Entry-level Salary Benchmark Spain 2025
A compilation of entry-level salaries across the main target functions for Nova members
Hey, we are Ramón Rodrigáñez and Andrea Marino, Co-Founders at Nova, the Global Top Talent Network.
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Summary:
Today we are sharing a special edition with an entry-level salary benchmark for Spain in this 2025.
You can keep reading our dowloan the benchmark in PDF below:
Foreword
Entry-level white-collar salaries in Spain vary widely by function and employer type. Major hubs like Madrid and Barcelona offer the highest pay, while other cities trend lower.
Generally, fresh graduates (0–2 years exp) in corporate roles start around €25–30K per year, with large multinationals, in-demand tech roles and some professional services firms paying more (sometimes €40K+ and in IB over €70K in some firms), and smaller firms or less lucrative sectors paying less (around €20–25K).
Startups often offer lower fixed pay than corporates, though some high-growth tech startups now approach corporate levels for certain roles. Bonus eligibility also varies: roles in sales and banking feature significant variable pay (commission or bonus), whereas others (e.g. audit, general corporate roles) have modest bonuses.
Below, we break down entry-level compensation by function, including base salaries and typical total compensation (base + bonus or OTE, where applicable).
All data are in EUR/year and focused on Madrid/Barcelona.
Index
1. B2B Sales
2. Marketing
3. Software Engineering
4. IT Consulting
5. Audit & Accounting
6. Finance (Corporate Finance & Banking – Non-IB)
7. Investment Banking
8. Legal (Lawyers)
9. Product Management
10. Product Design (UX/UI)
11. Management Consulting
12. Data (Engineering / Science / Analytics)
Sources
1. B2B Sales
Entry-level B2B sales roles (e.g., Sales Development Representatives, Junior Account Executives) in Spain typically have a base salary plus commission (often called OTE). SDR base salaries range from the low €20Ks to the mid €30Ks, with total on-target earnings commonly landing between €35K–60K. Large tech and well-funded SaaS companies often pay higher, while outsourcing firms and smaller startups pay lower. Madrid and Barcelona tend to offer the highest pay, with an average base of around €25K and about €33K in OTE. Hitting targets can roughly double the base salary for commission-based roles. Below are sample entry-level sales salaries:
Key insights:
Even at entry level, pay can vary greatly by employer type.
Niche enterprise software companies often offer higher OTE (with bases around €50K+).
Smaller startups and BPO firms may only pay in the low €20Ks base.
On average, an SDR in Spain earns ~€36K base with ~€56K OTE.
Madrid and Barcelona dominate the higher end of salary ranges.
2. Marketing
Entry-level marketing roles (e.g., Marketing Assistant, Junior Marketing Specialist, Brand Management trainee) in Spain often pay in the €20–25K range. Big multinationals and well-known tech or FMCG companies may start closer to €30K, sometimes above. For instance, some junior marketing specialists in large firms or tech startups can earn €30–35K total. Madrid tends to average around €30K base for entry-level marketers, Barcelona around €25K. Examples:
Key insights:
Entry-level marketing salaries generally fall in the low-to-mid €20Ks.
Large FMCG or tech can pay €30–35K.
Barcelona tends to be slightly lower than Madrid.
Company size matters: bigger, global firms pay 20%+ above smaller ones.
3. Software Engineering
Within software engineering, global tech companies pay significantly higher than most local or consultancy roles. Google’s new grad engineers in Spain may reach ~€120K total (base ~€60K, plus stock), while Amazon can offer ~€45K base + bonus/stock for a total of €60K. A typical Spanish firm might pay €30–40K total, and consultancies often start at €18–25K. Examples:
Key insights:
There is a huge gap in pay between big tech (FAANG) vs. IT consultancies.
In Madrid/Barcelona, many firms pay €30–40K total; top tech can double that.
Equity from global tech significantly boosts total comp.
4. IT Consulting
IT consulting roles (e.g., systems integration, tech advisory) pay less than product tech. Large consultancies like Accenture, Capgemini, or NTT Data start in the €20–28K range. Local Spanish IT giants (e.g., Indra) may pay even lower. Bonuses for junior consultants are typically small. Sample salaries:
Key insights:
Common entry-level base: ~€20–28K.
Some firms differentiate technical vs. consulting tracks, with the technical track starting lower (~€18K).
Bonuses are usually 5–10%, so base is close to total.
5. Audit & Accounting
Audit/accounting (e.g., junior auditors in Big 4) is known for relatively low entry pay around €24–26K total. Smaller firms pay €18–22K. Examples:
Key insights:
Big 4 pay is standardized at ~€24–26K total for first-year auditors.
Smaller accounting firms pay less, sometimes below €20K.
6. Finance (Non-IB)
Entry-level corporate finance or banking analyst roles often pay mid-/high-€20Ks to €30Ks base. Total comp might reach €33–35K. Some banks or large firms in Madrid can approach €35–40K. Barcelona salaries are slightly lower on average.
Key insights:
Mid-€20Ks to low-€30Ks base is typical for entry finance roles.
Bonuses of 5–15% are common, so total comp isn’t far above base.
Multinationals and banks in Madrid tend to pay at the higher end.
7. Investment Banking
Investment banking analysts receive the highest entry-level pay in Spain, very close to other cities in Europe although below NY. A first-year IB analyst in a bulge bracket Investment Bank in Madrid typically makes ~€70-80K base, with annual bonuses pushing total comp to €100-150K. However, Spanish boutiques pay closer to corporate finance or management consulting.
Key insights:
IB pays roughly 2-3x what typical corporate finance roles pay at entry level if you go to the right banks (total comp above €100K)
However, first-year analysts in Spanish boutiques earn significantly less
8. Legal (Lawyers)
Lawyer salaries vary by firm type. Foreign UK / US based firms are the ones offering the best pay with 40-45K fixed plus 10-20% bonus. Large Spanish firms (e.g., Garrigues, Cuatrecasas, Uría) in Madrid might pay €30–35K base, sometimes up to €40–45K total with bonus. Smaller firms or in-house legal roles can be €18–24K. Big 4 law arms pay in the upper €20Ks. The national junior lawyer average is around €26K base.
Key insights:
Large firms pay ~€30K+ to start, with some moving toward €45K.
Smaller practices may pay around €20K.
Bonuses for junior lawyers are limited, so base is the biggest factor.
9. Product Management
True entry-level product management roles are less common in Spain. Some local companies treat junior PMs like other entry roles (~€25–30K), while big tech or structured APM programs can pay above €50K total, sometimes reaching €60K+. For instance, Amazon Spain might offer €45–65K for a junior PM, though typically they recruit someone with some experience for a L5 role.
Key insights:
Few companies have formal entry-level PM programs so these averages are not worth much
Salaries range widely: ~€30K at local firms vs. €50K+ at global tech.
Barcelona has more PM job openings but can pay slightly less unless it’s a major startup/tech.
10. Product Design (UX/UI)
Junior UX/UI design roles typically pay €23–30K base. In Barcelona, average junior UX is about €25.8K base, while the overall designer average is ~€30K. Madrid tends to be a bit higher, around €34K average (all levels). Big companies can pay €38K or more.
Key insights:
Entry-level UX/UI designers in agencies or smaller firms usually earn ~€22–28K.
Large tech or telecommunications might offer ~€30–40K for junior roles.
Madrid design roles often pay slightly more than Barcelona.
11. Management Consulting
Entry-level positions in management consulting for new graduates are typically “Analyst” or “Associate” roles (pre-MBA level). The table below summarizes annual compensation at major consulting firms, differentiating top-tier strategy firms (MBB) from other firms (Tier 2).
Key insights:
MBB Firms: McKinsey, BCG, and Bain offer the highest entry-level pay in consulting. Base salaries are around €35–39K in the first year, with annual bonuses of roughly €5–8K, yielding total packages near €40–46K.
Tier-2 Strategy Consulting: Elite strategy practices outside MBB – such as Monitor Deloitte, Strategy& (PwC), EY-Parthenon, Accenture Strategy, and boutiques like Kearney or Roland Berger – have base salaries similar to MBB (around €35K–37K) but lower bonuses (~€2–3K). This puts first-year total pay in the high €30Ks, a notch below MBB.
Oliver Wyman: Notably, Oliver Wyman stands out by paying above the typical market rate in Spain – about €43K base, plus a €5K signing bonus and around €3K annual bonus, totaling roughly €50–51K in the first year.
Big 4 & Accenture (General Consulting): Entry-level roles at Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC, and Accenture (in their general consulting/advisory divisions) offer much lower compensation. Base salaries are typically only €24K–€25K with very small bonuses (~€1K). This puts total pay for Big4 consulting analysts roughly in the €25–26K range, about half of MBB levels.
12. Data (Engineering / Science / Analytics)
Entry-level data roles (such as Data Analyst, Data Scientist, and Data Engineer positions) show a broad range of salaries in Spain. Pay varies by industry sector and company type. Below is a summary of typical compensation for junior data positions in different environments, including base salary and any variable pay (bonuses or other incentives).
Key insights:
Tech Companies (Higher end): Large tech multinationals with offices in Spain (such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook) tend to offer the highest entry-level packages for data roles. A new data analyst/engineer at a FAANG company in Madrid/Barcelona could start with a total compensation of €45K–€60K, far above the national average.
International Startups & Unicorns: Established tech startups and scale-ups (e.g. fintech or SaaS companies like Klarna or Celonis) offer entry-level technical roles salaries comparable to big tech (~€35K base + €5K bonus), plus often equity (stock options).
Consulting Firms (Data/Analytics roles): A Big 4 or IT consultancy junior data analyst will earn €25K–€30K total. At an MBB or strategy firm, a data scientist (entry-level) could be €40K total.
Financial Institutions: Banks and large financial institutions pay mid-range salaries (~€30–35K base + ~€3–7K in bonuses).
Sources
Various Glassdoor salary pages (e.g., Spain SDR, junior developer, analyst roles).
Company career websites and job listings for firms including Oracle, Amazon, Deloitte, Accenture, Garrigues, etc.
Payscale and Talent.com surveys for Marketing and Software Engineering entry-level wages in Spain.
UFV (Universidad Francisco de Vitoria) labor market survey for graduate salaries in marketing.
RepVue and LinkedIn job postings for B2B Sales OTE data in Spain.
Internal market data from Indeed, random user-submitted surveys (including Reddit threads discussing Spanish compensation).
Nova internal data and experience
All data is presented as approximate or typical figures to provide a comprehensive overview of entry-level salaries in Spain’s primary job markets, but we cannot ensure it’s completely accurate.
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Andrea and Ramón
Co-Founders at Nova