The Punjab government has announced new job opportunities for IT professionals, offering monthly salaries of up to Rs726,290 in the Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Department. The posts are for managerial and software development roles in Lahore, offered on a contract basis.
According to the official advertisement, the department is looking for qualified and experienced candidates for its Strategic Planning Unit, the team that plans and oversees skills training across the province. Applications must be submitted through the Punjab Jobs Portal, and the closing date is November 19, 2026.
Available Positions and Salaries
The department has advertised four job categories. At the top are two General Manager posts, both on the Management Pay Scale known as MPS-II. The General Manager Analytics will lead the department's work on data and evidence, while the General Manager Digitalization will drive the shift of training and administration onto digital systems. Both pay Rs726,290 a month, with an annual increment of Rs26,760, and a maximum age limit of fifty years.
Below them are two Assistant Manager posts for software developers, each paying Rs145,000 a month with a ten percent annual increment and a maximum age of forty years. The Assistant Manager Full Stack Developer will work across the whole of a software system, from what users see on screen to the databases and services behind it, while the Assistant Manager Backend Developer will focus on server-side architecture, database optimisation, security and the scalable systems that keep digital services running. The gap between the two levels is striking, with the general managers earning roughly five times what the assistant managers are offered, but that is the nature of MPS-II posts, which are reserved for senior leadership roles.
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants must hold the educational qualifications and professional experience the advertisement sets for the post they want, and all degrees must come from universities recognised by the Higher Education Commission. For the two General Manager posts, candidates must hold a PhD in IT, Artificial Intelligence, Computer Science, ICT or another relevant discipline, with at least eight years of professional experience. Candidates with sixteen years of education in the relevant fields and ten years of experience can also apply, which opens the door to experienced professionals who do not hold a doctorate.
For the Assistant Manager Full Stack Developer post, applicants must have sixteen years of education in Computer Science, IT, Artificial Intelligence, ICT, Software Engineering or an equivalent field, and must be able to show skills in full-stack development, system integration, SQL databases and NoSQL technologies. The Assistant Manager Backend Developer post asks for the same sixteen years of education in a relevant discipline, including Computer Science, IT, Artificial Intelligence, ICT, Software Engineering, Economics or Engineering, together with technical knowledge of backend architecture, database optimisation, security and scalable systems.
The bar is deliberately high, particularly for the general manager roles, because the Strategic Planning Unit is not a routine administrative office. It brings coherence to Punjab's technical and vocational education system, integrating the planning and oversight of the Punjab Skills Development Fund, the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority, the Punjab Vocational Training Council, the Punjab Skills Development Authority and the Punjab Board of Technical Education under one provincial framework. The people hired will help decide what skills Punjab's young people are taught, how training is delivered and whether the system actually leads to jobs.
How to Apply
Interested candidates must apply online through the official Punjab Jobs Portal at jobs.punjab.gov.pk, and the department has made it clear that no other route will work. Applicants should visit the portal, register or log in, complete their profiles with their personal, academic and professional information, then search for the vacancies announced by the Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Department, select the position they want and submit the application before November 19, 2026.
Applications sent by email, fax, post or courier, or handed in in person, will not be accepted, and candidates already working in government or semi-government organisations must apply through the proper channel, which usually means obtaining a no-objection certificate from their current employer. The appointments are on a contract basis, expected to run for three years, with the possibility of extension if performance is satisfactory.
The recruitment comes at a time when Punjab is investing heavily in skills and technology. The Punjab Skills Development Fund, established in 2010, describes itself as Pakistan's largest skills development fund, and its work, along with that of TEVTA and the other bodies under the Strategic Planning Unit, reaches hundreds of thousands of young people. The province's IT sector is growing too, and the government has been pushing digital services, from online job portals to digital land and education systems, which all need the kind of people these posts are designed to attract.
For an IT professional weighing the offer, the attraction is obvious: a senior public-sector role with a salary that competes with the private market, in a department whose decisions shape training for an entire province. The trade-off is equally clear: a contract rather than a permanent post, and a demanding leadership role. Anyone interested should check the advertisement on the Punjab Jobs Portal, make sure their qualifications match the post exactly, and apply well before the November 19 deadline, because the portal will not accept late submissions.
