CEE IT Salaries Guide 2026

Real compensation benchmarks from active hiring in Central and Eastern Europe

Built on first-party salary data from teams responsible for hiring, placing, and retaining engineers in production environments.

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Service:

IT Outsourcing Staff Augmentation Global Capability Centers

Covers Poland, Ukraine, and Bulgaria.
Total employer costs in EUR, GBP, USD.

A practical salary benchmark, built from real market data

Our guide is built on first-party salary data from teams responsible for placing and retaining engineers in active delivery environments across Poland, Ukraine, and Bulgaria. It reflects what companies actually pay today.

Inside, you’ll find role-by-role salary ranges by seniority for core technology roles, including:

software engineers,
data and ML/AI specialists,
DevOps and cloud engineers,
cybersecurity,
IT architects & more.

All figures are shown as total monthly employer cost (salary plus taxes, social contributions, bonuses, and mandatory benefits), presented in EUR, GBP, and USD. Each role is paired with a short commentary explaining how pay has shifted year on year and where demand has tightened or softened.

Use this data to compare CEE markets, sanity-check compensation assumptions, and understand how different roles and seniority mixes affect the cost and sustainability of extended or distributed teams.

For convenience, the full salary data is also available in editable spreadsheets (Excel and Google Sheets), making it easy to model costs and compare scenarios.

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Net savings in monthly compensation graph

Relative cost difference for senior roles (CEE vs Western Europe), based on total monthly employer cost

What the latest data shows

Across AI, data, and advanced cybersecurity roles, demand remains high, and salaries continue to move, but more selectively. In our data, year-on-year increases for specialized roles range from 4–12%, while generalist roles across much of CEE show flatter or marginal growth. Compensation now tracks more closely to seniority and delivery experience than to volume alone.

At the same time, CEE continues to offer a meaningful cost advantage. The chart alongside shows the relative difference in total employer cost for senior software and ML/AI engineers compared with Western European markets. Below, we're sharing a few role-level snapshots that illustrate how these shifts play out in practice.

Data Engineers

Data engineer pay has increased slightly. In Poland, junior salaries have grown to €2,500–€4,000, with expert compensation clustering around €8,000–€9,500. Ukraine, by contrast, saw downward pressure, with junior data engineers starting at around €1,800 per month, roughly €300 below 2025 levels.

Even so, top-tier experts can still command up to €7,900 per month, comparable to the lower end of what their peers earn in Poland and Bulgaria.

ML/AI Engineers

Widespread adoption has made ML/AI talent essential for companies. As AI projects move from pilots to production, demand and salaries reflect that shift.

Bulgaria and Poland show comparable ranges, with juniors earning €2,600–€4,200 and experts clustering around €8,000–€9,500 per month. Ukraine remains the most cost-efficient option, with mid-and senior-level roles typically priced between €3,000 and €7,900.

Cybersecurity Engineers

Cybersecurity pay across CEE has remained largely flat, with junior and mid-level roles slightly down in Ukraine and Bulgaria. This may seem counterintuitive when 63% of organizations report cybersecurity staffing gaps. For employers, this creates a real window of opportunity.

In Poland, Ukraine, and Bulgaria, junior cybersecurity specialists typically cost between €2,300 and €4,300 per month, while top-tier experts command up to €6,900–€8,900.

The proof is in the outcomes

Data in this guide is maintained by talent teams who work with CEE markets daily. They match engineers to long-term delivery teams and keep them there.

96%

of our engineers pass the trial period

95.7%

talent retention rate

95%

of our CEE talent have 3+ years of experience