How much should I pay my team? UK startup salaries revealed

As a founder, getting your team’s pay right can feel like a guessing game – but it doesn’t have to be. Offering competitive salaries is key to attracting and keeping the right talent, but it can be tricky to know what’s fair in the fast-paced world of UK startups.

At SeedLegals, we’ve got access to real salary data from thousands of startups using our platform. In this post, we’ll share what those startups are paying across a range of roles, so you can make informed decisions to keep your team and your (fairly compensated) CFO happy.

About our data

In this report, we dive into the 74,000+ UK employment contracts created on SeedLegals in the past two years.

The figures show the median salaries offered by startups using SeedLegals across different roles and company sizes, from companies making their first hire to teams of more than 30 employees. It’s a snapshot of what founders on our platform are paying their teams.

It’s worth noting that we’re only looking at startups that use SeedLegals, rather than the entire UK startup ecosystem. So while the data can help you understand how similar companies approach compensation, it shouldn’t be treated as a definitive benchmark for every startup in the UK.

Company size really does matter when it comes to salaries. You’ll see big differences between what small and large early-stage companies offer, especially for roles like CTO. That’s why we’ve broken our data down by company size. This way, you can easily spot how salaries change as your business grows, and make sure you’re staying competitive at every stage.

How much to pay your executive team

In most startups, the executive team is often made up of the founding members; the people who were there from day one, taking the risks and making the foundational decisions that shape the business. The CEO is likely the founder, while roles like CTO and COO are often filled by close, trusted team members who’ve been part of the startup’s journey from the start. Unlike later hires, the exec team is invested on multiple levels: they’re not just building the business, they’re building their future.

That said, even founders need to pay themselves and their leadership team competitively. If you’re planning to pitch for angel or institutional investment, investors will want to know that their capital is going into building a successful business – not paying (what might seem to them) inflated salaries.

In the graph below, we reveal the median salaries for the key exec roles in UK startups using SeedLegals, so you can see what’s typical for founders and their core team across different company sizes.

How much to pay department heads and other key leadership roles

Here’s a broad idea of what UK startups using SeedLegals are paying for key leadership roles. These positions are critical as startups scale, helping to drive growth, build teams, and shape the future of the business.

How much to pay your tech team

The tech team is the backbone of most startups, especially those driven by innovation and product development. From building and maintaining the product to scaling infrastructure as the company grows, the roles within this team, particularly engineering and product leadership, are essential.

How much to pay your product team

The product team is the creative engine that shapes a startup’s offerings, with roles like product managers and product designers working together to build solutions that resonate with users. Beyond designing and managing features, they collaborate closely with tech, sales, and customer support to ensure the product evolves with market needs.

How much base salary to pay your sales and marketing teams

A startup’s sales and marketing teams often wear many hats to drive growth and visibility. In addition to their core responsibilities of attracting customers and closing deals, these teams frequently plug gaps across the business – whether it’s helping with customer support, shaping product strategies or managing partnerships.

Talk to the startup experts

Get ready for growth with the all-in-one platform for startups. On SeedLegals, you can:

• Build and manage your cap table
• Create essential contracts, such as employment agreements, NDAs and IP assignments
• Lock in SEIS/EIS tax relief for investors
• Take investment through a funding round or raise smaller sums of money with SeedFAST or Instant Investment
• Create and manage option schemes to compensate your team with equity
• Claim a portion of your dev expenses back through R&D tax relief

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