Salary Guide 2026.
What Dynamics 365, Business Central, Copilot Studio and Microsoft AI people are paid in Australia, permanent and contract, from the market we work in every day. Eight bands in this edition. New Zealand, Power Platform developers and Fabric follow in the second.
The band decides the search.
Most Microsoft hiring briefs in Australia and New Zealand stall for one reason: the budget was set for the role the business hoped to hire, not the one it needs. A senior consultant’s band attached to an architect’s job description produces a long search and a short shortlist.
This guide exists to settle the band before the search starts. The figures are a working range, not a ceiling, and not advice.
Permanent figures are annual base salary in Australian dollars, excluding superannuation, which has been 12% since 1 July 2025. Contract figures are daily rates in Australian dollars, excluding GST, for an engaged contractor on a standard commercial agreement. Location: Sydney unless stated. Melbourne runs 4% to 6% below Sydney. Other Australian cities and New Zealand are covered in the second edition, with New Zealand shown in New Zealand dollars.
Seniority. Senior means five or more years in the product and ownership of a workstream. Lead means ownership of a delivery. Architect means ownership of design decisions across the solution, and accountability for them.
Permanent and contract.
| Role | Permanent: base salary, excluding super | Contract: AUD per day, excluding GST |
|---|---|---|
| Dynamics 365 CE solution architectCustomer Engagement. Sydney. | $175k to $210k | $1,100 to $1,300 |
| Dynamics 365 F&O solution architectFinance and Operations. Sydney. | $195k to $230k | $1,200 to $1,450 |
| Dynamics 365 CE and Power Platform architectSydney. | $170k to $210k | $1,100 to $1,350 |
| Dynamics 365 CE and Power Platform senior consultantSydney. | $155k to $180k | $950 to $1,150 |
| Business Central leadSydney. | $165k to $190k | $1,000 to $1,200 |
| Business Central functional consultantSydney. | $125k to $155k | $850 to $1,050 |
| Senior AI engineerPro-code on Azure and Microsoft Foundry. Sydney $170k to $210k. Melbourne $165k to $200k. | $170k to $210k | $900 to $1,200 |
| Copilot Studio developerAgent builder. Sydney. | $140k to $175k | $800 to $1,050 |
All bands are Sydney unless stated. Melbourne runs 4% to 6% below Sydney. Contract rates carry less certainty than permanent bands and are shown as working ranges.
Finance and Operations functional and technical consultants. Power Platform developers. Power BI and Fabric engineers. Azure integration engineers and data engineers. Business Central developers. Dynamics 365 project and programme managers. New Zealand bands for Auckland and Wellington in New Zealand dollars. Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Canberra.
Make the band before the first interview.
- Budget for the architect you need, not the senior you hoped for. The most common failed search we see is an architect’s job description with a senior’s band. The market reads the band, not the title.
- Contract for a burst. Hire permanently for a seat you will still need in eighteen months. Run the break-even at the first contract extension, not the third. If the seat survives the project, it is a permanent seat.
- Agree the band before the search starts. In Business Central especially, good leads are committed elsewhere by the time a brief is signed off. In our experience a brief with a band attached moves far faster than one without.
Where the step up actually comes from.
- Own design decisions. The move from senior to architect in CE and Power Platform is not another certification. It is being the person who decided the data model and the integration pattern, and can say why.
- Count the gaps. Before comparing a day rate to a salary, count the weeks between your last three contracts, and add 12% super to the salary side so the two match.
- Lead one end to end. In Business Central, a cloud move you led from scoping to hypercare is the single line that moves your band.
- Real AI delivery inside the Microsoft stack is the strongest pay lever we see right now. Not a course. An agent, a Copilot extension or a Fabric model that is running in production, with your name on it.
Based on live roles we have worked or seen briefed in 2026, published 2026 salary guides for the Australian market, and our conversations with candidates and hiring managers, checked against each other. Our own placement sample is small, and where it is thin we say so rather than widen a band. Confidence is medium on most permanent rows and lower on contract rates.
FERG Search Salary Guide 2026. First edition, October 2026. A working guide, not advice. Second edition planned for December 2026, with New Zealand bands in New Zealand dollars.
Every FERG Search brief starts with the band.
We will tell you if the band and the job description disagree before the search starts, because a search that stalls costs more than the premium that would have avoided it.