Senior HR Professionals Salary Guide 2026
The HR Search Senior Leadership Salary Survey Guide for Ireland in 2025 leverages insights from Irish HR professionals to clarify market dynamics, professional motivations, and expectations across the HR landscape. This comprehensive survey aims to inform strategic decisions on talent retention and recruitment, including key questions like: what should an HR Senior Leadership professional be earning in 2025? Our sincere gratitude to all contributing clients, candidates, and partners.
Senior HR Leaders are executive-level professionals responsible for shaping and executing an organisation’s people strategy to drive business performance. They oversee the full spectrum of HR functions including talent acquisition, development, rewards, organisational design and culture and act as strategic partners to the executive team. Their goal is to ensure that workforce capability, engagement and organisational effectiveness align closely with business objectives.
Context and Key Challenges
- Geopolitical instability, trade and tariff uncertainty and the rapid adoption of AI are all placing increased pressure on senior HR leadership.
- Across many organisations there is a growing emphasis on resilience, agility and growth mindset. As a result strategic HR business partnering and real-time workforce planning are in greater demand than ever.
- LTIPs, equity and total rewards remain critical levers in attracting and retaining senior HR talent particularly in competitive multinational
environments. - At the same time cost control pressures in certain sectors are prompting some organisations to re-evaluate priorities potentially placing greater focus on efficiency and ROI and in some cases slowing expansion of DE&I and engagement initiatives.
- Transformation skills especially those linked to digitalisation, AI integration and hybrid work models continue to be highly valued and frequently cited as differentiators among senior candidates.
Opportunities and Shifts into 2026
- Growing demand for HR roles that bridge strategy and execution such as HR Business Partnering, People Analytics and Change and
Transformation. - Upward pressure on compensation in high-performing sectors like technology, pharmaceuticals and global financial services.
- Increased scrutiny of total rewards, LTIPs and equity packages as organisations balance competitiveness with governance.
- Outsourcing and automation of transactional HR work allowing senior in-house leaders to focus more on strategic impact and culture.
- Succession and retention of senior HR leaders are increasingly becoming board-level discussions in mature organisations reflecting the strategic importance of the HR function.
What are the current salaries for Senior HR Professionals in Ireland?
| Title/Level | Low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global CHRO / Global CPO | €200,000 | €250,000 | €280,000+ |
| Irish CHRO/CPO | €150,000 | €170,000 | €190,000+ |
| HR Director (large domestic) | €140,000 | €160,000 | €180,000+ |
| Head of HR (SME/Divisional) | €100,000 | €120,000 | €130,000+ |
Key Notes
- Typical total compensation adds 20–35% through bonus, LTIPs and/ or equity particularly for C-suite roles.
- Tech, pharma and Financial Services trend higher with the public sector remaining banded with modest increases.
Takeaway
HR remains a critical C-suite function. Demand is rising for leaders who combine transformation capability, analytical insight and resilience with compensation continuing to trend upwards though strongly sector dependent. The divide between transactional HR and strategic HR continues to widen underscoring the need for adaptable forward-looking HR leadership.
