IT and construction dominate Ireland’s top-paying jobs

IT jobs in Ireland maintain their position as the highest paid roles in Ireland, according to analysis by jobs recruitment website IrishJobs.

Workers in the sector had the highest average mean salary at €69,050. This was followed by construction workers on €63,502, finance employees on €63,165 and engineering at €59,808.

According to the research, full-time employees in Ireland earned a mean gross salary of €46,791 last year. Ireland compares positively to other European economies, with a median salary in the UK of £35,648 (€42,377) and €45,800 in Germany.

The research is based on an analysis of salaries and benefits for the most commonly posted jobs by hiring platforms in The Stepstone Group in Ireland, the UK and Germany.

In Ireland, employees in the legal sector had an average salary of €56,232. Professionals working in cleaning-related occupations at €27,719 earned the lowest average salary, followed by catering (€31,322) and security (€33,629).

“Despite a fall in job vacancy generation in the sector in 2024, the levels of compensation in the sector indicate that highly skilled IT professionals remain in strong demand,” Sam Dooley, country director of The Stepstone Group Ireland said.

As the AI transformation accelerates and more firms look to build out their AI capabilities, we expect this competition for a limited pool of highly skilled professionals to grow at pace.

Findings revealed head of finance roles, at €90,798, were paid the highest average salary in Ireland. This was closely followed by senior quantity surveyors at €90,207 who posted an average 7.55% increase in salary year-on-year. This indicates the high levels of demand for skilled professionals in the construction sector over the past 12 months.

Recent data published by IrishJobs showed seven in 10 of the most in-demand roles in 2024 were in construction and related sectors, and included quantity surveyors, site managers and site engineers.

Roles in the pharmaceutical and IT sector made up the remaining five most highly paid professions, and included supervising pharmacist (€89,373), scrum master (€86,641) and senior software engineers (€84,076).

Automation engineers in the IT sector were among the professions to experience the highest average increase in salary year-on-year (15.1%) due to accelerating demand among employers for AI skills.

The data shows regional differences in annual salaries across Ireland. Dublin is the county with the highest annual average salary at €48,343, indicating its continued strength as a national hub for enterprise activity and highly skilled labour.

There is a strong performance from counties in Munster. Limerick has the second-highest annual average salary at €46,011 powered by its thriving manufacturing, life sciences, healthcare, and technology sectors, while Cork, at €45,232 has the third-highest average annual salary.

The research revealed an occupational pension was the most common benefit provided to employees in Ireland on top of their base salary. Free parking, the cycle-to-work scheme, career development, and flexible hours make up the top five most common benefits for employees.