Negotiating your salary in tech in Ireland.

You are not negotiating against a person, you are negotiating against a range the employer has already decided. Your job is to find that range first.

• Read live job ads for the same title and level in Ireland and note every posted range, even from companies you would not join.
• Check the published salary surveys from Irish recruiters, which are free and updated yearly, and treat them as a rough band rather than a promise.
• Ask two or three people in the community privately what a role at that level pays where they work. This is the number that ads never show.
• Write down three figures: the lowest you would accept, the number you will say out loud, and the number you would be delighted with.

Pay transparency rules in the EU are moving towards employers having to share pay ranges with candidates, so asking for the band is becoming a normal question rather than a bold one. Ask it early: "What range is this role budgeted at?"

A negotiation is a short conversation that rests on preparation you did weeks earlier. Keep a running file of what you have actually delivered, in plain outcomes, not tasks.

• One line per achievement: what changed, by how much, and over what period.
• Anything with a number attached: time saved, incidents reduced, revenue supported, users onboarded, a release you owned.
• Scope you have taken on since your salary was last set: new systems, mentoring, on-call, stakeholder ownership.
• Two sentences on what you are being paid for now versus what you were hired to do.

If the list is thin, that is useful information too. It usually means the work is invisible rather than absent, which is a different problem to solve first.

Do not raise pay in a corridor or at the end of an unrelated one-to-one. Ask for a short, dedicated conversation and say what it is about, so your manager can prepare rather than deflect.

A simple opener that works: "I would like to talk about my salary. I have taken on significantly more scope this year and I want to make sure my pay reflects the level I am working at. Can we set aside fifteen minutes this week?"

When an offer or a figure lands, do not answer immediately. "Thank you, I would like to take a day to look at the whole package" is a complete sentence and it costs you nothing.

• If the number is below your band, say so with the evidence: the range you have researched and the scope you carry.
• Counter with one specific figure, not a range. A range invites the lower end.
• If base pay is genuinely fixed, negotiate the rest: a review date in writing, a title change, a training budget, pension contribution, annual leave, remote days.
• Get whatever is agreed confirmed in writing, including the date of any promised review.

A no now is not a no forever, but it does need a follow-up. Ask what specifically would need to be true for the increase to happen, agree a date to revisit it, and write both down. If the answer is vague twice in a row, you have learned something about whether the next move is internal or external.