Design Engineer Salary in Budapest

Hi All,

I am from the UK and looking to move to Budapest with my Hungarian wife and 2 year old son.

I have an idea of how much I could earn from reading through these forums but salaries seem to vary quite a lot. Does anyone have a more accurate idea of how much an experienced Design Engineer could expect to earn working for a multinational company in Budapest? I know it will be less than in the UK but hoping that the lower cost of living will counter this.

Thanks,
David

@DaviPer: From the research I've done, salaries seem to vary a lot depending on your field, position, and hiring company. What kind of background do you have? "Design Engineering" is as obscure a title as "Systems Engineer".

I suggest taking a look at www.glassdoors.com and see if there are company reviews or salaries posted for a similar position. Along with using Numbeo.com I figured a salary of about 500k ft/month is about right for someone like me (5+ years engineering experience, M.Sc., computer/electrical engineering, doing software testing at a multinational telecomm company). On the other hand, Glassdoors showed salaries averaging HUF 700k/month for a software developer at other companies. In essence, the salary I'm being offered is above average for Hungary, but slightly under average for the field and position.

@Kenyo00 Thanks for the glassdoors.com tip, some useful info on there. Apologies for being vague about the job title. I am a Mechanical Design Engineer currently working in Aerospace but also have experience in Automotive and Oil and Gas, as well as some electrical. I have around 8 years experience in total and B.Sc in engineering. I'm not really fussy about the industry I go into as I can get myself interested in most things, as long as there is a challenge there.

Is the salary you have been offered gross or net?

Hi David,

Design Engineer Salary in Budapest can be cca 250.000.- HUF pro month

Rgds/K.

Hi David,
Oil and Gas = MOL for Hungary, while Automotive boils down to West (Győr with Audi and it's suppliers), North (Suzuki, probably not for you) and South-East (Kecskemét with Mercedes and it's suppliers). I believe you'd be better off to target Audi & MOL. Aerospace is pretty limited in Hungary - I think.
I have checked and Glassdoor is not really helping for MOL (too few positions) or Audi (none for Hungary) though.
Another still geographical thing is that MOL is headquartered in Budapest.
Let us know how your plans are going!

@DavidPer: The salary I was offered is brutto. I'd expect to net between 250k and 350 HUF/month.

From what I've observed, you'd probably fit in a design position with a company like General Electric (e.g., GE Lightning) or Bosch, who actually have mechanical/electrical engineering product design positions. There seem to be a good number of product design positions supporting the auto industry, not so much aerospace.

@szetter: I assume you mean 250k HUF/month net?