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Senior Engineer salary in Ireland

Senior Engineer is a departmental head grade in an Irish county or city council, one step below County Engineer. The scale is short and the whole of it sits above six figures once the long service increments are counted.

The short answer

A newly qualified senior engineer starts on €93,698 a year. After 12 years of service you reach the top of the scale on €112,107. Allowances for promoted posts and, for some teachers, qualifications are paid on top of these figures.

Starting salary
€93,698
about €5,028 a month take-home
Top of the scale
€112,107
about €5,729 a month take-home

Figures from Circular EL 04/2026, effective 1 June 2026. Take-home is for a single person with standard credits, after income tax, USC, PRSI and ASC.

What point of the scale am I on?

This is where most salary pages get it wrong. Your point is not always the same as your years of service, because one of the two scales carries incremental skips. Pick your situation:

You are on point 1
€93,698

The full pay scale, every point

Senior Engineer

Six ordinary points followed by two long service increments. The ordinary steps are tight, close to €2,300 each, while the two increments are considerably larger.

Point Gross / year Take-home / year Take-home / month
1€93,698€60,340€5,028
2€95,995€61,390€5,116
3€98,283€62,435€5,203
4€100,582€63,486€5,290
5€102,874€64,533€5,378
6€105,177€65,586€5,465
LSI 1€108,641€67,169€5,597
LSI 2€112,107€68,753€5,729

Take-home assumes a single person with the personal and employee tax credits, no other income, and ASC at Single Public Service Pension Scheme rates. Your main superannuation contribution is deducted separately and depends on your scheme.

What you earn in each year of your career

On the senior engineer scale scale you move up one point for each year of satisfactory service, with no skipped points. That means 12 years of service to reach the top.

Years of service Your point Gross salary
Year 1Point 1€93,698
Year 2Point 2€95,995
Year 3Point 3€98,283
Year 4Point 4€100,582
Year 5Point 5€102,874
Year 6Point 6€105,177
Year 9Long Service Increment 1€108,641
Year 12Long Service Increment 2€112,107

Progression is automatic on your incremental date as long as your service is satisfactory. Time spent on a career break or otherwise out of service pushes your incremental date back. The two Long Service Increments are not annual increments: they are paid for time served at the maximum of the scale, LSI 1 after 3 years and LSI 2 after 6 years. That is why they appear several years after the last point rather than one after the other.

What comes off your salary

Four deductions apply before your pay reaches your account, and one of them is specific to the public service.

Income tax, USC and PRSI

The same as any employee. Income tax at 20% up to €44,000 for a single person and 40% above, USC in bands from 0.5% to 8%, and PRSI at 4.2%.

ASC, the public service extra

The Additional Superannuation Contribution. Nothing on the first €34,500, then 3.33% to €60,000 and 3.5% above for Single Scheme members. Pre-2013 scheme members pay 10% and 10.5% on the same bands. It reduces your income tax but not your USC or PRSI.

One thing to be aware of: the take-home figures on this page include ASC but not your main superannuation contribution, which is charged separately and depends on which pension scheme you joined. Your actual net pay will be somewhat lower. We show ASC because its rates are published and identical for everyone, while the main contribution varies.

Questions people ask most

How much does a Senior Engineer earn in Ireland?
A Senior Engineer in a local authority starts on €93,698 a year and reaches €105,177 at the top of the ordinary scale. The two long service increments then bring it to €108,641 and finally €112,107. Figures come from Circular EL 04/2026, effective 1 June 2026.
What is the starting salary for a Senior Engineer?
€93,698 a year at point 1. That sits below the ceiling of the Senior Executive Engineer grade underneath it, which reaches €100,692 with both long service increments, so the two grades overlap by about €7,000.
How long does it take to reach the top of the Senior Engineer scale?
6 years to reach the top ordinary point of €105,177. The first long service increment follows after 3 further years at the maximum and the second after 6, so €112,107 arrives after 12 years in total.
How big are the increments on this scale?
The ordinary steps are tight, averaging about €2,300 a year. The two long service increments are noticeably larger at €3,464 and €3,466, so each one is worth roughly a year and a half of ordinary progression.
What is the difference between a Senior Executive Engineer and a Senior Engineer?
Senior Executive Engineer runs from €80,680 to €100,692 with both increments, and Senior Engineer from €93,698 to €112,107. Senior Engineer is typically a departmental head role, and the promotion is worth around €11,400 at the top of each grade.
What comes above Senior Engineer?
County Engineer, running from €100,515 to €123,263 with both long service increments. Above the engineering line sits Director of Service, from €115,332 to €136,300, and then the council's Chief Executive.
What are LSI1 and LSI2?
Long service increments, paid for time served at the maximum of the scale rather than as ordinary annual increments. LSI1 comes after 3 years at the maximum and LSI2 after 6 years.
How much ASC does a Senior Engineer pay?
The entire scale is well above €60,000, so nearly all of it attracts the top rate. A Single Public Service Pension Scheme member pays 3.5% on the portion above €60,000, while a member of a pre-2013 scheme pays 10.5% on the same portion. At this salary that difference is several hundred euro a month.
Is Senior Engineer pay the same in every council?
Yes. The engineering scales are national and set by circular, so the same point pays the same in every county and city council. There is no Dublin weighting, unlike the Chief Executive post which is banded by the size of the authority.
When do local government salaries increase next?
These rates come from the Public Service Agreement 2024-2026, which applied a 1% increase on 1 June 2026. That agreement is in its final year, so the next rates depend on the agreement that succeeds it. We update this page when a new circular is published.

Where these figures come from

Every euro figure on this page is taken from the official circulars below, not from salary surveys or crowd-sourced averages. Last checked 2026-08-13.

More public sector pay:

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