Author: Sylvia Ranee

The Future of IoT Jobs: Roles, Skills & Salary Insights

The Internet of Things (IoT) technology is evolving. It is advancing with exciting and innovative developments that promise to transform the industry with several use cases. Industry sectors, including healthcare, manufacturing, finance, and others are leveraging its transformative powers to improve operational efficiencies, reduce costs, and improve the products. 

This technology has created a massive opportunity for aspiring job seekers who are looking to break into IoT roles. 

IoT professional services market is expected to increase to $226.8 Billion by 2032. This insight poses an excellent opportunity for undergraduates and seasoned professionals to understand the roles 

In this article, we will explore the roles that are available in the industry, their responsibilities, and the key skills required to perform well in the roles.

Prominent IoT Job Roles in the Industry

IoT offers promising job opportunities. If you’re excited about the opportunities in the IoT space, the following content can help you understand the responsibilities of each role, the key skills required to excel in the respective role, and the salaries you can expect. 

1. Chief IoT Officer (CIoT)

Chief IoT Officer (CIoT), as the title suggests, is a C-level executive who oversees an organization’s overall IoT strategy. 

Responsibilities:

• Build and manage organization-wide IoT strategy.
• Ensure company and customer data privacy and security. 
• Analyze data from the products to inform marketing efforts, improve customer support, and boost customer satisfaction.
• Collaborate with product teams and research and development teams to achieve business goals.

Key skills:

• Leadership
• Collaboration 
• Strong communication skills

Salary: >$200,000 per annum (Zip Recruiter)

2. IoT Architect

IoT Architects are the builders who create and implement the IoT strategy within an organization. In addition to knowledge of IoT, they need communication and management skills. 

Responsibilities: 

• Develop the company’s IoT vision and technical strategy 
• Design an end-to-end IoT architecture 
• Enable IoT developers to 
• Build processes to create IoT solutions 
• Collaborate with other business units to 

Key skills:

• Deep technical understanding of embedded design and programming
• Familiarity with the latest developments in the world of IoT
• Business acumen
• Strong communication skills

 Salary: Median salary $160,000 per annum

3. Embedded System Designer 

An embedded system designer is responsible for building an embedded system (microprocessor-based integrated circuits that perform computational tasks), required for an IoT solution to function properly. To achieve that, they work with hardware, write code to enable the hardware to perform their function smoothly, customize OS, etc. 

Responsibilities: 

• Design and develop embedded software.
• Debug embedded systems, including hardware, software, and firmware issues.
• Write code for the embedded system.
• Test the embedded system and ensure it meets the requirements.

Key skills:

• Programming skills, including knowledge of C, C++, Java
• Working knowledge of hardware, including sensors, microprocessors, memory, power supplies, communication systems, etc. 
• Understanding of software engineering principles, such as object-oriented programming, design principles, etc. 
• Good communication skills to effectively communicate with stakeholders and team members.

Salary: Average salary $137, 274 per annum (Zip Recruiter)

4. IoT Hardware Engineer

An IoT solution consists of several hardware components including sensors, actuators, microprocessors, etc. A sensor detects changes in the physical world and an actuator acts according to the changes in the environment. Similarly, each hardware component plays a critical role in enabling an IoT solution to function effectively. A hardware engineer is responsible for designing and developing hardware for an IoT solution.

Responsibilities:

• Design and develop the hardware components.
• Collaborate with firmware and software teams to integrate and optimize the performance of the hardware.
• Build and test prototypes to ensure the reliability and performance of the hardware.
• Identify hardware issues and resolve them.
• Keep track of ongoing developments and adapt design accordingly. 
• Collaborate with teams to take prototypes to production.

Key skills:

• Deep understanding of embedded systems, circuit design, and connectivity solutions
• Signal processing
• Microcontroller programming 
• Testing and debugging
• Technical documentation

Salary: Average salary $101,752 per annum (Zip Recruiter)

5. IoT Systems Administrator

A system administrator ensures that the network and connected devices are functioning properly. Any challenges that IoT professionals face related to networks or servers are resolved by the system administrator.

Responsibilities:

• Organize the network and devices connected to it.
• Resolve permission issues and provide technical support to other IoT professionals
• Manage permissions across the network and devices.
• Update devices, configurations, and other applications as and when required.

Key skills:

• Knowledge of networks, such as LAN, WAN, MAN, etc. 
• In-depth knowledge of operating systems including Windows, Linux, etc.
• Familiarity with embedded systems and hardware devices, such as sensors, actuators, etc.
• Experience working with cloud computing platforms, such as AWS, Azure, etc.

Salary: Average salary $95,000 per annum (Zip Recruiter)

6. Security Engineer 

Large-scale IoT system comprises multiple physical devices and digital applications, including sensors, actuators, servers, etc. This leaves the entire system open to vulnerabilities. A security engineer ensures the safety of customer and company data. 

Responsibilities:

• Assess risk in the existing system and support mediation and remediation.
• Document security issues and track them through various phases of product releases and changes, including technology and process changes.
• Support bug bounty programs by reviewing incoming vulnerability reports and assessing the severity of the issues
• Coordinate with product managers, site reliability engineers, and developers to execute test plans.

Key skills:

• Strong programming skills in one of the programming or scripting languages such as Python, C++, Go, etc.
• Experience in penetration testing
• Experience working with paid and open-source application security testing platforms such as Burp Suite, OWASP Zap, Qualys, etc.
• Familiarity with OWASP IoT Top Ten, SANS Top 25, WASC, NIST, and other popular security guidelines.
• Knowledge of data security regulations such as ISO/IEC 27001, GDPR, PCI DSS, etc. 

Salary: Average salary $152,773 per annum (Zip Recruiter)

7. IoT Developer

An IoT developer is responsible for the complete software development lifecycle of an IoT application. 

Responsibilities: 

• Ideate, design, and build software applications.
• Create and maintain technical documentation of the software application.
• Collaborate with product managers, embedded system designers, and security engineers to ensure user needs are met.

Key skills:

• Programming skills
• Software development lifecycle
• Cloud computing (AWS IoT, Google IoT Core, Azure IoT)
• Strong communication skills 

Salary: Average salary $84,000 per annum (Zip Recruiter)

8. Embedded Program Engineer

An embedded program engineer oversees the development of multiple embedded systems in an organization.

Responsibilities:

• Oversee the creation of multiple embedded systems
• Manage a team of embedded system designers
• Ensure embedded systems are updated as and when changes are made to processes and policies.
• Collaborate with business groups to ensure delivery objectives are met.

Key skills:

• Proficiency in programming skills 
• Deep understanding of embedded systems 
• Technical know-how of microcontrollers, integrated circuits, sensors, etc. 
• Stay updated with the latest developments in the embedded systems ecosystem.

Conclusion

The world of IoT is changing at a steady pace. It has brought in several changes that promise to transform the industry. This change is giving rise to several new opportunities for people who are interested in building a career in the IoT space.

From embedded design to chief executive roles, IoT has roles for everyone interested in the space. 

Go get your dream role and fulfill your aspirations!

How to Become a Business Analyst in 2025: Complete Career Guide

Business analysts are in-demand professionals. Both job opportunities and remuneration are growing for the role. Discover how to become a business analyst in 2025.

Business analysts are the changemakers of an organization. They use their multidisciplinary skills to improve business processes, make strategic business decisions, and identify opportunities to improve business outcomes.

Today every business needs a business analyst to help them navigate the evolving industry landscape and stay ahead of the curve. Thus, the demand for business analysts is significantly high. Between 2022 and 2032, the market for business analysts is expected to grow by 9.7% in the U.S.

What do Business Analysts do?

From acting as liaisons between IT and business teams at software agencies to improving marketing and finance operations at companies, business analysts play various roles in the industry. In a nutshell, their responsibilities vary across companies.

They play the part of a project manager – by managing a project from start to delivery; they analyze data and build reports for leadership teams. They conduct research and stay updated with the latest trends and conventions that are shaping the industry. 

However, there are four key tasks that a business analyst commonly performs:

1. Build strategic plans

Identify opportunities to improve businesses and enable teams to realize the opportunities that help businesses to thrive. 

2. Solve business problems

Think critically to understand the challenges of the business and solve them to derive better results.

3. Analyze data

Analyze available data and spot business areas that can be made better. Share the reports and improvement recommendations with stakeholders and business teams.

4. Design processes

Build processes that maximize efficiency and improve business outcomes.

Skills required for a Business Analyst

The role of a business analyst is cross-functional and needs people to have technical and collaborative skills. To excel as a business analyst, you will need these skills.

1. Business acumen:

A business analyst identifies opportunities to help a business improve its operations and processes. Understanding the various business functions, including finance, accounting, marketing, etc. is essential to see the gaps and determine the best way to fill them.

2. Communication:

A business analyst speaks to several people in an organization, including leadership teams, developers, and other stakeholders. So, you should be able to communicate your ideas well.

3. Data analysis:

A business analyst’s role revolves around recommending solutions, and data is a key component to make that happen effectively. Data-driven approaches need to gather and analyze data regularly to check the effectiveness of the solution. Knowledge of tools like Power BI, Tableau, Excel, etc. is helpful to excel as a business analyst.

4. Business analysis technique:

Knowledge of strategic decision-making tools like SWOT analysis and other industry-specific methods such as Agile Business Analysis, Six Sigma, and Rational Unified Process, etc. can help to excel as a business analyst.

How to become a Business Analyst?

The simplest route to becoming a business analyst is to pursue a degree in business analytics and do internships as you move closer to your graduation until you find your first full-time role in the industry. If you don’t have a degree in business analytics, here are a few steps you can follow.

1. Get a bachelor’s / master’s degree

A degree in finance, business, marketing, accounting, or a related discipline is essential to get your foot in the door as a business analyst. If you’re yet to pursue your undergraduate/postgraduate degree, you may consider these programs in business analytics.

A) Bachelor of Business Analytics from Deakin University

The undergraduate 3-year online program gives you hands-on experience with real-world projects.

B) Master of Science in Business Analytics (MS – BA ) from Arizona State University

The program is 9-16 months long and offers five distinctive tracks namely – supply chain analytics, fintech, marketing analytics, big data, and tech consulting for specialization.

2. Take an online course/certification 

Business analysis is an evolving field. Both self-paced online programs and offline courses help to up skills to the current demands of the role. If you’re a seasoned business analyst and want to move to a leadership role or want to switch to a business analyst role, taking a business analyst certification can be a good option.

3. Build a portfolio

Use the projects you do in your course/certification to showcase your skills and experience. If you don’t have that, take up a few real-world projects to demonstrate your skills and expertise in business analysis. 

 4. Get an entry-level job

Once you have completed projects and have a portfolio to showcase, build your resume and start applying for business analyst jobs. Read common questions asked during the business analyst interview before you appear for interviews. 

Conclusion

Business analysis is a rewarding career to be in. Companies of all sizes need business analysts to transform their business processes and enable them to thrive. Both job opportunities and remuneration for business analysts are growing. If you’re looking to make a career as a business analyst, get started today!

Related: The Future of IT: Predictions and Trends for Businesses in 2023
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