What is the actual average software developer salary in Ukraine?

Ukraine continues to be a sweet spot for software development outsourcing, offering the best price to quality ratio. If you are planning to hire a Ukrainian programmer, you should know that the average developer salary in Ukraine ranges between \$2K and \$5K a month. 

Depending on their experience and level of workplace responsibility, the annual salary of a Ukrainian developer in Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Lviv can be as low as \$24K or reach over \$72K.

In Ukraine, the average salary for a senior software developer is \$51K a year or around \$4,250 a month. A middle-level software developer earns about \$3K a month, and the annual remuneration for such programmers adds up to \$35K. The entry-level salary for a software developer in Ukraine starts at \$1.1K a month and can reach up to \$2.2 K, which amounts to \$13-22K a year.

All the data on the average salaries of software developers we use throughout the article was aggregated from such industry-related platforms as PayScale, Accelerance, and SalaryExpert. To provide you with more insights into the local market, we have also consulted the materials published on DOU.UA, which is one of the largest online tech communities in Ukraine.

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JavaScript is an absolute favorite of programmers all around the world. This technology is a primary coding tool for 13.8M tech professionals worldwide. The Ukrainian JavaScript community has about 8K active members. According to our LinkedIn research, Ukraine has about 3K senior developers, 3K middle-level engineers, and more than 2K junior specialists working with this programming language.

According to PayScale and SalaryExpert, the average monthly salary of a full-stack JavaScript developer in Ukraine is \$3.6K a month. While it is one of the most popular programming languages, JavaScript specialists are still in high demand. This points to the considerably high salaries of front-end developers in Western countries. However, our research showed that average developer rates in Ukraine are much more affordable than in the US or the UK.

A senior full-stack JavaScript developer makes \$57K a year. Bear in mind that the salaries of software engineers in Ukraine also vary from city to city.

The annual salary of a middle JavaScript developer in Ukraine is \$33K. The average monthly salary, therefore, is around \$2.7K. 

An entry-level specialist earns a little bit over \$19K a year. Thus, you can hire a junior JavaScript software developer in Ukraine for about \$1.6K a month.

Python is in high demand within the Ukrainian tech industry, second only to JavaScript. The local IT community counts more than 2K Python developers, located in the country’s main technology hubs ‒ Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Lviv.

PayScale and Glassdoor indicate that the average Python software developer salary in Ukraine can reach \$3.8K a month. For an entry-level engineer, the salary can start as low as \$1K a month, while senior specialists can earn up to \$6.5K.

The average salary of a senior Python developer in Ukraine is \$4.8K a month and can reach \$57K a year. A team lead earns around \$76K a year, and the annual salary of a solution architect reaches \$78K.

A middle-level Python developer earns around \$2.8K a month, which results in an annual salary of approximately \$34K a year.

The average monthly salary of a junior Python engineer is around \$1.6K a month, and it totals up to nearly \$20K a year.

Java may be old-school, but it’s still one of the most sought-after programming languages. Ukraine earned a leading position in the number of Java developers worldwide with around 5K senior, 2K middle, and 2K junior programmers.

The average salary for a Ukrainian developer with 5+ years of experience starts at \$4.7K a month, which amounts to \$56K a year.

The salary of a middle Java developer in Ukraine is \$2.7K a month. The average annual remuneration hovers at around \$32K.

A junior Java software engineer earns about \$1.5K a month, which adds up to about \$18K at the end of the year.

The staggering number of PHP software developers in Ukraine makes the country the world’s leader in the category. The country is home to more than 9K tech specialists working with this language. There are 5K senior developers, 3K mid-level engineers, and 1K junior programmers living in Ukraine.

A senior developer with more than 4 years of experience can expect an annual salary of \$51K. Tech or team lead working with PHP earns about \$5.5K a month. An average salary of a software architect is \$6K a month, which amounts to \$72K a year.

The salary of a middle PHP software developer in Ukraine ranges between \$2.2K and \$3.5K a month, resulting in an annual salary between \$26K and \$42K.

Junior PHP engineers in Ukraine earn around \$1.6K a month. The total annual salary of an entry-level software developer can reach up to \$26K.

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According to PayScale, a developer with deep knowledge of .NET tools and more than 5 years of work experience makes on average $68K a year.

The average salary of a senior .NET developer in Ukraine is \$4.7K a month, which adds up to \$57K per year.

A middle .NET programmer makes more than \$3K a month. The annual salary of a programmer with 2+ years of experience is about \$39K.

In Ukraine, an entry-level .NET software developer earns around \$1.7K a month, which totals up to more than \$20K per year.

DevOps engineers are some of the most wanted specialists in the tech world. According to Accelerance and PayScale, an average salary for a mature professional with 3+ years of experience is \$7K a month. The average annual senior DevOps engineer salary in Ukraine ranges between \$72K and \$96K a year. A middle-level specialist earns between \$2.5K and \$5K a month, which is \$30K – \$60K a year.

The structure of a software developer’s salary can vary depending on the type of company, popularity of the language, programmers’ expertise and their level of responsibility. Let’s take a closer look at these factors:

There are two main business models software development outsourcing vendors use in Ukraine — IT outsourcing and IT outstaffing. 

IT outsourcing is a business practice of using an external service provider to handle the entire project development. This model implies that the vendor forms a team responsible for product delivery from their in-house talent pool. 

As all the talent sourcing activities are performed by an outsourcing company, they define the financial side of the partnership. The hourly rate the vendor charges the client may include hidden costs that are not associated with the developer’s salary. The fee covers the wages of project managers, business analysts, other non-billable employees, developers on the bench, and administrative expenses.

IT outstaffing, also known as staff augmentation, has a different cost structure and is generally more transparent. Instead of delegating full responsibility for product delivery to their tech partner, the company directly manages their remote software developers.

According to the IT outstaffing model, the vendor helps the client find suitable software developers for their existing team. This model is popular among businesses that want to hire engineers with rare or special expertise they can’t find locally. It is also a good way to start if you want to build a team from scratch.

Within the staff augmentation model, each developer gets a larger share of salary because the outstaffing agency doesn’t need to cover the salaries of non-billable specialists.

The IT engaging model used by Grid Dynamics enables you to hire team augmentation talent or agile PODs for quick delivery while getting more value for what you pay for. 

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Salary-wise, top-tier languages such as Python and JavaScript are the most rewarding on the Ukrainian tech market. PHP and Java are in high demand as well, though they seem to be dropping in popularity, which has led to a slight salary decline.

A junior developer is an entry-level software engineer with one to two years of experience. A middle developer is a specialist that has been working in the tech industry for two to four years. To be considered a senior software engineer in Ukraine, a developer is expected to have more than three years of experience behind his back.

A developer’s salary is also defined by the responsibility they carry within the project. The hierarchy goes as follows: junior, middle, senior, team or technical lead, and solution architect. The higher the rank, the larger the salary.

The Ukrainian tech talent pool has already reached the mark of 250K developers. At the moment, there are more than 4K tech companies that provide software development services. Rapid growth makes Ukraine one of the largest IT hubs in Eastern Europe, second only to Poland.

The country can boast a vast and diverse software developer community. On LinkedIn alone, there are about 9K profiles of Ukrainian programmers specializing in PHP, 8K in JavaScript, and 8K in Java. About 3K developers use Python and 1K are qualified in Ruby on Rails.

Our research on the number of software developers in the world came up with the following findings:

• Despite a huge difference in population size, about 9K PHP developers reside in Ukraine while only 7K PHP engineers live in the US.
• Ukraine has more Python developers than the UK ‒ 3K vs. 2K.
• About 8K JavaScript developers work in Ukraine, meanwhile the UK tech market houses only 5K JavaScript engineers.
• There are more than 1K Ruby on Rails developers in Ukraine, while the UK has only seven hundred such engineers.

There are about 1K software development and product companies based in Kyiv. It is the largest IT hub in the country ‒ almost 50% of Ukrainian software developers live there.

A great number of tech businesses and a higher cost of living make Kyiv an attractive spot for developers from all over Ukraine.

Dnipro is home to 13K software developers. According to the Dnipro IT Community, 72% of the city’s tech population are individual entrepreneurs, with 24% of them being full-time employees.

Dnipro has 378 software development companies, 97% of which are small companies with up to 200 people. 

Kharkiv is one of the biggest IT hubs in the country, second only to Kyiv. It is home to 15% of Ukrainian tech professionals. According to DOU.UA, there are more than 32K software developers on the local market. The Kharkiv IT community is constantly expanding and in 2021 it grew by 12.8%.

The city boasts 500 tech service and product companies. In 2018, the aggregated turnover of Kharkiv tech firms reached \$962M.

Lviv is the fastest-growing tech hub in Ukraine. The region’s tech sector created more than 63K new jobs in related industries.

At the beginning of 2021, 29K software developers were living in Lviv. The city is actively growing its tech community, as local universities produce about 13K STEM graduates every year. In addition to that, tech companies in Lviv are heavily investing in further training of their tech specialists. Such programs cover not only newly-minted programmers but middle and senior-level developers as well. 

The average developer’s salary in Ukraine ranges between \$2K and \$5K a month, but it can vary depending on the city.

Grid Dynamics is a team augmentation service provider with more than 15 years of experience. We’re a multinational company that specializes in hiring software developers for clients from all around the world. 

FAQ

What are the average salaries for developers in Ukraine?

The average developer salary in Ukraine ranges between \$2K and \$5K a month. The annual salary of a software engineer in Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, and Lviv can be as low as \$24K or reach over \$72K in case of tech lead or solution architect.

What is the hourly rate for developers in Ukraine?

A median developer hourly rate in Ukraine is \$30–\$60. The final price depends on the engineer’s seniority level

Why choose Grid Dynamics as your talent sourcing provider?

Grid Dynamics has access to a vast pool of over 250K IT professionals in Ukraine and even more in Central Europe and Latin America. With Grid Dynamics you can hire one tech specialist or build an entire dedicated team. We can help you reduce time-to-hire and relocate the best candidates.