Why Tech Workers and Scientists Are Taking $600k Pay Cuts to Move to Australia

US funding cuts to science programs, riots over immigration, and the rise of AI are prompting many Australians to move home – and Americans to seek jobs abroad.

Attributing it to a perfect storm of US President Donald Trump’s funding cuts to the sciences, his imposed trade tariffs, and controversial immigration crackdown, Taylor said he was witnessing “a mix of residents repatriating and non-Australian citizens looking to live and work in Australia – mostly software engineering, data and product candidates.

In 2024, we had approximately 4500 US candidates apply to our positions or reach out directly to us. Since January, our active applications from the US have risen more than 350 per cent.

Among those were engineers working for prominent US tech companies earning about $US1 million ($1.5 million) and willing to accept pay cuts of up to $600,000 for a similar role in Australia.

The rise of artificial intelligence and plans by tech giants such as Meta to spend “hundreds of billions” on AI projects and research in coming years is adding to the exodus, according to one head of engineering actively looking for roles and planning to move to Australia by the end of the year.

“It’s pretty competitive out here,” said the US woman, who asked to remain anonymous. “Obviously, you have a lot of roles and interesting work but the level of competition and the stress is off the charts,” she said, adding it was common on America’s East Coast to work 12-hour days, six days a week.

Despite Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg being on a spending spree, shelling out millions to lure AI engineers from Sam Altman’s OpenAI, lay-offs are occurring at many US organisations. Microsoft announced last week it would cut another 9000 workers as it ramps up spending on artificial intelligence.

“You have this fear that AI will take over your jobs, whether you’re a software engineer or in sales,” the engineer said. “The sad part is, you don’t get any heads-up. They send you an email at 5am and within an hour, you lose access. We are all numbers on a sheet for them. The way they treat their employees is very different.”

The Trump administration’s changes to immigration rules is also having an impact on workers wanting to leave America. “There is that feeling where you don’t feel welcome. When you see that happening around you, you do think, maybe I’m next,” the woman said, adding Australia seemed to be “a very nice, happy, carefree place where I can do my work Monday to Friday and kick off my shoes on the beach”.

Workers impacted by Trump’s executive orders targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, as well as the administration’s drastic cuts to science funding, are also looking for opportunities abroad.

Australian Jane Sloane, a senior director for women’s empowerment and gender equality with The Asia Foundation in San Francisco, was one of thousands of workers laid off earlier this year following the Trump administration’s stop-work orders targeting DEI and the closure of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which offers assistance to countries recovering from disaster, tackling poverty or engaging in democratic reforms.

“The lay-off of so many staff was brutal,” Sloane said. “There was a lot of trauma, the way that it happened. I really loved my work; it was so meaningful. And of course, I just kept thinking about the women and children and the many communities we were supporting to end gender-based violence, access mental health support and economic opportunities, and lead efforts on climate justice, among other issues.”

Sloane, who had been in the US since 2010, is starting a role with the University of NSW in August as inaugural director of its global policy initiative. She’ll work on strengthening policies around international human rights law, food and water security, education, technology, global health systems and governance, and climate change.

If Australia wins its bid to host COP31 in partnership with the Pacific in 2026, “there’s a huge opportunity for Australia”, she said, adding she was excited to be back home and joining UNSW. “This is really the time to be thinking globally in terms of what’s needed in the world and how we apply Australia’s best experience, knowledge and innovation to both global and local issues to support progress for all.”

Cuts to science funding in the US have caused many countries, including Australia, to rush to establish new talent programs to lure the smartest minds from American universities. A report in Nature magazine earlier this year claimed as many as 1200 US-based scientists were looking for jobs overseas.

Anna-Maria Arabia, head of the Australian Academy of Science, which recently launched a competitive relocation package to attract American scientists to Australia, said there was “a global race for STEM talent, and we need to be part of it”.

“We know that when we bring these people to Australia, they seed capability, they create jobs, they train the next generation. The multiplier effect is phenomenal,” she said, adding that scientists who chose to move to Australian universities would receive research funding, access to Australian research infrastructure, family relocation support and visa acceleration.

US physicist Michael Fuhrer moved with his wife and seven-year-old son to Melbourne for a role with Monash University in 2012. He relocated from Washington where he was a professor at the University of Maryland.

Fuhrer and his family are now Australian citizens, although continue to pay US taxes under US law, which he said was more “arduous” than costly.

Fuhrer said he knew of some younger US scientists considering a move to other countries due to the downturn in science funding and the lack of roles.

“What’s going on is just unprecedented,” he said. “The US is a scientific powerhouse in the world, and that’s not going to be replaced.

“It’s great that other countries are taking up some of that slack but Europe, Canada and Australia can’t take up all that slack. It’s going to be discoveries that won’t get made, and improvements to life that won’t happen because the science doesn’t get done. Really, it’s a tragedy.”