Job offered as project manager in Sao Paulo : advice needed

Hi

To live well don do for less thanm 12'000 reais. That is minimum to be in a good standard in SP

12000 reais net or gross ?

as you plan to be inm a medium standard level, I will say NET in your pocket. São Paulo is the MOST expensive city in Brazil

Hi pcosman,



First of, on behalf of the entire Expat-blog Team welcome on board. I hope you will find your experience here both enjoyable and informative.

To answer your question, given that most middle management positions in IT start around R$7 - 8 thousand per month, anything above that you're being offered will mean that much better your lifestyle will be.

There are other aspects of Labor Law in Brazil that you might not be aware of that will affect your contract and income as well, such as the 13° salário (an extra month's salary paid at Christmas time), your holidays, meal allowances, etc., that you may not have been informed about. You will need to ask about them.

One real concern is the high cost of shipping household furnishings (very prohibitive), so you might want to inquire if they will pay or at least subsidize those expenses. If not you might find in much more expedient to simply buy eveything new here. Bring only those things of sentimental value or that simply cannot be replaces. Also appliances and electronics may not work here or may require extensive modifications. Also there is the question of them not being type approved by Inmetro (Brazil's standards agency). This could lead to future legal liability questions if something goes wrong.

Since the company is providing a car, at least in the beginning you may want to find out if they will also provide a driver since obtaining permission to drive on your home country driver's license is only valid for 180 days and getting a Brazilian driver's license is so bureaucratic and difficult.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Thanks for the info.

Yes, they told me that the montly salary comes with a 13th month (like here in Belgium too) + meal allowances.

I'm not really planning to move much stuff. I rather buy new stuff in Brazil.

In this function I would need to drive by car a lot in the country. So constantly having a driver for me sounds unrealistic.

I suppose you are also talking about net 7000-8000 R$ per month ?  They are offering around those numbers.

I know that the normal vacation time in Brazil is 30 days but I don't know if there are lots of other legal holidays ?

What would be the nicest city to live in ? Sao Paulo or Rio ?

Hi pcosman,

You will have to work for one year in order to qualify for the holidays, until then you will actually most likely just get paid out for them.

There are about 12 national holidays in Brazil so you will find lots of long weekends. Traditionally here too, when a holiday falls on a Thursday or Tuesday, many people simply do not show up for work on the Friday or Monday. Some companies actually just close the doors on those days knowing it's going to happen.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team