Some top-paying Czech jobs get almost 10 times the average salary

There is a lot of competition to attract and retain talented workers in the Czech Republic, and that has driven up wages in many sectors.

The research company Hays Czech Republic compiled an overview of typical wages for more than 7,500 jobs and found many jobs that pay a maximum gross monthly salary of 200,000 CZK or more, and some as much as 325,000 CZK. This is the salary before deductions. What a worker takes home is the net salary, which is lower.

Wages are not expected to rise much higher. “The labor market continues to be saturated with vacancies, which are more than the number of unemployed persons. But wages in many sectors have already reached imaginary ceilings and are starting to stagnate,” Ladislav Kučera, managing director of Hays Czech Republic, said in the introduction to the report. Nationwide, there are almost two open positions for every job seeker, while in Prague there are close to five. 

The best-paid position in the Czech Republic is the chief commercial officer in sales and marketing, focusing on IT and logistics with a typical gross monthly salary at 240,000 CZK per month and a maximum salary at 325,000 CZK. In total, five job positions in IT and logistics have maximum salaries at or above 250,000 CZK.

Closely related, IT and telecommunications also offer high salaries, with product managers at a maximum of 220,000 CZK and big data architects at 200,000 CZK.

Banking and finance have long offered above average wages. The head of a corporate banking division in a large company can expect up to 290,000 CZK per month, while the head of a corporate banking team at a small and medium-size enterprise can get as much as 260,000 CZK. Financial directors aren’t far behind with a maximum of 250,000 CZK.

In business and marketing, the top paid positions were sales director in B2B services at 260,000 CZK and digital director in marketing at 240,000 CZK.

Legal services also pay well, with senior associates and heads of legal departments both getting up to 200,000 CZK in salary, not counting bonuses and other remunerations.

While the retail sector has some of the lowest wages at the bottom end for shop assistants, it also has some top paid posts with a country manager based in Prague getting up to 320,000 CZK, while sales directors, marketing managers and area managers can garner a maximum of 250,000 CZK. Creative directors get up to 240,000 CZK and PR managers get 200,000 CZK.

Also topping out at 200,000 CZK is sales director and manager in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG).

Hospitality also offers some high wages, with general managers of operations topping out at 300,000 CZK, directors of sales and marketing 250,000 CZK, and sales directors and deputy general managers of operations both at 200,000 CZK. In the tourism and leisure subcategory, pilots get up to 300,000 CZK and casino managers 250,000 CZK.

In life sciences, the highest paid roles are medical director at 220,000 CZK and business unit manager at 200,000 CZK.

Construction and development’s highest paid role is project / development directors caps out at 300,000 CZK, but that is an outlier as the next highest paid is senior acquisition manager at 160,000 CZK. Engineering and manufacturing sees plant managers getting up to 220,000 CZK and operation managers up to 200,000 CZK.

For business services, head of a shared service center with more that 70 full-time employees dials in at up to 300,000 CZK, while the same position in centers with under 70 employees gets 250,000 CK.

Many companies, though, are letting jobs sit vacant rather than fill it with an unqualified applicant who does not fit into the corporate culture. “Company recruitment strategies are now more sophisticated and targeted, taking into account the current corporate culture and long-term prospects of the applicant in the company,” Hays’ Managing Director Kučera said.