Section 3
European Benchmarks: Comparative Data
Mid-level (3–5 years experience) annual gross salary in EUR across five European markets. All figures reflect permanent employment in the technology sector. Ranges represent the typical 25th–75th percentile band reported by official statistics and major salary aggregators.
3.1 Software Development — Mid-Level
| Role | Greece | Portugal | Spain | Germany | Netherlands |
|---|
| Backend Developer | 26,000–36,000 | 30,000–42,000 | 35,000–52,000 | 60,000–80,000 | 60,000–80,000 |
| Frontend Developer | 24,000–34,000 | 28,000–40,000 | 32,000–48,000 | 55,000–72,000 | 55,000–72,000 |
| Fullstack Developer | 27,000–38,000 | 30,000–44,000 | 36,000–52,000 | 60,000–80,000 | 62,000–82,000 |
| Java Engineer | 30,000–42,000 | 32,000–45,000 | 38,000–55,000 | 65,000–85,000 | 65,000–88,000 |
| Software Architect | 55,000–75,000 | 50,000–70,000 | 60,000–85,000 | 85,000–115,000 | 90,000–120,000 |
Sources: Eurostat earn_ses, Levels.fyi (April 2026), Glassdoor.
3.2 Data and AI — Mid-Level
| Role | Greece | Portugal | Spain | Germany | Netherlands |
|---|
| Data Analyst | 23,000–34,000 | 26,000–38,000 | 30,000–44,000 | 52,000–70,000 | 50,000–68,000 |
| Data Engineer | 30,000–44,000 | 32,000–46,000 | 38,000–55,000 | 65,000–88,000 | 62,000–85,000 |
| Data Scientist | 32,000–48,000 | 34,000–50,000 | 40,000–58,000 | 70,000–95,000 | 66,000–90,000 |
| ML Engineer | 36,000–52,000 | 40,000–55,000 | 45,000–65,000 | 75,000–100,000 | 78,000–105,000 |
| LLM / AI Engineer | 40,000–58,000 | 45,000–62,000 | 50,000–72,000 | 85,000–115,000 | 85,000–115,000 |
Sources: Levels.fyi (April 2026), Glassdoor, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2024.
3.3 Cloud and DevOps — Mid-Level
| Role | Greece | Portugal | Spain | Germany | Netherlands |
|---|
| DevOps Engineer | 30,000–44,000 | 34,000–48,000 | 40,000–58,000 | 65,000–88,000 | 60,000–82,000 |
| Cloud Engineer | 32,000–46,000 | 36,000–50,000 | 42,000–60,000 | 68,000–90,000 | 64,000–88,000 |
| SRE | 35,000–50,000 | 38,000–54,000 | 45,000–65,000 | 72,000–95,000 | 68,000–92,000 |
Sources: Levels.fyi (April 2026), Glassdoor, Remote.com Salary Explorer.
3.4 Cybersecurity — Mid-Level
| Role | Greece | Portugal | Spain | Germany | Netherlands |
|---|
| SOC Analyst | 23,000–34,000 | 26,000–38,000 | 30,000–44,000 | 52,000–70,000 | 48,000–65,000 |
| Penetration Tester | 30,000–44,000 | 34,000–48,000 | 40,000–58,000 | 65,000–88,000 | 60,000–82,000 |
| Security Engineer | 32,000–46,000 | 34,000–48,000 | 42,000–60,000 | 68,000–90,000 | 62,000–86,000 |
| GRC Analyst | 26,000–38,000 | 30,000–42,000 | 34,000–48,000 | 58,000–78,000 | 52,000–72,000 |
Sources: Eurostat, Levels.fyi (April 2026), Glassdoor, ENISA Threat Landscape 2024.
How to read these benchmarks
Germany and the Netherlands consistently command the highest salaries in this comparison, reflecting larger domestic technology sectors, the concentration of international firms in Berlin, Munich and Amsterdam, and structurally higher national earnings. According to Eurostat, Germany has the highest average net earnings of the EU's four largest economies (€39,594 in 2024), followed by the Netherlands (€47,892), with Spain (€24,571) and Greece (€18,709) sitting well below the EU average across all sectors.
Within the technology sector specifically, Spain has overtaken Greece on mid-level compensation, driven by Madrid and Barcelona's growing concentration of international tech employers and the Beckham Law tax regime that attracts senior engineers from across Europe. Portugal sits between Greece and Spain at mid-level, with Lisbon and Porto pulling the national median upward. Greece remains structurally below its Western European peers for permanent local roles, although remote work for foreign employers — a phenomenon explored in detail in our Observations section — has materially altered the upper end of the Greek market.
Sources: Eurostat earn_nt_net (2024), Eurostat ICT specialists in employment (isoc_sks_itspt, 2024), Levels.fyi (April 2026), Glassdoor (April 2026), Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2024.