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Senior Executive Engineer salary in Ireland

Senior Executive Engineer is the senior professional engineering grade in an Irish county or city council, typically running a section or a major programme of works. This page has every point and the real take-home.

The short answer

A newly qualified senior executive engineer starts on €80,680 a year. After 13 years of service you reach the top of the scale on €100,692. Allowances for promoted posts and, for some teachers, qualifications are paid on top of these figures.

Starting salary
€80,680
about €4,533 a month take-home
Top of the scale
€100,692
about €5,295 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
€80,680

The full pay scale, every point

Senior Executive Engineer

Seven ordinary points followed by two long service increments, which between them are worth more than the last two ordinary steps combined.

Point Gross / year Take-home / year Take-home / month
1€80,680€54,391€4,533
2€83,153€55,521€4,627
3€84,338€56,062€4,672
4€86,828€57,200€4,767
5€89,339€58,348€4,862
6€91,842€59,492€4,958
7€94,364€60,644€5,054
LSI 1€97,533€62,092€5,174
LSI 2€100,692€63,536€5,295

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 executive engineer scale scale you move up one point for each year of satisfactory service, with no skipped points. That means 13 years of service to reach the top.

Years of service Your point Gross salary
Year 1Point 1€80,680
Year 2Point 2€83,153
Year 3Point 3€84,338
Year 4Point 4€86,828
Year 5Point 5€89,339
Year 6Point 6€91,842
Year 7Point 7€94,364
Year 10Long Service Increment 1€97,533
Year 13Long Service Increment 2€100,692

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 Executive Engineer earn in Ireland?
A Senior Executive Engineer in a local authority starts on €80,680 a year and reaches €94,364 at the top of the ordinary scale. The two long service increments then bring it to €97,533 and finally €100,692. Figures come from Circular EL 04/2026, effective 1 June 2026.
What is the starting salary for a Senior Executive Engineer?
€80,680 a year at point 1. That is very close to the ceiling of the Executive Engineer grade below, which reaches €84,596 with both its long service increments, so the two grades overlap at the join.
How long does it take to reach the top of the scale?
7 years to reach the top ordinary point of €94,364. The first long service increment follows after 3 further years at the maximum and the second after 6, so €100,692 arrives after 13 years in total.
How much do the long service increments add?
Together they add €6,328 above the last ordinary point, which is more than the last two ordinary increments combined. Ordinary steps on this scale average about €2,280, so the two long service increments are worth close to three years of normal progression.
What is the difference between an Executive Engineer and a Senior Executive Engineer?
Executive Engineer runs from €60,858 to €84,596 with both increments, and Senior Executive Engineer from €80,680 to €100,692. The bands overlap by about €4,000, so a long-serving Executive Engineer being promoted needs to be placed carefully to see a real gain.
What comes above Senior Executive Engineer?
Senior Engineer, running from €93,698 to €112,107 with both increments, and above that County Engineer, from €100,515 to €123,263.
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 Executive Engineer pay?
The whole scale is well above €60,000, so almost all of it attracts the top ASC rate. A Single Public Service Pension Scheme member pays 3.5% on everything over €60,000, while a member of a pre-2013 scheme pays 10.5% on the same portion, which at this salary is a substantial monthly difference.
Is engineering 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 for these grades.
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.

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