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madhadron profile image
Fred Ross

That's a great summary of the tech scene in NZ. Thanks!

One thing I noticed looking at the job board is that salaries seem low compared to Seattle, where I live. Poking around, cost of living in Wellington seems similar, but the jobs on that board that are in my current salary band (a bit over $200k/year) are for CTOs, General Managers, and the like, not for engineers. Is that an accurate impression?

 
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Helen Anderson • Edited

Glad you found it useful :)

Cost of Living

I'm not personally familiar with the Seattle tech scene or cost of living but found Numbeo helpful when considering the cost of living differences between countries. The prices on the Wellington side look accurate to me.

I live in the city with two housemates and pay $NZD1000 / $USD687 a month for my rent and all bills. This is considered high but I don't own a car and walk ten minutes to work. This is half of my cost of living in London so seems like a bargain in comparison to that time of my life.

Our top personal tax rate is 33% for income over $NZD70,000. At the other end of the scale, the tax rate is 10.5% on income up to $NZD14,000. Healthcare and Education up to a secondary level is publicly funded so no need to worry about health insurance as you do in the US. Something else to keep in mind.

Salaries

  • The median salaries for a Software Dev in Wellington is $NZ63633 / $USD43764, with a high of $NZD95000 / $USD65337.
  • Senior Software Engineers can expect a median of $NZD95000 / $USD65337, with a high of $NZD117000 /$USD80467 according to Payscale.

Doing a quick Seek search roles that pay over $NZD150000 in IT that aren't C suite are:

Hope that helps put things in perspective.