What is the data scientist salary in Malaysia in 2026?

Data scientists in Malaysia average RM6,376 a month, based on 90 salaries reported to Indeed and updated on 25 August 2026. The typical range runs from RM2,569 to RM15,824 because it mixes junior and senior staff. Most people reach data scientist roles after one to three years as a data analyst rather than straight from university.

How much does a Data Analyst earn in Malaysia?

Data analysts in Malaysia average RM3,521 a month, based on 273 salaries reported to Indeed and updated on 20 September 2026. Junior analysts average RM3,340 and senior analysts RM7,165. The typical range is wide, from RM1,453 to RM11,221, because job titles cover everything from spreadsheet reporting to production SQL and analytics engineering.

How much do entry-level data analysts earn?

A junior data analyst in Malaysia averages RM3,340 a month on Indeed (September 2026). On SuperJobs, entry-level IT roles requiring no experience have a median advertised pay of RM3,500. A first data job therefore usually pays RM3,300 to RM3,500 a month. Proven SQL and Python skills, an internship or a structured graduate programme can lift the offer.

Is a data engineer a high paying job?

Yes. Data engineers in Malaysia average RM7,695 a month, based on 258 salaries reported to Indeed (20 September 2026), more than double the RM3,521 data analyst average. Only machine learning engineers average more, at RM8,216. On RM7,695 a single Malaysian employee under 60 takes home about RM6,351 after EPF, SOCSO, EIS and monthly tax.

Is data science highly paid?

It pays well once you move beyond entry level. Data scientists in Malaysia average RM6,376 a month on Indeed (August 2026), above the RM4,521 median salary DOSM reported for all graduates in 2024. Entry-level data jobs pay closer to RM3,300 to RM3,500. The best-paid data roles, data engineering and machine learning engineering, average RM7,695 and RM8,216.

Is data science still worth it in 2026?

In Malaysia, yes, if you build production skills. The salary gap between data analysts (RM3,521 on average) and data or machine learning engineers (RM7,695 and RM8,216) shows employers pay most for people who can run data systems. SuperJobs had 122 live data and analytics roles on 30 September 2026, mostly in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.

Which is better, AI or data science?

They are one career path rather than rivals. AI and machine learning engineering builds on data science skills: Python, statistics and clean data. In Malaysia, machine learning engineers average RM8,216 a month and data scientists RM6,376 on Indeed (August to September 2026). Most people start in data analysis or data science and move into AI engineering once they can deploy models.

Is 7000 myr a good salary in Malaysia?

Yes. RM7,000 a month is well above the RM4,521 median salary DOSM reported for Malaysian graduates in 2024, and above the RM5,330 mean. In data roles it sits between the data scientist average of RM6,376 and the data engineer average of RM7,695 on Indeed. A single Malaysian employee under 60 on RM7,000 takes home about RM5,821.

Data Science & Analytics Salary Malaysia 2026 Guide

Quick Answer: Data jobs in Malaysia pay an average of RM3,521 a month for data analysts, RM5,546 for BI analysts, RM6,376 for data scientists, RM7,695 for data engineers and RM8,216 for machine learning engineers, based on salaries reported to Indeed in August and September 2026. Junior data analysts average RM3,340. Most openings are in Kuala Lumpur.

Key fact	Figure
Data analyst, average monthly salary	RM3,521 (273 salaries)
Junior data analyst, average	RM3,340
Data scientist, average	RM6,376 (90 salaries)
Data engineer, average	RM7,695 (258 salaries)
Machine learning engineer, average	RM8,216 (51 salaries)
Live data and analytics roles on SuperJobs	122, of which 69 are in Kuala Lumpur
Share of those roles that are internships	37 of 122

Salary averages are from Indeed Malaysia's salary pages, updated between 25 August and 20 September 2026. Job counts are from SuperJobs listings, checked 30 September 2026.

How much do data science and analytics jobs pay in Malaysia?

The five main data roles in Malaysia average between RM3,521 and RM8,216 a month. Pay rises as the work moves from reporting on data to building the systems that run on it.

Role	Average monthly salary	Typical range	Salaries reported	Updated
Data analyst	RM3,521	RM1,453 to RM11,221	273	20 Sep 2026
Business intelligence analyst	RM5,546	RM2,966 to RM10,369	43	9 Sep 2026
Data scientist	RM6,376	RM2,569 to RM15,824	90	25 Aug 2026
Data engineer	RM7,695	RM4,204 to RM14,083	258	20 Sep 2026
Machine learning engineer	RM8,216	RM4,750 to RM14,208	51	1 Sep 2026

Source: Indeed Malaysia salary pages. Averages mix every level of experience.

We use one source for every role so the figures can be compared with each other. Salary sites use different samples, and mixing figures from several sites in one table makes the gaps between roles look bigger or smaller than they are.

Read the ranges with care. Each one spans junior and senior staff, so a range of RM2,569 to RM15,824 for data scientists tells you how far the career can take you, not what a single offer will be. Sample sizes also matter: 273 data analyst salaries is a solid base, while 43 for BI analysts is thinner.

How much does a fresh graduate earn in data analytics?

A junior data analyst averages RM3,340 a month on Indeed, which is close to what most first data jobs pay.

On SuperJobs, entry-level information technology roles that ask for no experience have a median advertised pay of RM3,500. Only 14 of the 207 live SuperJobs listings with "data" in the job title publish a salary, too few to report on their own, so we use the wider IT figure as a check. Both point to the same place: a first data job usually pays RM3,300 to RM3,500, a little above the RM3,250 typical of all entry-level jobs in our fresh graduate salary guide.

A few things lift a first offer:

A structured graduate or analytics programme. Banks, consulting firms and large e-commerce companies run them and tend to pay above the median.
Proven SQL and Python. A portfolio of real projects counts for more than a certificate.
An internship. 37 of the 122 data roles on SuperJobs right now are internships, a common way into a first data job.

Fewer data scientist and engineer roles are open to fresh graduates, so many people start as analysts and move across after one to three years.

Which data role pays the most, and why?

Machine learning engineers and data engineers earn the most, at RM8,216 and RM7,695 on average.

The reason is what breaks if the work goes wrong:

Data analysts answer questions about what has already happened, using SQL, spreadsheets and dashboards. The work is important but easier to hire for.
BI analysts build the reporting layer the business relies on every day, in tools such as Power BI and Tableau.
Data scientists build models that predict, such as which customers will leave or how much stock to order.
Data engineers build and maintain the pipelines that move data between systems. If a pipeline fails, every report and model downstream fails with it.
Machine learning engineers put models into production and keep them running at scale, including the large language model tools many companies are now deploying.

Roles that keep live systems running are harder to fill, which is why they pay more.

Where are the data science jobs in Malaysia?

Most are in the Klang Valley. Of the 122 data and analytics roles live on SuperJobs, 69 are in Kuala Lumpur, 19 in Selangor and 4 in Penang. Another 29 do not state a location.

Industry hiring data roles on SuperJobs	Live roles
Information technology and software	38
Financial services and finance	21
Consulting	15
E-commerce	11
Telecommunications	5

Industry labels as employers entered them; related labels combined. Checked 30 September 2026.

Banks, consulting firms and e-commerce platforms together account for more data roles than tech companies do. Telecommunications employers also hire data staff; see our telecommunications salary guide.

Location affects pay too. Indeed reports machine learning engineers in Kuala Lumpur averaging RM9,487, above the national RM8,216, and data scientists in Kuala Lumpur averaging RM8,138. City figures rest on small samples, so treat them as a direction rather than a rate. Browse current openings in information technology jobs.

What skills raise a data professional's pay?

Skills that let you work on production systems, rather than only analyse their output, move pay the most. These are the skills Malaysian employers ask for most often in data job ads:

Skill	Why employers pay for it
SQL	Required for almost every data role, including entry level
Python	The standard language for analysis, modelling and automation
Power BI or Tableau	Expected for analyst and BI roles
Cloud data platforms (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud)	Needed to build and run pipelines; central to data engineering
Spark, Databricks or Snowflake	Handle data too large for one machine; common in banks and telcos
Model deployment and MLOps	The core of machine learning engineering
Data protection know-how	Required by the PDPA amendments in force since 2025

The last point is newer. Amendments to the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 that took full effect on 1 June 2025 require organisations to appoint a data protection officer and to notify the Personal Data Protection Commissioner of data breaches. Data staff who understand those duties are more useful to employers handling customer data.

Worked example: what does moving from analyst to engineer do to take-home pay?

Arif is a composite case, not a real person; the salaries are the Indeed averages. He starts as a data analyst in a bank's analytics team in Kuala Lumpur, then moves to a data engineer role at an e-commerce company in Cyberjaya. He is single, under 60 and has no children.

	Data analyst	Data engineer
Gross monthly salary	RM3,521.00	RM7,695.00
EPF (11%)	minus RM390.00	minus RM847.00
SOCSO	minus RM17.75	minus RM29.75
EIS	minus RM7.10	minus RM11.90
Monthly tax (PCB)	RM0.00	minus RM455.55
Take-home pay	RM3,106.15	RM6,350.80

The move roughly doubles take-home pay. SOCSO here excludes the voluntary LINDUNG 24 Jam scheme. SOCSO and EIS stop rising at RM6,000 of wages, so the engineer pays the capped amounts, while monthly tax starts to bite at the higher salary. Try other figures in the salary calculator.

How do you negotiate a higher data salary?

Tie your ask to money the business made or saved. Data work is easier to value than most, because it usually produces a number.

For example, an analyst might say: "The churn report I built last quarter showed which customers were likely to leave. The retention team used it in their campaign. I would like my salary reviewed to reflect that I now own the churn model end to end."

Also:

Benchmark first. Use the table above and check live ranges on Salary Insights.
Name the skill you added. Moving from dashboards to pipelines, or from notebooks to deployed models, is a change of role, not a step within it.
Negotiate when you switch. In data roles, changing employer is usually the fastest way up the pay scale. Our guide to negotiating salary with AI skills covers how to frame it.

What mistakes do people make with data salary benchmarks?

Comparing across salary sites. Indeed, JobStreet and self-reported sites use different samples. Compare figures from the same source.
Treating an average as an offer. Each average mixes juniors and seniors. A fresh graduate should expect around RM3,300 to RM3,500, not RM6,376.
Going by job title alone. A "data analyst" who maintains spreadsheets and one who writes production SQL do different jobs. Read the duties, not the title.
Ignoring bonuses. Banks and large tech firms often pay a bonus on top of salary. Ask for the total package.
Chasing AI titles without the basics. Employers hiring for AI roles still test SQL, Python and statistics first.

Where to go next

Not sure which role suits you? Our guide to data analytics versus data engineering compares the day-to-day work and skills.
Compare software pay in our software engineer salary guide.
Read how to negotiate salary with AI skills.
Check telecoms pay in the telecommunications salary guide.
Ready to apply? Browse information technology jobs on SuperJobs.

Sources

All checked 30 September 2026.

Indeed Malaysia salary pages for data analyst, business intelligence analyst, data scientist, data engineer and machine learning engineer: averages, ranges and sample sizes.
SuperJobs job listings: 122 live data and analytics roles by location, industry and type; entry-level IT pay from full-time listings requiring no experience.
Personal Data Protection (Amendment) Act 2024, in force in phases to 1 June 2025, and the Personal Data Protection Commissioner's guidelines on data protection officers and breach notification.
EPF Act 1991, Third Schedule; PERKESO SOCSO and EIS contribution tables; LHDN monthly tax deduction (PCB) formula: take-home pay example.

Open roles now	605
Advertised monthly pay (25th / median / 75th percentile)	RM3,500 / RM4,338 / RM6,500 (n = 60)
Internship allowance (25th / median / 75th percentile)	RM762 / RM925 / RM1,144 (n = 30)
Top hiring companies	Accenture Malaysia (100), Cognizant Malaysia (26), Fuji Xerox Malaysia Sdn Bhd (23), AIA Malaysia (Insurance) (15), PwC (12)

Data Science & Analytics Salary Guide Malaysia 2026: BI, ML Engineering & Data Platforms