BENGALURU/NEW DELHI, Sept. 15 -- Hyderabad is fast emerging as a rival to Bengaluru for India's most coveted tech roles, as global firms increasingly tap the city to house senior engineers and build out new teams.

The city, long seen as a back-office base, is now luring high-value jobs in data engineering, artificial intelligence (AI) and research and development (R&D)-fields that have traditionally clustered in Bengaluru. Staffing executives say companies are shifting more senior-level roles to Hyderabad, pushing up its median salaries at a faster clip than in Bengaluru.

Data underscores the shift. Staffing firm TeamLease said median pay for software product engineering roles has risen 8.6% this year to Rs.30.4 lakh in Hyderabad, outpa...