3. INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the Hudson Salary Guide for 2012. In the guide, we discuss salaries
through 2011 and the broader recruitment trends we forsee for 2012. We hope you
find it insightful.
The Hudson 2012 Salary Guide reflects how salaries have fluctuated in each practice
area during 2011. It contains market overviews and salary information for each major
specialist area and forecasts how these will develop over the coming months.
The figures have been thoroughly researched by our consultants, who have many years' collective experience.
Base salary figures do not include benefits or bonus. They originate from a variety of sources including job offers
by clients, candidate disclosure of salaries and advertised salaries. It is important to note that all salaries are
dependent on a number of key factors such as size of company, location, sector, hiring profile and benefits.
This publication should be used as a guide only. If you have specific queries please feel free to contact one of our
consultants who would be delighted to assist you on 01 676 5000.
Whether you are looking for one new key employee, developing a volume recruitment campaign or looking for
expert advice on talent management or a candidate seeking advice on your job search, Hudson is best-placed to
support your needs.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Aileen Hallahan
Country Manager, Hudson Ireland
T: +353 1 256 8718
E: aileen.hallahan@hudson.com
IRELAND HUDSON SALARY GUIDE 2012 1
4. ABOUT HUDSON IRELAND
Hudson is a leading global provider of Based in Dublin, Hudson Ireland has The areas which Hudson Ireland
specialised recruitment, contract been in operation since 1996, and specialise in are:
professionals, recruitment outsourcing employs specialist consultants who work
and talent management solutions. We with SME and multinational companies | Accounting & Finance
employ around 2,000 professionals who across all sectors in Ireland. Hudson | Banking & Financial Services
serve clients and candidates in around 20 clients have become accustomed to the | Energy, Infrastructure & Technical
countries. The team spans four company’s in-depth knowledge and | HR
continents, giving it the broadest understanding of our individual practice | IT & Telecommunications
understanding of an ever-changing global sectors. | Sales & Marketing
financial marketplace. | Supply Chain & Procurement
Hudson helps its clients to achieve
greater organisational performance by
assessing, recruiting, developing and
engaging the best and brightest people
for their businesses. Our consultants
focus on specific areas of expertise,
sectors, role types and levels so they can
provide deep specialisation.
2 HUDSON SALARY GUIDE 2012
5. THE IRISH PICTURE
2011 has been another challenging year additional staff in the forthcoming year. FOR JOBSEEKERS
for Ireland and the IMF/EU remains a At Hudson, this trend has been reflected
major influence on our domestic across each of our practice areas. We Extensive preparation is key for
economy. Despite this, there are positive have noted increased confidence in both candidates to successfully market
signs that the recovery and growth of the candidates and clients throughout 2011, themselves to their potential employers.
Irish jobs market is well underway. At with a marked improvement in overall job
Hudson, we have seen a steady and numbers and opportunities. The importance of having a good CV
continuous growth in both job numbers cannot be underestimated. Employers
and salaries which is a welcome The latest Hudson salary guide for 2012 spend around 20 -30 seconds scanning
development following on the pay and reflects how salaries have remained each application and it may be the only
hiring freezes which were evident steady with some real improvements. opportunity to present yourself favourably
throughout the last few years. Job The employment market remains and ensure that you stand out from other
protection and creation were the priorities challenging, particularly in niche and candidates.It is therefore vital that your
throughout 2011 and we anticipate that specialist markets where the more CV adequately reflects your relevance,
this will remain the case for the specialist roles have driven salaries on an suitability and achievements specific to
forthcoming year. upward trend. At Hudson, we have the role you are applying for.
witnessed this particularly in certain
Looking ahead to 2012, the outlook is specialist areas within the IT and finance The CV and cover letter however, are only
very positive. IBEC recently carried out a sectors across compliance, governance an introduction – good interview skills will
comprehensive survey and found that two and security roles. make the difference between getting a
thirds of firms expect to see a growth in job or not. At interview stage, the
turnover next year. Their research found successful candidates are those who
that Irish firms are back in hiring mode have thoroughly researched the company
and a third are expecting to hire and industry, and can demonstrate that
their skills and experience will add value
to the company.
IRELAND HUDSON SALARY GUIDE 2012 3
7. ACCOUNTING & FINANCE
The overall market for accounting and Sectoral experience remains a distinct Overall, salaries for accountants have
finance recruitment in Ireland has advantage with a high percentage of seen a slight increase over the past year
remained positive throughout 2011. clients requesting candidates who have and we predict this trend will continue
We have seen continued growth in relevant or related industry experience. and slowly move upwards in 2012. As the
demand for employees on fixed-term Multinational clients have shown a sector improves however, employers need
contracts and many candidates were preference for candidates with large to be aware of the need to offer a
offered extensions or permanent roles. In systems familiarity. Technically-savvy competitive remuneration package, as
the latter half of the year, improved client accountants with a background in IFRS well as benefits and conditions that
confidence was evident with the release from ‘Big Four’ accountancy practices are support a work-life balance in order to
of newly created positions alongside still highly sought after. Other skill sets attract high calibre applicants.
replacement hires. This led to a high in demand in 2011 included financial
significant increase in the amount of analysts, qualified accountants and
permanent roles available for internal auditors. Hudson Accounting &
accountancy professionals in industry and Finance has also experienced a growth in
commerce. We expect the trend for hiring the number of vacancies for cost
permanent employees to continue accountants, tax accountants and
throughout 2012 as market confidence treasury accountants. The main increase
continues to grow. in these roles has come from the
Telecoms, FMCG and IT sectors amongst
others.
At a more senior level, fewer
opportunities have arisen in 2011 and
competition remains high for CFO and
finance director positions. However, we
do expect more movement at this end of
the market during 2012 as conditions
improve.
IRELAND HUDSON SALARY GUIDE 2012 5
10. BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES
2011 saw an overall improvement in For the majority of banking and financial
banking and financial services prospects, services roles, salaries have remained
with an increase in recruitment levels for stagnant with the exception of skill sets in
both permanent and fixed-term contracts short supply or high demand. In the
as well as temporary hires. In the last year banking sector in particular, bonus
we have also seen a rise in the number of freezes remain in place. An exception is
positions available in fund services, risk, credit analysts and compliance
primarily in larger organisations. The professionals where more stringent
insurance and financial services sector regulations have resulted in more
has shown a high demand for candidates competitive salaries. Additionally, in the
with Solvency 11 knowledge and insurance sector, we have seen more
experience, both on a fixed-term contract competitive salaries being offered for
and permanent basis. Overall, for 2012 candidates with a professional
we expect to see renewed growth in the qualification coupled with the Solvency 11
number of vacancies for permanent and background. We anticipate these trends
fixed-term contract banking professionals will continue throughout 2012.
as the market continues to recover.
The past year has also seen a growth in
opportunities for risk, credit analysts and
compliance professionals. We anticipate
that demand will remain high for these
functions throughout 2012 as
departments continue to cope with
increased regulations.
8 HUDSON SALARY GUIDE 2012
13. ENERGY, INFRASTRUCTURE &
TECHNICAL
2011 saw improvement in the energy, We have seen some improvements in In the coming year, we anticipate that the
infrastructure and technical areas, candidate confidence, however for many, utilities sector will grow as UK and
leading to an increased supply of roles. they are only keen to move for a higher European energy companies look into the
The growth areas for Ireland remain in the salary or enhanced conditions or, if they possibility of establishing plants/sites
medical device and pharmaceutical are facing redundancy. here to avail of opportunities in the Irish
sectors as these companies continued to market. This is most likely to occur in
manufacture during the recession. 2011 saw the return of salary increases renewable energy generation industries
However, recruitment in 2011 was mainly as companies sought to retain good and will only gain momentum when fully
restricted to the hiring of replacement employees. That said, most businesses supported by government policy.
staff with relatively few new positions remain cost conscious and are Following recent job creation
coming on stream. endeavouring to keep salaries low while announcements by IDA Ireland, we
seeking candidates who are a “perfect fit” anticipate continued growth in the
Similarly there are many companies for their company. medical device and pharmaceutical
seeking to tackle their waste issues and sectors as companies replace departing
examine ways in which to reduce energy staff and continue to recruit new
consumption. This has been identified as candidates.
a key opportunity within the sector as
companies continue to market
themselves and their services as green
and ethical within the community. As this
trend develops, we are likely to see a
corresponding demand for relevant skills
and experience.
IRELAND HUDSON SALARY GUIDE 2012 11
17. HR
A steady flow of HR positions continued International experience has also been of Average salaries have changed slightly in
throughout 2011 across all disciplines; increased importance with some hiring the past year at director, manager and
from HR generalists and officers to HR companies, especially those who operate business partner levels. Though this
business partners and managers as well EMEA or European Shared Service would depend on the sector we have
as senior managers in compensation & Centres from the Republic of Ireland. found that on average director, manager
benefits, organisational development and Sector specific HR experience has also and business partner salaries have come
training. There has been good demand been critical to our clients, companies are down 5 per cent, but in all other areas
for change management experience and looking for HR candidates to have that salaries remained similar to 2010 levels.
senior industrial relations specialists to edge to hit the ground running in their
manage strategic interim roles dealing new position. We do not expect any significant changes
with TUPE or company restructure. Most in demand for qualified and talented HR
of the director level HR roles we have professionals. Interestingly, we have
seen have been of a fixed-term nature, found that HR candidates across all levels
with permanent director level generalist were willing to take a slight pay cut to
roles few and far between. stay in employment. Though pay is still
obviously important, most HR candidates
In terms of the speciality HR areas, today would weigh heavily the hiring
opportunities have arisen for company’s stability and future growth
professionals in reward, compensation plans as even more important than
and benefits, organisational design and remuneration. We anticipate that this
talent management. Another very trend will continue throughout 2012.
encouraging trend in the market has been
the growth in opportunities for qualified
HR administration candidates, together
with recruitment specialists and training
and development professionals. A clear
indication that most employers are
looking to engage and retain staff after
significant organisational change.
IRELAND HUDSON SALARY GUIDE 2012 15
19. IT & TELECOMMUNICATIONS
2011 saw a continuation in the increased Skill sets in demand in 2011 included: For 2012, we expect to see continued
number of IT roles coming onto the senior Java developers, .Net developers, demand for software developers across
market in Ireland. The flow of project managers and IT security Java and .Net technologies. We anticipate
opportunities has been quite steady specialists. Software developers were still that demand for project and business IT
throughout the year with a slightly quieter highly sought after and many clients, roles will increase as companies continue
period throughout the summer months despite the numbers of people seeking to introduce new projects and expand
which would be standard in a more work opportunities, struggled to get the their service offering.
buoyant market. This renewed confidence right level of candidates for volume
continued in the latter half of the year, positions. Cloud computing continues to be top of
allowing candidates to be more mobile most clients' agendas for 2012, with a
and less cautious about moving jobs, Whilst the IT contract market is still clear trend towards consultative services
creating more resources for open roles. improving and getting back to pre-2009 in IT. More and more businesses are
levels, the main demand in 2011 offering outsourced services to clients as
continued to come from permanent hiring well as providing internal services. This is
needs, together with fixed-term salaried driving the requirement for IT candidates
contract that appeared in force with excellent client facing and
throughout the difficult recessionary consultative skills – becoming the norm
period. These contracts continue to allow for most roles, as opposed to the
clients flexibility in a shorter term hire but exception.
without the longer term commitment of a
permanent role, and without the premium Salaries on the whole remained quite
cost of a daily/hourly rate contract steady throughout 2011 with a higher
resource. percentage of roles showing improvement
in salary levels over 2010. The main
sectors of growth for IT staff in Ireland
have been in the areas of financial
services and technology, which are
consequently the sectors where we have
seen salary increases throughout 2011.
We would expect this trend to continue in
2012.
IRELAND HUDSON SALARY GUIDE 2012 17
20. IT & TELECOMMUNICATIONS
€ LOWER € MID € HIGHER € DAILY RATE
UTILITIES / ENVIRONMENTAL
CIO / CTO 92,000 107,000 145,000 680
IT Director 88,000 104,000 135,000 620
IT Manager 58,000 72,000 87,000 520
IT Operations Manager 56,000 75,000 87,000 520
Software Development Manager 58,000 65,000 75,000 510
QA / Test Manager 58,000 63,000 73,000 500
Infrastructure Manager 48,000 58,000 70,000 430
Network Manager 52,000 68,000 83,000 350
Database Manager 53,000 68,000 80,000 350
Technical Support Manager 48,000 68,000 85,000 380
PROJECT ROLES
Programme Manager 62,000 68,000 78,000 550
Project Manager 52,000 64,000 75,000 510
Business Analyst 45,000 55,000 65,000 420
Business Systems Analyst 45,000 55,000 65,000 420
Business Process Administrator 30,000 35,000 43,000 320
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT ROLES
C# / .Net / Asp.Net 33,000 45,000 60,000 350
Sharepoint 43,000 53,000 63,000 350
Java / J2EE 35,000 48,000 60,000 350
PHP / MySQL 32,000 40,000 53,000 320
C++ 34,000 48,000 60,000 330
Visual Basic 32,000 42,000 53,000 300
Web Developer 33,000 43,000 50,000 290
Graphic Designer 28,000 34,000 45,000 250
18 HUDSON SALARY GUIDE 2012
23. SALES & MARKETING
2011 saw a slight improvement in both In general, salaries remained steady
temporary and permanent positions in the throughout 2011 for sales and marketing
sales and marketing sector. While the positions, with a slight improvement in
economic environment remains uncertain, certain very specialist roles and a
companies still recognise the need to renewed focus on key competencies and
drive revenue and build market share. experience. Some areas of the
As a result, key opportunities have arisen technology market also saw a moderate
in both new business sales and increase, while the ICT sectors remained
commercial marketing. We have also seen relatively similar, particularly at entry and
an upsurge in digital/online and social mid levels. The FMCG and financial
media based roles in the latter part of this services markets also showed
year. We expect this trend to continue in improvement.
2012 as these positions have now
become an integral part of the marketing In summary, employers continue to
function and are viewed as cost effective reward achievement and over
from a communications perspective. achievement whether in sales or
marketing, and we anticipate that this will
For 2012, along with digital and online remain the case throughout 2012 and
growth, we also envisage key growth beyond, as the market continues to
areas to include the pharmaceutical and improve in a slow but upward curve.
medical sectors, with a steady
maintenance of activity expected in ICT.
IRELAND HUDSON SALARY GUIDE 2012 21
25. SUPPLY CHAIN &
PROCUREMENT
After the previous turbulent year, 2011 The growth of Ireland’s service sector has
saw much improvement in the supply continued, with increased availability of
chain and procurement sector with an roles in the business processing
accompanying growth in the availability of outsourcing area. The trend towards
roles. Companies displayed much greater outsourcing by the large corporates has
optimism in their willingness to hire, continued. This has led to significant
possibly as a result of the election of a demand for good operations,
new government and a new budget at the transformation and project managers as
start of the year. well as Six Sigma personnel – all of whom
can drive through changes and cost
savings for their clients. There has also
been considerable growth in the need for
specialist category managers in big
organisations who are looking at overall
spend for their specific business
functions, their supplier lists and metrics
by which suppliers are measured.
We look forward to seeing the market
continue to improve in 2012, despite
uncertainty in Europe. Bearing in mind
that many companies still need to focus
on cost control and profitability, the role
of the procurement team will continue to
be critical to businesses.
IRELAND HUDSON SALARY GUIDE 2012 23