Berlin tech salaries stagnate at €75,000 while gender pay gap widens to 20% in 2025

• Record-breaking 1,845 tech professionals participated in the annual Berlin salary survey—a 60% increase from last year, with female representation rising significantly to 44.44% (up from 38.61%).
• The gender pay gap has widened to over 20%, with women earning €17,000 less than men (€66,000 vs €83,000).
• Nearly one-third of Berlin’s tech talent (30.82%) plans to change jobs in 2025, with lower-paid employees most likely to switch.

Berlin, April 25, 2025 – Handpicked Berlin has released its most comprehensive tech salary report to date, revealing concerning trends in Berlin’s technology ecosystem. The independent initiative, now in its third year, continues to provide critical compensation benchmarks for professionals and employers.

According to the data, Berlin’s tech sector is experiencing compensation stagnation. The median salary remained unchanged at €75,000, while average salary increased just 1.46% to €78,574—a slowdown from the 7% growth seen in 2024. Notably, startups and established companies now offer identical median salaries (€75,000), challenging the conventional wisdom that startups pay less.

The report’s most alarming finding shows the gender pay gap has widened substantially. Women now earn 20.48% less than men (€66,000 vs €83,000), with the disparity reaching 24.5% in leadership positions. Even when controlling for experience and role, women earn 14.9% less than their male counterparts.

Addressing this issue, Tamara Rose Morales, a seasoned business and leadership coach for women and DEI consultant, sheds light on the underlying causes:

“Last year, I spoke about the performative nature of equity efforts in tech - this year’s numbers confirm that little has changed. In fact, the gender pay gap in leadership has grown even wider. When women in identical roles still earn significantly less, it’s not a pipeline problem, it’s a values problem. Until companies embed equity into their systems, with transparent salary benchmarks, bias-aware decision-making, and accountability at every level, progress will remain painfully slow.”

The best-paid roles are in software engineering. Engineering leadership roles are Berlin’s highest salaries at €110,000 median, followed by SRE/Infrastructure specialists (€101,000) and security experts (€94,000). The data reveals significant compensation differences even within engineering disciplines, with backend developers (€95,000) earning substantially more than frontend specialists (€78,500).

Counterintuitively, German language skills don’t correlate with higher salaries—professionals with C1 level fluency actually earned less (€67,250 median) than those with no German skills (€79,750), suggesting Berlin’s tech ecosystem highly values international talent.

Perhaps most concerning for employers: nearly one-third of respondents (30.82%) indicated they are likely or very likely to change jobs in 2025, with those earning lower salaries showing the highest mobility intentions.

“This year’s report is more detailed and offers in-depth insights into Berlin’s tech ecosystem,” says Igor Ranc, founder of Handpicked Berlin. “We’re delighted with the highest ever 1,845 respondents and the amazing support we’ve received from the community so far. I am most surprised by the fact that nearly a third of respondents is thinking of changing their job this year. Companies that feel empowered by current higher unemployment rates might regret their poor retention strategies when the tide turns sooner than later.”

The complete report with detailed breakdowns by industry, role, experience level, and nationality is available at /salaries/2025/report/

About Handpicked Berlin and the Salary Trends Survey: Handpicked Berlin is a weekly newsletter and a community with a career and Berlin tech-scene focus. 

The Salary Trends project, launched in 2023, has grown into Berlin’s most comprehensive compensation benchmark. It aims to establish a benchmark for professionals to effectively assess their earnings and career trajectories. The 2025 edition features enhanced job categorisation across 53 distinct roles, providing one-of-a-kind granularity for professionals and employers.”