Most founders arrive at this question the same way. You have decided to hire your first salesperson, you search for what an account executive earns in Germany, and you get a median figure somewhere around 174,000 euros. You close the tab and reopen your financial model with a sinking feeling.

That number is real. It is also almost certainly not your number.

Here is what to pay, by role and by segment, where the figures come from, and the three things that matter more than the headline.

The short answer

If you are hiring an account executive in Germany in 2026, the number depends almost entirely on the segment you sell into. A seller working small business accounts sits at roughly 110,000 to 120,000 euros on target. In mid-market that rises to about 140,000, and in enterprise to about 200,000, with the enterprise figure still climbing. A sales development representative, if you need one at all, costs roughly 67,000 to 72,000 on target.

For leadership, a Head of Sales in SaaS starts at 200,000 on target and goes up from there, and should always sit above the highest-earning seller reporting to them. A VP Sales at Series B and beyond starts at 240,000.

The split between fixed salary and commission is usually 60/40 for account executives, and either 60/40 or 70/30 for sales leaders, though some companies run 50/50 throughout. Whatever the role, set quota at three to five times on-target earnings, and let the maturity of your organisation rather than the ambition of your plan decide which end of that range you use.

Everything below is where those numbers come from and how to apply them to your situation.

Why the number you googled is the wrong number

Search for account executive pay in Germany and you get the blended median across every account executive in the dataset. RepVue puts that at about 91,300 euros base and 174,300 on target.

Split the same dataset by segment and it looks very different. An SMB account executive sits at roughly 60,800 euros base and 108,800 on target. A mid-market account executive sits at about 75,200 base and 139,700 on target. An enterprise account executive sits at about 105,400 base and 201,600 on target.

The blended median of 174,300 sits closer to the enterprise figure than to the middle, because enterprise sellers pull the average up. If you are a Seed-stage company selling a 12,000 euro contract to a fifty-person customer, that median describes a job that has nothing to do with yours.

The first question is therefore not what does an account executive cost. It is what is my average contract value, and which segment does that put me in. Everything else follows from that.

What I see in practice

My own numbers come from live searches in funded SaaS and AI companies between Seed and Series B, across DACH, the UK, the Netherlands, the Nordics and France. They are observations from offers that were actually made and accepted, not survey data.

Two of my three numbers line up almost exactly with the published medians. At mid-market I see about 140,000 on target against a published 139,700. In enterprise I increasingly see about 200,000 against a published 201,600, and the direction of travel is upward. The exception is SMB, where I see about 120,000 against a published 108,800, so I sit meaningfully above.

The agreement at mid-market and enterprise is worth something on its own, because it means you can use the published segment data for those two roles with reasonable confidence. The divergence at SMB is the part that needs explaining, and the explanation is the practical lesson of this article.

An early-stage company asking for an SMB seller is asking for something the market median does not price. A seller joining a Series A company with no brand, no reference customers and no inbound has to generate their own pipeline and win deals on a story rather than on a logo. That is a materially harder job than selling SMB at an established vendor with a marketing engine behind it, and the people who can do it know that. Paying the broad SMB median at that stage reliably produces a weak shortlist, and the weakness shows up as a longer search rather than as a visible rejection.

The rule underneath it is this. Your package is not benchmarked against the market in general. It is benchmarked against the specific alternative your candidate is weighing. For an SMB seller sitting comfortably at an established vendor, that alternative is a good one, and you are asking them to leave it.

What a sales development representative costs

If you are considering outbound as a separate function, RepVue puts the German median for a sales development representative at roughly 46,800 to 48,400 euros base and 67,000 to 71,700 on target, with strong performers reaching around 112,600.

One caution belongs here rather than in a hiring plan. An SDR only pays for themselves when there is a closer with spare capacity and a defined motion to feed. At Seed stage there is usually neither, and the first commercial hire should be someone who can both create and close.

What leadership costs

Leadership compensation does not come from a benchmark table. It is set against the team.

The floor for a Head of Sales is the highest-earning individual contributor reporting to them. That matters more now than it did two years ago, because enterprise sellers in Germany are at roughly 200,000 on target. If your enterprise sellers are on 200,000, your Head of Sales starts above that, not at it.

This is also where published tables fail, and it is worth knowing so you can discard them. Several of the commonly quoted ranges for a German Head of Sales begin at around 140,000, which sits directly on top of the mid-market account executive median. That would put a leader managing three to eight people on the same on-target earnings as one of their own sellers. In SaaS that does not happen. Those figures do not appear to come from software businesses at all, and they should not be used to build a budget.

What I actually see is a Head of Sales in SaaS at 200,000 euros on target and upward, rising with the maturity of the organisation and with the segment of the team underneath. A Head of Sales over an enterprise-weighted team sits clearly higher, because the floor moves with the sellers. A VP Sales at Series B and beyond, with full revenue ownership and managers reporting in, sits at 240,000 on target and upward, rising with the size of the revenue base they own.

The step from Head of Sales to VP Sales is not an increment. The Head of Sales coaches sellers. The VP hires and manages managers and owns a forecast they can defend. Paying VP money for a Head of Sales job, or the reverse, is one of the most expensive errors at Series A, and it usually happens because the title was chosen before the job was defined.

The split matters more than the headline

Two offers at 140,000 on target can be completely different offers.

Some German companies run 50/50 base to variable throughout. In practice I more often see 60/40 for account executives, and 60/40 or 70/30 for sales leaders.

There is a reason leaders sit more fixed. A leader's variable component is tied to a team number they influence rather than control. The further someone sits from the individual deal, the less defensible a heavy variable becomes, and the more it simply reads as risk pushed downhill.

The same logic applies to your first commercial hire, for a different reason. A 50/50 split assumes the seller inherits pipeline. At Seed and early Series A there is no pipeline to inherit, so the seller spends the first two quarters creating it and earns little variable while doing so. The strong candidates model this in the first conversation and decline. The person who accepts has usually not modelled it, or had no better option.

The practical rule is that the less pipeline a seller inherits, and the further they sit from the individual deal, the more of their package has to be fixed. As inbound and a repeatable motion appear, the variable share can grow.

On-target earnings are not your cost

This is the part that changes the financial model, and almost nobody adjusts for it.

On-target earnings describe what the person earns at 100 percent of quota. RepVue's German data shows that about 44 percent of account executives hit quota in the last twelve months.

So on-target earnings are a ceiling, not an expected value. Your expected cash cost is closer to the base plus the variable multiplied by realistic attainment. On a 140,000 package at a 60/40 split, full attainment costs you 140,000, while 70 percent attainment costs about 123,000.

That cuts both ways, and the second direction is the important one. If far more than 44 percent of your team is hitting quota comfortably, your quota is probably too low. If almost nobody is, you have either a quota problem or a motion problem, and paying more will fix neither.

What the quota should be

Set quota at three to five times on-target earnings. What moves the number within that range is the maturity of the organisation, not the ambition of the plan.

Three times is the right multiple when the seller generates their own pipeline, carries a brand nobody has heard of, has no reference customers and no sales engineer behind them. On a 140,000 package that is a 420,000 euro number. Five times is right when inbound arrives on its own, the name is known, references are on call and enablement exists. The same package then carries 700,000.

The multiple exists because the seller costs you more than their earnings. Employer contributions, tooling, the marketing spend that produces their leads and their share of management all sit on top. Roughly, one part covers the seller, one part covers everything that makes selling possible, and one part is margin. Below three times, each additional seller costs more than they bring, and growth is just a faster way to spend the round.

The failure I see most often is a founder applying a mature company's multiple to an immature company's infrastructure. That is not an ambitious target. It is a target nobody will hit, and twelve months later the conclusion drawn is that the wrong people were hired.

On equity

German startups overwhelmingly grant virtual shares rather than real shares, usually a VSOP. Candidates know this and discount it heavily, more heavily than most founders expect.

The practical consequence for your offer is simple. Do not treat equity as part of the cash story. If your package is light on fixed salary and you are closing the gap with virtual shares, the strong candidates will read that as risk transferred to them, because that is what it is. Equity works as an upside argument on top of a credible cash package, not as a substitute for one.

Germany against the UK and France

If you are hiring across Europe, the three markets do not price the same.

On the same segments, a German account executive sits at about 108,800 euros on target in SMB, 139,700 in mid-market and 201,600 in enterprise. In the United Kingdom the equivalents are about 99,980 pounds, 122,500 and 184,900. France is reported as a blended figure rather than by segment, at roughly 80,700 euros base and 152,300 on target.

Converted at recent exchange rates, the UK sits somewhat above Germany at every segment, and France sits below both on the blended figure. Exchange rates move, so treat that ranking as indicative rather than fixed, and compare in the currency you will actually pay in.

Two things do not show up in the salary numbers and matter more than the gap between them. German notice periods are long by UK standards, which affects your start date far more than your budget. And a post-contractual non-compete in Germany is only enforceable if the employer pays compensation during the restricted period, which changes what it costs to hire someone out of a direct competitor.

The mistake that costs you the candidate

A package built for the wrong stage does not simply lose you the person you wanted. It selects against them.

Strong candidates read the structure in the first conversation. They work out how much pipeline exists, how long the ramp will be, and what they will realistically earn in year one. If the structure says the risk is theirs, they decline politely and you never learn why. The person who accepts a mispriced package is frequently the one without a better option, and you find that out in month nine.

So the sequence runs like this. Decide your segment. Set the package against the specific alternative your candidate is weighing. Choose a split that matches how much pipeline they inherit and how close they sit to the deal. Set the quota multiple against your actual maturity. The headline number is the last decision, not the first.

Frequently asked questions

What is a fair OTE for an account executive in Germany?

It depends on segment, not on seniority alone. RepVue's 2026 German data puts median on-target earnings at about 108,800 euros for SMB, 139,700 for mid-market and 201,600 for enterprise. In funded SaaS companies between Seed and Series B I see roughly 120,000, 140,000 and 200,000 respectively, with the enterprise number trending upward.

Why is the median account executive salary in Germany so high?

Because the blended median of about 174,300 euros mixes every segment together and is pulled upward by enterprise sellers. Use the segment figure that matches your average contract value instead.

What base to variable split should I offer a sales hire?

Some German companies run 50/50, but 60/40 is more common for account executives, and 60/40 or 70/30 for sales leaders. The split should follow two things: how much pipeline the seller inherits, and how close they sit to the individual deal. A first commercial hire creating their own pipeline needs a heavier fixed component than a seller joining an existing motion.

What does a Head of Sales cost in Germany?

In SaaS, 200,000 euros on target and upward, rising with the maturity of the organisation and the segment of the team underneath. Set the floor against the highest-earning seller who reports to them, never against a title. With enterprise sellers at around 200,000, a Head of Sales over that team starts above 200,000, not at it. Published ranges that begin near 140,000 are not credible for SaaS.

What does a VP Sales cost in Germany?

240,000 euros on target and upward at Series B and beyond, with full revenue ownership and managers reporting in, rising with the size of the revenue base. A Head of Sales and a VP Sales are different jobs, not different seniority levels of the same job. The Head of Sales coaches sellers, the VP hires and manages managers and owns the forecast.

How much should a sales quota be relative to OTE?

Three to five times on-target earnings. Three times when the seller generates their own pipeline with no brand and no references. Five times when inbound, references and enablement already exist. Maturity sets the multiple, not ambition.

What does an SDR cost in Germany?

About 46,800 to 48,400 euros base and 67,000 to 71,700 on target, per RepVue. Only worth hiring once there is a closer with spare capacity and a defined motion for them to feed.

Is it more expensive to hire sales in Germany or the UK?

At recent exchange rates the UK sits somewhat above Germany at every segment on published medians. The larger practical differences are not salary but notice periods and the fact that German post-contractual non-competes require the employer to pay compensation.

Does OTE mean that is what the hire will cost me?

No. On-target earnings assume 100 percent quota attainment, and only about 44 percent of account executives in Germany reached quota in the last twelve months. Model your cash cost as base plus variable times realistic attainment.

Sources

The published figures come from RepVue's salary data for Germany and the United Kingdom, 2026. That covers the account executive medians for base and on-target earnings by segment, the sales development representative medians, the blended account executive median, and the quota attainment rate. RepVue data is self-reported by sales professionals, which makes it current and granular, and also means individual figures should be read as medians of a self-selected sample rather than as audited payroll data.

Ravio's Compensation Trends work on European tech compensation provided market context across the UK, Germany and France.

Published leadership benchmarks for the German market were reviewed and deliberately not used. Several commonly quoted ranges for a Head of Sales begin at around 140,000 euros, which sits directly on top of the mid-market account executive median and would place a leader on the same on-target earnings as one of their own sellers. Those sources do not appear to be drawn from software businesses. The leadership figures here are my own observations.

The practitioner figures of approximately 120,000, 140,000 and 200,000 euros on target by segment, the Head of Sales floor of 200,000 and upward, the VP Sales floor of 240,000 and upward, the three to five times quota multiple and its link to organisational maturity, and the pay mix conventions are my own observations from live searches in funded SaaS and AI companies between Seed and Series B across DACH, the UK, the Netherlands, the Nordics and France. They are not survey data and are marked as observations throughout.

About the author

Bruce Kriaa is the founder of SaaSxperts, based in Dusseldorf. Twenty years in B2B and SaaS sales, from carrying a bag as an account executive to Sales Director and Head of Sales, before moving to the other side of the table. He places sales people in B2B SaaS and AI companies between Pre-Seed and Series B across DACH, the UK, the Netherlands, the Nordics and France.

Not sure your number is right?

If you are about to make an offer and you are not certain the package will hold up, send me four things: your average contract value, your average sales cycle length, the quota you intend to set, and your stage, so Seed, Series A and so on.

Those four tell me more than a job title ever will. The contract value tells me which segment you are actually in, which is the first thing that sets the number. The cycle length tells me how long the ramp will realistically be and how much pipeline the person has to carry themselves. The quota tells me whether the multiple works, and that is usually where the problem turns out to be. The stage tells me how much of the selling the company already does for them, which decides where in the three to five range you should sit and how much of the package has to be fixed.

I will come back with the on-target number I am currently seeing for that profile, the split I would use at your stage, and where a strong candidate is likely to push back. In writing, so you can take it into your next budget conversation.

If I do not have a clear read on that profile, I will say so rather than guess.

Message me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/bruce-kriaa. Put those four in the connection note and I will come back with the package.

And if the honest answer is that you do not have those numbers yet, that is a finding in itself, and it points at a different and more important question: which hire you actually need right now. I wrote about that here: which sales hire does your SaaS company need, an account executive, a Head of Sales, or a VP of Sales.