Bengaluru AI engineers earn up to Rs 48 LPA with 8 years' experience as GCCs chase talent: Quess report

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The rise of Global Capability Centre (GCCs) in India is fuelling a massive demand for talent skilled in artificial intelligence (AI), leading to experienced professionals now earning between Rs 35.3 lakh and Rs 47.9 lakh per annum (LPA) in cities like Bengaluru with only eight years of experience, and the trend is triggering an expansion into Tier-II cities in search for qualified candidates.

Roles in Generative AI, AI observability, and AI compliance are leading the compensation boom, outpacing traditional IT jobs by 20-50 percent, Quess Corp’s India GCC Talent Landscape 2024 report has said.

"While the demand is softening for traditional skill sets, there is a clear shift toward specialized expertise in emerging fields like GenAI, FinOps, and cloud security. These areas are no longer just trends—they are essential to the strategic growth of businesses, and as we like to say, "Demand isn't disappearing; it's evolving," said Kapil Joshi, CEO of Quess IT staffing.

India's Silicon Valley, Bengaluru, remains the epicenter of GCC hiring, offering best salaries for AI engineers, followed by Hyderabad at Rs 33–45 LPA and Pune at Rs 31–41 LPA. However, niche roles such as Zero Trust Security Engineers and AI FinOps Specialists are struggling to find qualified candidates even in these metros.

The report highlights that 30-45 percent of critical positions in AI, cybersecurity, and cloud cost optimisation remain unfilled due to a severe supply-demand mismatch.

Hiring trends across Tier-I cities also indicate that GCCs are continuing to double down on engineering-led growth, with platform engineering, AI, data, and cloud roles forming the backbone of their digital initiatives.

The banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector accounts for 18 percent of GCC hiring, with AI-led credit risk modeling and fraud detection roles witnessing 32 percent year-on-year growth.

Retail and e-commerce firms are close behind, investing heavily in AI-powered personalisation and recommendation engines. Meanwhile, cybersecurity roles, particularly those tied to cloud infrastructure and regulatory compliance, command 35 percent salary premiums as GCCs prioritize resilience in hybrid work environments.

To plug the talent gap, GCCs are expanding into Tier-II cities like Kochi, Ahmedabad, and Coimbatore, where operational costs are lower and specialised skill pools are emerging. Kochi, for instance, is gaining traction in healthcare operations and cybersecurity, while Ahmedabad is becoming a hub for manufacturing-linked IT and automation. Despite this shift, Tier-II locations still lack depth in high-skill domains, forcing companies to rely on upskilling initiatives and relocation incentives.

"The hiring landscape reveals that while core engineering, data, and cloud roles continue to be concentrated in Tier 1 cities, there is a noticeable emergence of demand in Tier-II locations for process-oriented and operations-led roles," the report added.

With India’s GCC market expected to grow to $105 billion by 2030, the Quess Corp report underscores the urgency for reskilling programs and academia-industry collaborations. Roles like AI Observability Engineers and Blockchain Developers are likely to remain in high demand, but the current talent pipeline remains insufficient.