Software developer salaries in Spain

A senior software engineer in Spain earns a median of about $73,628 a year (65,781 EUR). Here's pay by level and stack, contractor rates, and how Spain's hours line up with UK and US teams.

Senior salary: $73,628; median per year
Senior contractor: $36–$50; per hour
Overlap London: Full working day; UTC+01:00
Overlap New York: 2.5h; English: moderate

Salary by level

Level	EUR	USD	GBP
Junior (0–2 yrs)	38,100	$42,645	£33,579
Mid (3–5 yrs)	54,801	$61,338	£48,298
Senior (6+ yrs)	65,781	$73,628	£57,975

Annual medians. USD at the 2026-10-14 rate.

Senior salary by stack

Specialism	USD / year	Contractor / hr
Frontend	$63,320	$31–$43
Backend	$80,991	$40–$55
Mobile	$70,683	$35–$48
DevOps & Cloud	$88,354	$43–$60
Data & AI	$90,562	$44–$62

Country median adjusted by global specialism premiums (Stack Overflow 2025).

The Spain developer market

About 2,802,085 developers on GitHub (2026).
English proficiency: moderate (EF EPI rank 37).
Barcelona and Madrid are the top-paying hubs on Levels.fyi; Málaga is a growing secondary hub (median €50,882).
Contractor risk: Spain penalises 'falso autónomo' arrangements, meaning a contractor integrated into the client with fixed hours and set tasks. A TRADE is a self-employed worker earning at least 75% of income from one client; the status carries leave and termination rights.
Lemon.io has a large Spanish sample (854 contracts, Q3 2026). Senior median is $44/hr; strong seniors with 8+ years earn $46–55/hr.

Hiring from Spain?

Vetted engineers at about $30/hr all-in.

Contracts, payroll and compliance handled. A senior in-house hire costs about £48/hr loaded in the UK and $82/hr in the US.

Hire in Spain

FAQ

How much does a senior software developer earn in Spain?+

The median senior software engineer salary in Spain is about 65,781 EUR a year (about $73,628), against about $61,338 for mid-level and $42,645 for junior developers. Senior remote contractors typically charge $36–$50 an hour.

What is the time difference between Spain and the UK or US?+

Spain runs on UTC+01:00 in winter. A 09:00–17:30 working day there overlaps full working day with London and 2.5h with New York.

How much does it cost to hire a developer from Spain through OctogleHire?+

OctogleHire publishes one client rate: about $19/hr for a mid-level engineer and $30/hr for a senior, including vetting, contracts and payroll, with no placement fee. A comparable senior in-house hire costs about £48/hr loaded in the UK and $82/hr in the US.

Sources · Q4 2026

Method notes: Junior is the Levels.fyi all-levels 25th percentile (€38.1K). Mid is the all-levels median. Senior is the senior-level median. All are total compensation. PayScale's base median is €40K (326 profiles, Mar 2026), and Index.dev's employee range is €27K–€47K, so local-market pay sits below the Levels.fyi figures. Contractor ranges are Lemon.io's middle-50% band. Index.dev gives a broader contractor range of $37–75/hr. Salary basis: Levels.fyi Spain, all levels updated 2026-07-22; senior level updated Dec 2025.