IT shortage in Belgium 2026: why your competitors already recruit abroad

The Belgian IT market is under pressure. Qualified profiles are scarce, salaries keep climbing and time to hire keeps stretching. Companies that still plan their staffing as they did five years ago are the ones losing projects.

The figures worth pausing on

• 38% of Belgian companies want to expand their IT and digital teams in 2026 (Robert Half Salary Guide 2026).
• 74% of companies worldwide say local talent is harder to find today than a year ago (Global Workforce Report 2025, Remote).
• 55% of HR leaders in the Belgian tech sector say they offer higher salaries when facing a shortage.
• 73% of HR leaders intend to recruit more abroad, which could make 2026 the first year foreign hires outnumber local ones.

The hardest IT profiles to find

• Cloud architect on AWS, Azure or GCP: 10 to 16 weeks on average.
• Senior cybersecurity expert: 12 to 20 weeks.
• Data engineer or ML engineer: 8 to 14 weeks.
• Senior DevOps or SRE: 8 to 12 weeks.

The international recruitment puzzle

Hiring abroad looks attractive on a slide. The legal reality is heavier: different labour laws, taxation and social security to manage in several countries, permanent establishment risk, plus language and cultural distance in day to day delivery.

Umbrella payroll as a third way

Between a local permanent contract that stays unfilled and a complex international hire, umbrella payroll offers a third route. BSH can make available IT consultants present in Belgium or in neighbouring countries, depending on network availability, with one simple legal framework and full flexibility on assignment length.

How not to lose the talent war

The companies that come out ahead do not only look for talent, they make their offer more attractive. Our umbrella payroll model optimises the consultant net package: at identical cost for the company, the consultant receives significantly more than under a classic permanent contract. That gap becomes a powerful attraction argument.