If you’re 'strategic', is your salary? Examining German C-level pay in 2026
Do you earn what you're worth?
How well are IT leaders paid in Europe’s largest software market?
Yesterday we released an exclusive report benchmarking UK IT salaries in 2026 - from the C-level to operational roles. Now Computing Deutschland editor Kerstin Stief has done the same for one of Europe’s largest tech markets, backed up by public data from job boards such as Indeed, StepStone, Kununu, Randstad and Glassdoor.
As in the UK, salaries in the German tech sector have been climbing steadily, propelled by the adoption of new tools like artificial intelligence.
This article examines C-level leaders. Watch out for a separate piece on operational roles tomorrow.
The designers of transformation
On average, a CIO in Germany earns between €110,000 and €145,000 gross per year. However, salaries vary considerably depending on the location, company size and expertise.
While new CIOs can expect to earn around €95,000, those large organisations are pulling in between €160,000 and €200,000, and even higher in DAX (40 major German blue chip companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange) companies.
Industry and location are also decisive: the highest wages are paid in the financial sector, in the pharmaceutical industry or in plant engineering.
Regionally, it is worth taking a look at the job advertisements with offices in Berlin, Frankfurt or Munich. Experience in digital transformation also plays a role in salary negotiations.
German CTOs led the field, with average salaries ranging from €134,000 to €150,000; but also showed the widest salary ranges when considered as a whole.
A new CTO can expect to start from €80,000, topping out - in large corporations – at up to €300,000. SMEs are in between, with salaries between €100,000 and €160,000, and startups pay the least: according to the job boards, only between €50,000 and €90,000. However, the low salary is often compensated by company shares (virtual – VESOP – or real) and profit sharing.
Wages are highest at the tech hubs of Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich.
Hot on the heels of the CTO are the Chief Data and Chief Digital Officers (CDOs). Here, the average salaries are between €130,000 and €180,000 (Data) or €90,000 and €120,000 (Digital). Larger companies and places such as Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt or Munich increase the chance of lucrative starting salaries.
In terms of sectors, the highest pay is found in the financial sector and the pharmaceutical industry, as well as e-commerce (data) and the manufacturing industry with Industry 4.0 (Digital).
Last but not least, the Chief Operating Officer (COO), who is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company. While not a purely technical position, in recent years we have seen an increasing number of technical leaders who have been promoted to COO or have integrated this position into their role (e.g. COTO).
In Germany, salaries range between €100,000 and €180,000, with SMEs paying the least at €70,000 to €80,000 and large corporations paying the highest salaries at €175,000, depending on location and industry.
The highest-paying industries, with top salaries on average around €125,000, are mainly medical technology, financial services and the chemical industry. In DAX companies such as SAP, it can be up to €300,000 or more, including bonuses.
Southern German cities such as Munich and Stuttgart, as well as the financial centre of Frankfurt, offer the highest salary levels – possibly one of the reasons why salaries in the old federal states are on average about 17% higher than in eastern Germany.
The new specialists
Like the UK, security and artificial intelligence are major areas of growth in German tech, reflected in their pay packets.
In Germany, CISO salaries range from €95,000 to €145,000 on average, depending on the industry and location. The front-runners are Munich and Berlin, with top average values of around €200,000. In Frankfurt, the median is surprisingly only around €107,000.
Large corporations and operators of critical infrastructures pay between €180,000 and €200,000, including bonuses. Even public authorities pay well: €150,000 and more is possible.
Junior CISOs begin at between €65,000 and €70,000; and CISOs who report directly to the board earn an average of €15,000 more than their colleagues lower down the hierarchy.
Due to the heightened threat landscape and regulatory requirements (e.g. NIS2), CISO positions are projected to increase their salaries by around 12% over the next five years.
Artificial intelligence is another area of rapid growth, and has even spawned a dedicated leadership position in the form of the Chief AI Officer (CAIO).
The CAIO not only develops and guides a holistic approach to AI across the organisation, but also determines where the technology should be used for the highest ROI. This responsibility is reflected in the greatest dynamics in salary development. AI expertise is a scarce commodity at the board level, which is why the development in the war for talent is impossible to predict.
In Germany, CAIO salaries range from €120,000 to €160,000, and can easily top €200,000 or more in large corporations. Startups, on the other hand, only guarantee an average of €50,000 – higher sums are compensated, as is so often the case, by company shares or profit sharing.
A CAIO that only has an advisory role tends to earn less than a CAIO with operational implementation power, its own budget and personnel responsibility, e.g. for data science and engineering teams.
Although the CAIO is undoubtedly active in the technology sector, it also has to score points in terms of business management, and soft skills are at least as important as technical qualifications. A CAIO without in-depth technical knowledge is more likely to be remunerated according to classic C-level rates.
The highest salaries can be achieved with a PhD in machine learning or a doctorate in another AI-relevant field (ML, NLP, computer vision, etc), as well as publications in renowned circles or even their own patents. Companies also hope that scientists will have another advantage: the ability to attract top-class engineering talent as a talent magnet.
Another advantage is specialisations in AI governance and ethics. As the responsibility for companies increases with the EU AI Act, the market value of the CAIO as an interface between law and technology is also increasing. An MBA can be an advantage in the bonus negotiation.
Because it is a relatively new C-level position that combines highly specialised expertise with strategic leadership, the CAIO is currently one of the highest-paying new leadership roles. The hybrids earn the best: computer scientists with a doctorate in computer science and an additional qualification in business administration. This means that one of the rarest rules in salary poker applies to the salary of a CAIO: The more colourful the jack-of-all-trades, the better the negotiating position.
Due to the rapidly growing demand for AI expertise at board level, insiders predict further increases, especially if the role is a central pillar of digital transformation in the company. Top talents can already earn salaries of up to €500,000 (including bonuses) in individual cases.
Disclaimer and reservations
Many factors play a role in salary negotiations. This includes location, industry, size of the company, work experience, qualifications, and the structure of the overall package. The above figures reflect the average of all salaries.
Unless otherwise stated, the salaries shown refer to gross payments with variable components, without bonuses such as company cars, mobility allowances, pension plans or share packages. For the result of the salary calculators and comparisons, only information from vacancies advertised on the respective job exchange with the same job title at the time of the query was taken into account. This makes it more likely to be affected by outliers, especially for C-level positions or new job profiles that may have fewer jobs advertised.
Computing Deutschland used Indeed's salary tracker tool, as well as the salary comparisons and salary calculators from Randstad, Stepstone and Glassdoor for its analysis from February 6-13, 2026, as well as publicly available information from Kununu, Robert Half, Experteer and stellenanzeigen.de.