Sydney: A new analysis by the Australian Investment Council shows that venture capital-backed companies continue to invest in human capital to support the development of Australia’s new economy sectors.
The Council’s Future Jobs Barometer, a twice-yearly report, shows highly specialised jobs and skills are in demand by venture capital-backed companies in industries such as renewable energy, medical science, transportation and agriculture.
Australian Investment Council CEO, Navleen Prasad said: “The emergence of new roles requiring highly specialised skills is a strong indication of venture capital’s ability to grow and develop businesses and support new industries that will drive productivity and economic growth.”
“These new industries expand and complement Australia’s traditional economic strengths, ensuring that the country remains globally competitive and extends into new areas of comparative advantage.”
After two years of substantial jobs growth, the report indicates that companies backed by venture capital appear to have entered a phase of more normalised employment activity.
Despite this, the Council’s analysis shows roles are in demand for clean energy data scientists, biomedical engineers, research and development experts in envirotech, production managers, agtech scientists, quantum quality assurers, and remote sensors software engineers; a range of increasingly specialised skills that will continue to drive Australian ingenuity and support the businesses of the future for broad economic and societal impact.
Other key findings in the report:
- There were 1,964 advertised job vacancies in the portfolio companies of eight of Australia’s most active VC firms by investment activity at 31 December 2022.
- Fintech (634 jobs) and Software as a Service (SaaS – 425 jobs) continue to lead the sectors offering the most employment opportunities, followed by Medical and Health with 144 jobs.
- Jobs in the Agriculture and Food sector appear to be less affected by changes to market conditions with 86 roles at 31 December 2022 compared with 83 vacancies at 30 June 2022.
- Health and Health companies continue to innovate in the post-pandemic era with digital healthcare companies, Eucalyptus and Dr Anywhere, entering the report’s Top Ten List of Employers for the first time In December 2022.
- Cloud infrastructure roles were the most in demand with 420 jobs advertised of which 354 roles were for software engineers.
- 98% of all job listings were for full-time roles.
- 53% of jobs advertised offered alternative working arrangements to being full-time in the office.
Download full report
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For further information, please contact:
Mark Sefiani
Australian Investment Council
E: [email protected] | M: +61 401 252 582
About the Future Jobs Barometer
The Future Jobs Barometer research is conducted every six months to determine where jobs are being created by VC-backed businesses across various industries, locations and job types and how these jobs are contributing to the transition of Australia into a highly-skilled, knowledge-based economy. The analysis covers job vacancies in the portfolio companies of eight of Australia’s most active VC firms, which represent approximately one-third of the domestic VC ecosystem.
About the Australian Investment Council
The Australian Investment Council is the voice of private capital
in Australia. Private capital investment has played a central role
in the growth and expansion of thousands of businesses, which when
combined represents a multi-billion dollar contribution to the
Australian economy. Our members are the standard-bearers of
professional investment and include: private equity, venture
capital and private credit funds, alongside institutional investors
such as superannuation and sovereign wealth funds, as well as
leading financial, legal and operational advisers.
The Australian Investment Council requests its name always
appear in full and not abbreviated or as an acronym.