Everybody knows that IT specialists of Ukraine present an affordable yet highly reliable, easy to work with niche in the international IT hiring market. Non-tech IT experts make a huge part of the Ukrainian employable pool and if you’re wondering about another question – how much do these experts make? – we’re about to make that clearer for you.

DNA325 has conducted a Ukraine-wide salary survey among non-technical IT specialists, such as marketing specialists, sales & biz dev, recruitment & HRs, advertising specialists of different age categories.

The survey-type analysis of a wide range of IT talents resulted in this here overview of salary statistics for the first quarter of 2019. The survey was anonymously held from February to April 2019 with over 1,000 people taking part in it.

Its ultimate purpose is to display the Ukraine salary average, run some salary comparisons, and make the big picture of compensation in the studied area clearer for everyone interested.  

The Survey

Right off the bat, we have to say that current salaries in Ukraine are significantly lower than those within IT industries of Western countries. Thus, the average compensation for Ukraine is $350, while the Western side of the globe’s average IT salary is about $1400. Our poll covered the outsourcing and authentic product development companies, web studios and digital agencies that were active in the niche during the 1st quarter of 2019.

With the thorough local industry statistical coverage at hand, we had initially surveyed Non Technical IT specialists from Kyiv (44.9%), as well as from Kharkiv (18.7%), Lviv (9.3%), Dnipro (8.2%) and Odessa (5.5%).

These numbers alone can serve you as a good local non-technical jobs density indicator.

The Major Situation in the Ukrainian IT Employment Sector

The graph below shows the dependence of wages on age and position in IT companies.

 

The average age of survey participants ranges from 26 to 30 years old. The median salary of the non-tech IT specialists in this age category is slightly above the total market average and amounts to $1220.

As you can see, it is also very noticeable that employees holding high positions in the age category of 40+ tend to earn almost twice as much – about $2,000, $2,200.

Specialists occupying middle and senior positions in older age categories usually make the basis of the company and receive a permanent salary for many years, which means that they literally make money due to the experience in the field. Senior positions with extensive experience requirements have a substantial salary of $2,000, give or take. In the age group of 21-30 years, the situation seems to be quite dynamic – starting with interns that may get less than a thousand bucks, the average amount increases by more than twice depending on the position and experience.

The general picture shows that the biggest salaries are received by specialists aged 25 to 30, followed by category 31-40. The youngest (up to 24 years) and the older generation (40+) receive the least.

As for the gender-based statistics and random analytical facts:

  • If we compare the median wages of women and men among non-tech specialists, women earn 20% less;
  • 25% of surveyed specialists don’t expect a raise, while 30% expect to be getting twice as much eventually.

Companies and Niches

The largest amount of data was obtained in the fields of Digital, Product, E-commerce and Outsource. If you do not take into account the cryptocurrency and blockchain sphere, in which little data was obtained, as seen from the graph below – some of the highest level of remuneration by median is received by Product/Project Managers, HR/Recruitment experts, and Marketers, with Business Development Managers & Sales Experts holding the definite lead.

Salaries in product-focused companies are higher than in others (by about $1100). But the bonus system is almost the same everywhere, except for startups, where everything is turned upside down – specialists work mainly by the bonus system while getting a much lower salary – ~$600. Average position on wages is occupied by outsourcing companies, whose employees receive an average of about $900.

Average Salaries by Positions

The average salary of an expert working on every mentioned position depends heavily on the level of experience and the availability of a degree at hand. It also differs according to gender.   

Administrative managers

Administration experts may get from $260 to $860 under respective circumstances.

  • 0-2 years of experience = $260-$315;
  • 2-5 years – +35 = $427;
  • 20+ years = $818-$860

The Master’s degree can give 27% boost while the Bachelor’s is more in-demand statistically and can give a 37% boost.

Male get 12% more than female here:

  • Female – $547;
  • Male – $609

Sales managers

Experts in sales tend to get from $150 to $7,500 (with most values at the low end) depending on experience. The median is $741. 

  • 0-2 years of experience = $675;
  • 2-5 years – +42% = $1,000;
  • 10+ years = $2,000
  • The Master’s degree availability can boost one’s compensation by half

By sex, male sales managers tend to get 17% more than the female with:

  • Female – $1,250;
  • Male – $1,470

Business development managers

Experts responsible for business further growth and prosperity get $560-$7,000. The median is $800. 

  • 0-2 years of experience =$560;
  • 2-5 years – +37% = $888;
  • 10+ years = $1,966

Male business development experts tend to get 21% more money than female:

  • Female – $1,240;
  • Male – $1,500

The Master’s degree can get you a significant boost of up to 47%.

Project/product managers

PMs get $574 to $7,000 according to experience and industry. The median is $1,600.

  • 0-2 years of experience = $574;
  • 2-5 years – +35% = $780;
  • 10+ years = $1,480

Male project or product managers tend to get 12% more than female:

  • Female – $870;
  • Male – $1,100

Managers working in the private sector tend to earn less than those in public by 24%:

  • Private sector experts – $930;
  • Public sector experts – $1,160

Marketing specialists

Experts responsible for building the brand and community as well as bringing additional value to product get $250-$5,000. The median is $800.

  • 0-2 years of experience =$600;
  • 2-5 years – +34% = $910;
  • 10+ years = $1360

Male marketing specialists tend to get slightly more money than female:

  • Female – $920;
  • Male – $1,060

The higher education can get you a boost of up to 20%.

Designers

Experts in UI/UX, web and graphic design tend to get from $250 to $6000. The median is $1,100. 

  • 0-2 years of experience = $600;
  • 2-5 years specialists get significantly more = $1,400;
  • 10+ years = $1,900
  • The Master’s / Bachelors degree cannot get you a significant boost, only 5%

By sex, male designers tend to get significant 52% more than the female with:

  • Female – $850;
  • Male – $1300

The size of bonuses depending on the position in the company

The picture is fairly transparent – at any level, except for tops, employees receive bonuses that are evenly growing depending on the position (~ $150-250) and a small bonus unofficially (~$50). As the company’s top management naturally receive an average of $350-600 more in addition to the monthly salary.

In agencies, the tops get less than employees of high and middle level, with their salary ranging from ~$550 in regular companies and up to $2600+ in outsourcing companies. Experts of lower rank receive an average of $600-900 monthly and more in product-focused companies, while with outsourcing companies it’s $1,300-1500. But on average, the salary of workers in medium and junior positions should be paid special attention to. In non-tech startups, they receive roughly the same salary, while in other companies, middle-level specialists have a salary twice as high.

The Impact of Education & Company Type

The study launched by the curious minds of the DNA325 team allowed us to get many interesting statistics and a lot of numerical data to serve as powerful analytical materials. For example, we can now overview for a fact the total level of English command for the Ukrainian IT sector:

With this diagram, you can see for yourself why Ukrainian outsourcing is increasingly preferred on a global scale, with about 75% of Ukrainian IT workers possessing at least an intermediate level of English. There are practically no language barriers in fact. There is also about 25% of fluent speakers, which may fit complex projects with in-depth requirements, too.

Such readings are important because the level of salaries in the field of IT tends to depend on and vary according to the level of one’s education. Thus, if we take an Administrative Manager position as an example, an expert for hire with a profiled certificate or diploma is, most probably, to be offered $430 of pay initially; the situation changes, though, with higher degrees in hand and the salary threshold can be boosted so that an Administrative Manager would get:

  • 37% more if he/she has a Bachelor’s degree (about $590);
  • 28% on top of the previous point if he/she has a Master’s degree (about $760).

The highest paid according to our statistics position – Sales Manager – is affected by the education criteria even more. Thus, a Sales expert gets about $860 with a profiled certificate or diploma by their side and the rate can grow by:

  • 49% with a Bachelor’s degree on hand (about $1,280);
  • And 41% on top of that with a Master’s degree on hand (about $1812).

With such indications of the impact one’s level of education brings when it comes to the non-technical part of Ukrainian IT and about 7% of GDP concentrated in the IT industry as a whole, there are also distinctions in salary according to the general type of companies. Thus, in the public sector company, an educated Sales Manager (with a Bachelor’s degree for an average example) would be paid 30% more than in the private sector establishment:

  • $1180 in a private company;
  • $1530 in a public company.

For an averagely educated Administrative Manager, the difference is 24% in favor of public establishments and goes like this:

  • $510 in a private company;
  • $630 in a public company.

Conclusion

In all other aspects, we can confidently say that the non-technical field of IT technologies in Ukraine is striving and definitely rising in value – this is evident in the level of salaries not only in the central cities but also in the west and east. In particular, marketing managers, project managers, business developers face some serious opportunities to earn almost as much as the Western sector if they put enough faith and effort into it.

Hurray! Now you can easily compare Tech and NonTech specialists salaries with our salary-map