest Salary Survey 2021, supply chain executives from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan and Thailand, have revealed that Supply Chain Directors are the most paid, compared to other management positions within the sector.

However, there is a distinct lack of sector skills and experience when finding talent to fill these supply chain roles.

The survey revealed Supply Chain Directors are earning $230-360K a year, compared to Logistics Operations Director ($180-250K) and Procurement Director ($240-330K).

Furthermore, Supply Chain Managers are taking home $130-165K per year, while Manufacturing Managers are earning $100-130K AUD.

Supply chain is a high-growth industry. Tony Richter, Founder of Bastian Consulting, said the salaries of supply chain executives reflect the importance of their role in minimising the impact of global disruption during COVID-19 and beyond.

“Supply chain bottlenecks could last for another year and a half to two years. Therefore, the need for Supply, Distribution and Procurement Managers to plan, organise, direct, control and coordinate the supply, storage and distribution of goods, products and services, will continue to be in high demand,” he said.

Respondents from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan and Thailand revealed that Inventory Management is the most sought after technical skill (58%) when finding an employee. This was followed by knowledge of best practice (51%), project management (46%) and risk management (37%), reflecting the shift in skillsets required this year as a result of the challenge of ongoing global supply chain disruptions.

The survey also revealed that technology is playing a huge role in supply chain, as technology expertise in AI, IoT and robotics are also among the top technical skills in demand.

There was an overwhelming shift towards the need for soft skills in the supply chain, with the ability to communicate effectively (40%) and collaboration with others (39%) as key employability skills for top executives.

However, respondents said there is a lack of both technical and soft skills when recruiting top talent, with over half of executives (54%) pointing to salary expectations as another major challenge.

Across the entire Asia Pacific region, the top three job offer considerations are remuneration, job responsibilities and work culture. On the contrary, the top three reasons leaders leave their roles are:

• skills mismatch and lack of growth opportunities
• looking for higher pay and better benefits
• lack of transparent leadership communications.

“Our survey found that 10 percent of supply chain leaders experienced salary reduction due to COVID-19,” said Stephanie Martinez, Partner at Bastian Consulting.

“With candidate salary expectations being the biggest hurdle for over half of the executives surveyed to source talent, the industry needs to do more to invest in raising awareness of the profession as well as market the many opportunities available to young people,” Martinez said.

Related: Supply chain leaders in APAC believe grads are unlikely to apply for jobs within the sector, survey reveals

Bastian Consulting has recently launched its Graduate Initiative program to help solve the supply chain and tech talent shortage across the APAC region.

“We’re seeing a real struggle in the market to find talent and we want to help future proof the talent pool,” Martinez continued.

“As a result, we have recently launched The Graduate Initiative, a promotion of recent graduates in this space to help them get an opportunity and a free source of talent for our community of hiring managers,” she said.