As part of our series on average salary ranges around the world for software developers and IT specialists, broken down by role and expertise in popular programming languages, frameworks and technologies, our focus here is Kotlin developer salary and rates ranges. While there has been a significant recent contraction of the gap between how comparable IT specialists earn in different parts of the world, differences still do exist.
If you are a Kotlin developer or you employ or plan to recruit or contract developers with expertise in Kotlin, you can use the information provided here as a benchmark for your salary or the costs you can expect to incur. Please keep firmly in mind that these figures should be treated as a broad overview. The salary or cost of a Kotlin developer with a specific broader tech stack and professional experience may vary significantly from these average ranges, especially at more senior levels.
It must also be highlighted that our data sources are popular job sites with variations in the methodologies used to collate the data figures are based on. Specifics on methodology are usually not provided and there is a clear danger of bias compromising the data. Examples include the profile of the salaries that comprise the data set not representing a good cross-section of the market and small data sample sizes that don’t fully reflect the full market.
Where our experience as a regular recruiter of software developers across a variety of tech stacks and international markets conflicts with the data sources presented, we will highlight this.
Quick Takeaway – average salary of Kotlin developers around the world
The international markets we have chosen to cover as a snapshot of Kotlin developer salary levels around the world, and the average salaries according to the data sources presented, are:
- Germany – €65,000 p.a. (per annum) / €5417 p.m. (per month)
- Switzerland – CHF105,000 (€109,230) p.a. / CHF8750 (€9103) p.m.
- The United Kingdom – £75,000 (€85,417) p.a. / £6250 (€7118) p.m.
- Poland – PLN204,000 (€42,000) p.a. / PLN17,000 (€3503) p.m.
- Ukraine – $42,000-$48,000 p.a. / $3500-$4000 p.m.
- India – ₹900,000 (€11,323) p.a. / ₹75,000 (€944) p.m.
- The United States of America – $130,000 p.a. / $10,833 p.m.
You may also be interested in our related research covering the international salary ranges commanded by other mobile developers with knowledge of Flutter, React Native, Java and Dart.
Kotlin developer rates
If your strategic decision is to contract Kotlin developers through an IT outsourcing company instead of hiring directly as an employer, you need to be aware of average rate ranges, which are not the same as salary ranges. When contracting an IT specialist via an IT outsourcer, you can expect to cover the cost of the individual’s salary and any related taxes plus a margin which is usually somewhere around 30%.
Depending on the international market you are hiring in, whether locally, nearshore or offshore, you can add around 30% onto the average salary ranges provided below to arrive at an approximate estimation of the rates you can expect to pay for Kotlin developers. While this means your monthly costs will be higher than they would be if you hired directly and paid a monthly salary, overall costs may come in significantly cheaper.
This is because you will usually avoid recruitment expenses such as fees paid to a recruitment partner and can scale the IT specialists available to work on your projects up and down with the cycles, avoiding paying significant salaries during periods workload is lower. Other advantages include avoiding the administrative headache of dealing with international payroll and potentially expensive mistakes being made if recruiting in a market you are not familiar with.
Kotlin developer salary range in Germany
Germany is a generally high salary economy, especially for senior IT roles. The tax obligations of employers are also high and should be taken into consideration when estimating the overall cost of recruiting a Kotlin developer locally. The figures presented here are national averages and there is some variation between the country’s regions. For example, you might add 10% if you wish to hire in more expensive cities like Munich or Stuttgart and subtract 10% if hiring locally in former East Germany.
Data presented by the specialist jobs portal germantechjobs.de indicates the average annual salary for a Kotlin developer is €65,000 a year or €5417 a month. At the lower end of the scale, more junior Kotlin developer roles in the bottom 10th percentile of salaries bring in an average of €50,000 a year or €4167 a month. Kotlin developers employed in Germany with a salary in the top 10th percentile can earn up to €80,000 a year or €6667 a month.
Source: GermanTechJobs.de
Another of our favoured data sources for IT specialist salaries in Germany is de.talent.com. The jobs portal doesn’t, unfortunately, offer salary data for Kotlin developers specifically so we’ll have to refer to the broader category of ‘Android developer’.
Based on 228 salaries, the data matches up very closely to that of our other source. The average Kotlin developer salary is again given as €65,000 a year or €5417 a month. The lower end of the scale starts at the higher level of €54,000 a year or €4500 a month. However, that is probably unrealistically high for junior roles where the developer is unable to yet work unsupervised.
The de.talent data indicates the best paid Android developers in Germany earn up to an average of around €84,600 a year or €7050 a month.
Source: de.talent.com
Kotlin developer salary range in Switzerland
Switzerland is one of the highest salary economies in the world and that is reflected in the remuneration software developers and other IT specialists hired locally can command. Data for average Kotlin developer salary ranges in Switzerland published by SwissDevJobs.ch, the specialist jobs portal for IT roles, puts the median average in the country at CHF105,000 (€109,230) a year or CHF8750 (€9103) a month.
Kotlin developers based in Switzerland who earn salaries in the bottom 10th percentile bring in CHF82,500 (€85,824) a year or CHF6875 (€7152) a month while the highest 10% of earners in senior Kotlin developer roles can make up to CHF125,000 (€130,036) a year or CHF10,417 (€10,837) a month.
Source: SwissDevJobs.ch
The jobs portal ch.talent.com again offers figures for the broader category of Android developers rather than Kotlin developers specifically but they match up closely with our other data source. The median Android developer salary in Switzerland is, based on a relatively small data set of 40 salaries, given as CHF110,000 (€114,423) annually and CHF9167 (€6536) monthly, just slightly higher than the Kotlin salary figures indicated by our other source.
At the lower end of the scale, more junior Android developer roles are given as offering salaries starting at CHF78,000 (€81,143) a year or CHF6500 (€6762) a month. The best-paid Android developers in Switzerland can earn up to CHF139,000 (€144,600) a year or CHF11,583 (€12,050) a month, which is significantly higher than the top of the range for Kotlin developers given by SwissDevJobs.ch.
Source: ch.talent.com
Kotlin developer salary range in the United Kingdom
While the UK economy is second to Germany’s in the table of European GDPs, it employs more IT specialists including Kotlin developers. Also a relatively high salary economy, the jobs portal uk.talent.com, which does offer salary data for the UK specifically for Kotlin developers rather than Android developers, puts the average annual income for the mobile programming language at £75,000 (€85,417) or £6250 (€7118) a month, based on a data sample of 497 salaries.
At the lower end of the range, the average junior Kotlin developer salary is given as £57,500 (€65,486) a year or £4792 (€5458) a month. The best-paid Kotlin developer roles in the UK offer salaries of up to £90,000 (€102,500) a year or £7500 (€8542) a month.
Source: uk.talent.com
Our other preferred IT salaries data source for the UK, ITjobsWatch.co.uk, puts the median Kotlin developer salary in the UK at a very similar £77,500 (€88,264) a year or £6458 (€7355) a month. We can also see a significant rise in the number of roles for Kotlin developers being advertised with 2514 permanent jobs citing Kotlin advertised over the six-month period to the end of September 2022 compared to 1963 jobs over the same period a year earlier. In 2020 just 766 jobs cited Kotlin over the same six-month period.
The ITjobsWatch data, based on 943 quoted salaries, puts the average annual income for junior Kotlin developers in the bottom 10th percentile of salaries at £45,000 (€51,250) a year or £3750 (€4271) a month. That sounds more realistic for junior roles than the £57,500 indicated by uk.talent.com, suggesting its data sample does not include such positions.
In the 90th percentile, the top 10% of salaries, the average UK Kotlin developer salary is given as reaching as much as £120,000 (€136,667) a year or £10,000 (€11,389) a month.
Source: ITjobsWatch.co.uk
Kotlin developer salary range in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a popular IT outsourcing destination for companies from higher salary economies in Western Europe and North America. While the gap between salary ranges in the region, especially for more senior software development roles, and those in higher salary economies has contracted significantly in recent years, it still exists. Most East European nations also have much lower taxes than in more developed economies, meaning the overall costs to hire or contract IT specialists from the region are lower than the difference in average salary ranges might suggest.
The Eastern Europe region, which also often includes countries like Turkey that straddles Europe and Asia and Central Asian nations like Azerbaijan in the context of near and midshore IT outsourcing, is comprised of a significant number of national markets. Average salary levels can vary significantly between the countries of Eastern Europe but IT specialist salaries are becoming increasingly similar across the region.
For example, until recently software developers from Azerbaijan earned significantly less than those from Poland or Ukraine but that is often no longer the case, especially when it comes to more senior roles. Here we’ll look at salary data from the region’s two largest markets for IT specialists:
- Poland
- Ukraine
Average salary ranges in these two countries will give you a good snapshot of the region. If you would like an estimate for salaries or rates for Kotlin developers based in Eastern Europe with a particular tech stack and level of seniority, please do get in touch. K&C actively recruits IT specialists and software developers from across the region and can offer accurate real-time estimates based on the current market. Drop us an enquiry via the form at the bottom of this page or hit the ‘contact us’ button in the site navigation bar at the top.
Kotlin developer salary range in Poland
Poland hosts Eastern Europe’s largest pool of IT specialists, with over 400,000 estimated to live and work in the country. Time zone compatibility, the average level of proficiency in English and sometimes German and convenient travel logistics from Western Europe combined with a large number of talented developers make Poland a popular IT outsourcing destination for some of the largest tech companies in the world and thousands of others.
Data provided by the Polish jobs site pl.talent.com puts the average Android developer salary in the country at PLN88,800 (€18,134) a year or PLN7400 (€1525) a month based on a sample of 187 salaries. At the lower end of the range, junior Android developer roles start at PLN63,000 (€12,983) a year or PLN5250 (€1082) a month and the top end of the range is given as PLN108,000 (€22,245) a year or PLN9000 (€1855) a month.
Source: pl.talent.com
However, our direct experience on the market suggests these figures are much lower than the market reality. That’s backed up by live jobs ads on the portal NoFluffJobs, which requires all ads publish salary ranges. These indicate the salary range for advanced to senior mobile developers with Kotlin is actually PLN17,000 (€3503) to PLN30,000 (€6182) a month or PLN204,000 to PLN360,000 a year, which aligns with our experience on the Polish market.
Source: NoFluffJobs.com/pl/
Kotlin developer salary range in Ukraine
Despite the difficult circumstance in Ukraine since the country was invaded by Russia in early 2022, its booming IT services exports sector has proven remarkably robust and continues to operate with minimal interruption. Ukraine-based IT specialists have largely relocated to safe regions in the country and the majority of Western employers and project sponsors have continued to maintain professional relationships.
Data from the specialist Ukrainian IT jobs portal djinni.co indicates that the average monthly salary for an Android developer in Ukraine, a Kotlin-specific breakdown is not provided, earn an average of around $3500-$4000 (with the dollar and euro currently at almost exact parity we will not provide conversions) a month or $42,000-$48,000 a year. That is, as our experience would indicate should be expected, roughly the same as in Poland.
The data shows junior Android developer roles in Poland offer average salary ranges starting at $500-$1500 a month or $7000-$21,000 a year while the senior roles pay between $5000-$7000 a month or $60,000 to $84,000.
Source: djinni.co
Kotlin developer salary range in India
India’s low-salary economy, and huge population have long established it as the world’s largest outsourcing market and it is also the world’s largest IT outsourcing market. India is home to hundreds of thousands of highly talented senior IT specialists and millions of professionals at mid to junior level. While India is traditionally seen as a budget IT outsourcing destination, at the most senior level, salaries are now getting close to the figures seen in Eastern Europe. But savings are still achievable and become more marked the lower down the seniority scale positions are.
Data available on average software developer salaries in India tends to be skewed by the large numbers of more junior roles recruited for in the country. As such, view the figures below as relevant to junior to mid-level Kotlin developers and consider the salaries data presented for Eastern Europe as a more accurate benchmark for senior roles.
The average Kotlin developer salary in India is, according to data from in.talent.com is, based on 259 salaries, ₹900,000 (€11,323) a year or ₹75,000 (€944) a month. Junior Kotlin roles start at ₹450,000 (€5658) a year or ₹37,500 (€471) a month while the upper end of the scale suggests salaries of up to ₹2,230,000 (€28,038) a year or ₹185,833 (€2337) a month.
Source: in.talent.com
Another data source for Kotlin salaries in India is PayScale. It puts the average salary for a Kotlin developer in the country at a slightly lower ₹813,866 (€10,233). However, the data sample the figures are based on is only 17 salaries and we believe reflects only the salary range for junior to mid-level Kotlin developers.
Source: PayScale
Kotlin developer salary range in the USA
The United States of America is both the world’s largest economy and largest employer of IT specialists. It’s also a relatively high-wage economy and the demand-to-supply imbalance for qualified coders like Kotlin developers means salaries are significant.
Data presented by the jobs portal talent.com, based on 321 salaries puts the average Kotlin developer salary in the USA at a whopping $130,000 a year or $10,833 a month. Even at the low end of the range given, less senior Android developers with Kotlin earn $107,250 a year or $8938 a month. The highest-paid Kotlin developers in the USA can earn as much as $160,000 a year or $13,333 a month.
Source: talent.com
Our other favoured data source for IT salaries in the USA, ZipRecruiter, puts the median average salary for a Kotlin developer at an even higher $142,823 a year or $11,901 a month. However, the lower end of the scale shows Kotlin developer salaries starting at $83,000 a year or $6197 a month, which sounds more realistic for less experienced professionals than north of $100,000.
ZipRecruiter’s data indicates the highest paid Kotlin developers in the USA can earn up to an impressive $193,000 a year or $16,083 a month.
Source: ZipRecruiter
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