What salaries do Greek startups pay?

Of Costa Ketsietzis

A revealing picture of how the labor market is shaping up in the Greek start-up scene is given by a study by Marathon Venture Capital, which examines the data on salaries and benefits of 1,915 employees in 27 startup companies.

In this first impression, it seems that the employees in technology positions in Greek startups receive highly competitive salaries, always in relation to the Greek data, while 4 out of 10 employees receive additional benefits in the form of stock options.

At the same time, as mentioned in the research, Greek wages remain lower compared to wages in more developed markets such as Germany, the United Kingdom and of course the United States.

“This is an important opportunity for large technology companies and startups around the world to settle in Greece, creating jobs,” said Sanne Goslinga, Director of Talent, Marathon Venture Capital, who curated the study.

Of course, this may change in the near future, as the demand for qualified staff in technology positions increases, while the practice of remote work is expanded.

“We expect any pay gap to be reduced, with wages in Greek startups constantly improving, creating an increasingly attractive environment for employment,” said Ms. Goslinga in her analysis.

Salaries per position and experience

The chart above shows the lowest 10%, the highest 90% and the median of the gross annual salary per position, which give an overview of the salary situation.

Of particular interest are the data for each job depending on experience and responsibilities. It seems that the introductory net wages start from the levels of about 800-1,000 euros per month depending on the job.

The worst paid positions at the initial level are quality assurance where the average annual earnings are € 11,200 or a net salary of around € 681 per month for QA Engineers and € 15,000 per year or around € 866 net per month for QA Analysts.

The best paid jobs – always at entry level – are Data Scientists with the average gross annual moving at 18,469 euros or about 1,028 euros net per month.

The average annual gross earnings for developers are 17,278 to 17,701 euros.

Significantly higher are the average annual earnings for the next “step” of experience, the employees that the study classifies in the category “developing” who have previous service in a similar job and their level of skills is considered high.

In this category of jobs the average annual gross earnings range between 24,860 and 34,834 euros, depending on the specialty. Mobile Engineers are the best paid, followed by Data Scientists.

Stock Options and other benefits

According to the study, 4 out of 10 employees in technology positions of Greek startups also receive corporate shares as a benefit. The reason for the so-called stock options, a practice of pay that is very common in the US.

The data show that the majority of executives in leadership roles receive equity, while the same is true for about 1 in 3 of the other jobs.

According to the study, due to the low taxation of income from capital (15%) in Greece, the provision of corporate shares is an important opportunity to attract employees.

“Therefore, we expect the above percentages to increase in the next period, as more and more employees are employed in startups and better understand the value that this provision can have”, it is typically stated.

The most popular benefit offered by the companies surveyed is private health insurance.

Other popular amenities include staff training, attendance at seminars, home office equipment, extra days off, and sick leave. Also, a growing number of startups offer benefits such as mental support and extra days of maternity and paternity leave.

Women are absent

As seen in other countries, there is a significant gender gap in technology jobs. In this study, less than 20% of employees are women, while this percentage in leadership positions is further limited to the extremely poor 3%.

The Product / Design and QA / Testing job categories show a higher percentage of women compared to others. “We believe that this is also related to the fact that these categories do not require a degree in computer science.

“After all, worldwide only 20% of IT graduates are women, and 40% of them usually do not pursue a career in this field”, says in her analysis, Mrs. Goslinga.

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