The Information Technology (IT) sector continues to be one of the most dynamic and in-demand sectors in the job market, and although this year has seen a stabilization and moderate growth, the salary range has not shown much variation with respect to previous years.
In today’s article, we are going to offer an x-ray of the technology market in Spain, focusing on the average salary of the different roles that make up this sector. To do this, we have relied on the 2024 salary reports prepared by companies such as Manfred and Hays, which are referenced at the end of the publication.
Salaries in the technology sector in Spain are strongly influenced by the level of experience and the technology in which you work. In general, backend, frontend and QA/testing roles have a wide salary distribution, but with some notable differences as we will see throughout the article.
Salary range of the most in-demand professions
Backend Engineer
As for the Backend Engineer position, the salary varies depending on the programming language mastered. While technologies such as Java and Python offer similar salaries, languages such as .Net and PHP show a higher concentration of salaries between 40K€ and 60K€.
On the other hand, Node.js faces a saturation of junior profiles with little representation in the higher levels, and Ruby remains the highest paid language with 30% of its professionals above 60K€.
Frontend Engineer
Although there is a large junior talent base, especially in React, technologies such as Vue and Angular are more evenly distributed, with salaries slightly higher than React. Compared to backend profiles, frontend developer salaries are generally lower at higher levels.
QA Tester & QA Automation
As the reports point out, this is one of the lowest paid positions. Therefore, averaging the cities included in the Hays report (Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao, Seville and Valencia), the salary range would be as follows:
- QA Tester: Profiles between 2-5 years of experience 36K€; between 5-10 years 41K€; more than 10 years 45K€.
- QA Automation: Profiles with less than 2 years of experience 38K€; between 2-5 years 46K€; between 5-10 years 55K€.
Data & Analytics
Data management and analytics roles are booming. Data scientists, especially those focused on AI, have seen a significant increase in their value. On the other hand, data engineers continue to be the highest paid.
Averaging across the main cities in Spain, salaries by experience are as follows:
- Data Engineer: Profiles between 2-5 years of experience 52K€; with more than 5 years 63K€, although there is a big difference if we only look at the salaries of Barcelona and Madrid, which exceed 70K€ per year, unlike Bilbao or Seville, which do not exceed 55K€.
- Data Analyst: Profiles between 2-5 years of experience 40K€; between 5-10 years 47K€; more than 10 years 53K€.
- Data Scientist: Profiles with less than 2 years of experience 35K€; between 2-5 years 45K€; between 5-10 years 57K€.
Systems, networks, infrastructure and security
These roles have experienced significant salary growth in recent years. In the following, we will analyze them in parts and, as in the previous points, we will present the data based on the average of the cities reflected in the Hays report (Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao, Seville and Valencia):
- System Admin: Profiles between 2-5 years of experience 35K€; between 5-10 years 41K€; more than 10 years 48K€.
- Network Engineer: Profiles between 2-5 years of experience 33K€; between 5-10 years 39K€; more than 10 years 45K€.
- IT Security Consultant: Profiles between 2-5 years of experience 35K€; between 5-10 years 41K€; more than 10 years 48K€.
- Cybersecurity Consultant: Profiles with less than 2 years’ experience 38K€; between 2-5 years’ experience 50K€; between 5-10 years’ experience 60K€.
- Cloud Architect: Profiles with less than 2 years of experience 52K€; between 2-5 years of experience 60K€; between 5-10 years 74K€.
- DevOps Engineer: Profiles with less than 2 years of experience 42K€; between 2-5 years of experience 53K€; between 5-10 years 61K€.
- Database Administrator: Profiles with 2-5 years of experience 38K€; between 5-10 years 45K€; more than 10 years 50K€.
- Helpdesk L1: Profiles with less than 2 years of experience 19K€; between 2-5 years 22K€.
- Helpdesk L2: Profiles between 2-5 years experience 29K€; between 5-10 years 41K€.
Management profiles
The salary gap in Management profiles is especially notable when comparing salaries in cities such as Barcelona and Madrid with those in Bilbao, Valencia and Seville, where, in many cases, the differences for the same role with similar experience can reach 20,000 euros.
As in the previous cases, we present the average for the Spanish cities mentioned above. However, we recommend you consult the Hays guide to know in detail the specific salaries of each city.
- CIO: Profiles between 2-5 years of experience 106K€; between 5-10 years 145K€; more than 10 years 180K€.
- IT Manager / Director: Profiles between 2-5 years of experience 68K€; between 5-10 years 78K€; more than 10 years 94K€.
- CTO: Profiles between 2-5 years of experience 68K€; between 5-10 years 89K€; more than 10 years 113K€.
- CDO: Profiles with less than 2 years of experience 70K€; between 2-5 years 95K€.
- Development Manager: Profiles between 2-5 years of experience 59K€; between 5-10 years 67K€; more than 10 years 78K€.
- Tech Lead: Profiles between 2-5 years of experience 53K€; between 5-10 years 59K€; more than 10 years 65K€.
- QA Manager: Profiles with less than 2 years of experience 49K€; between 2-5 years 53K€; between 5-10 years 60K€.
- BI Manager: Profiles with less than 2 years of experience 53K€; between 2-5 years 61K€; between 5-10 years 68K€.
- CSO: Profiles between 2-5 years of experience 78K€; between 5-10 years 94K€.
- Scrum Master: Profiles with less than 2 years of experience 40K€; between 2-5 years 48K€; between 5-10 years 59K€.
Conclusion
The IT sector in Spain continues to show a diverse and competitive salary landscape, with salaries varying considerably according to experience, specific role and city.
Although salary increases for 2024 have been moderate, the demand for highly specialized profiles persists, particularly in areas such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and data management.
The growing importance of technical skills, coupled with the need to adapt to new technologies, drives companies to offer attractive salaries and non-monetary benefits to attract and retain talent. Still, in a constantly evolving market, organizations will need to balance salary expectations for professionals with training and flexibility strategies to remain competitive.
Resources:
[1] Hays – Guía del Mercado Laboral 2024
[2] Manfred – Guía Salarial 2024 – Salarios en tecnología
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