Salary Benchmarking for London 2012/2013
London will be always remembered for the Olympic Games in 2012 and rightly so. However, in the digital and advertising sector it will be remembered as the year of consolidation with some of the biggest names in the business being bought out. What effect this has on the market is yet to be seen.
Here at Cogs Agency we cover roles between £25k-£200K, both permanent and freelance for creative, client services, strategy, project management, user experience, technology, digital marketing and social media. We work across Europe and in Asia but this piece is focused purely on London.
At Cogs, we have around 120 clients in London which include London’s best creative agencies, technology businesses and global brands. As we approach the end of 2012 we wanted to share our knowledge about the state of the job market here:
London is a very competitive market. There are small agencies being born and others coming in from across the pond, there are large integrated agencies continuing to buy in digital talent, production agencies continually seeking the very best people possible and there are big brands building internal teams as ecommerce reaches new heights.
In the creative sector we’ve noticed a tendency towards shorter freelance contracts and overtime is seen as a luxury. There has also been a drop in freelance creative roles but a steady increase within design and production contracts.
Development has continued to see increases in day rates and salaries, showing that agencies and clients are willing to invest in the size of teams and delivering projects back to clients quicker. Certain niche technologies such as open source and mobile development are at a premium.
The UX sector has definitely shifted. We have seen permanent outstripping freelance for the first time, although this is very sector specific. We have also seen day rates reaching a plateau.
Project management and production has seen a definite shift towards permanent from freelance but realistically this is agencies being clever and not over spending as they possibly did last year. Account handling hasn’t really seen much noticeable change.
Strategy has remained pretty constant. There is still a shortage of roles at a junior level however and this will undoubtedly have an effect on the market in a couple of years.
Thanks to improved technology, mainly in smart phones and the phenomenal success of tablets/pads, brands and clients have seen a real surge within ecommerce. Analytics are being brought in-house to help improve business decisions and, in turn, increase ROI. It’s all about improving the customer experience and UX is still very strong.
So where does this leave you, the workers, the very essence of the industry who make all of this possible? Well….doing pretty good actually. With permanent and freelance rates remaining pretty constant against an overall gloomy global market there is much to be positive about.
CREATIVE
| Title | Full Time Salary | Freelance Day Rate |
| Executive Creative Director | £100k to £160k+ | £500 to £700+ |
| Creative Director | £75k to £110k | £350 to £500 |
| Associate Creative Director | £65k to £85k | £350 to £500 |
| Design Director | £55k to £75k | £300 to £400 |
| Creative Director Team | £75k to £110k | £500 to £700 |
| Creative Group Head Team | £55k to £70k | £400 to £550 |
| Senior Team | £45k to £60k | £400 to £550 |
| Middleweight Team | £23k to £38k | £225 to £300 |
| Junior Team | £18k to £25k | £150 to £200 |
| Senior Art Director | £45k to £55k | £250 to £400 |
| Middleweight Art Director | £25k to £35k | £200 to £250 |
| Junior Art Director | £18k to £23k | £150 to £200 |
| Senior Copywriter | £45k to £55k | £250 to £350 |
| Middleweight Copywriter | £25k to £35k | £200 to £300 |
| Junior Copywriter | £18k to £22k | £150 to £200 |
| Senior Designer | £40k to £55k | £250 to £330 |
| Middleweight Designer | £28k to £40k | £200 to £275 |
| Junior Designer | £18k to £25k | £100 to £200 |
DEVELOPMENT
| Title | Full Time | Freelance |
| Head of Development | £80k to £100k | £350 to £500 |
| Technical Director | £55k to £75k | £350 to £500 |
| Head of Creative Technology | £65k to £85k | £300 to £500 |
| Senior Creative Technologist | £45k to £55k | £350 to £450 |
| Middleweight Creative Technologist | £35k to £45k | £250 to £350 |
| Junior Creative Technologist | £25k to £35k | £150 to £250 |
| Technical Lead | £50k to £65k | £300 to £400 |
| Development Consultant | £45k to £60k | £350 to £450 |
| Technical Project Manager | £40k to £65k | £250 to £450 |
| Application Developer | £30k to £45k | £300 to £450 |
| Java Technical Architect | £50k to £75k | £350 to £500+ |
| Senior Java Developer | £55k to £70k | £375 to £450 |
| Java Developer | £45k to £55k | £300 to £375 |
| Senior Front End Developer | £40k to £50k | £300 to £375 |
| Middleweight Front End Developer | £30k to £40k | £200 to £300 |
| Junior Front End Developer | £20k to £30k | £100 to £200 |
| Senior Back End Developer | £40k to £50k | £300 to £400 |
| Middleweight Back End Developer | £35k to £45k | £250 to £350 |
| Junior Back End Developer | £25k to £30k | £150 to £250 |
| Lead QA Tester | £50k to £55k | £350 to £400 |
| Software Tester | £28k to £35k | £250 to £350 |
CLIENT SERVICES
| Title | Full Time | Freelance |
| Managing Director | £140k+ | n/a |
| Client Services Director/Head of digital | £120k to £160k | £500+ |
| Client Partner/Business Director | £80k to £120k+ | £500+ |
| Group Account Director | £70k to £90k | £350 to £500 |
| Senior Account Director | £60k to £75k | £300 to £400 |
| Account Director | £45k to £60k | £250 to £350 |
| Senior Account Manager | £35k to £45k | £175 to £275 |
| Account Manager | £24k to £32k | £150 to £200 |
| Account Executive | £22k to £25k | £100 to £150 |
PROJECT MANAGEMENT/PRODUCERS
| Title | Full Time | Freelance |
| Operations Director | £90k + | n/a |
| Head of Project Management | £70k to £120k+ | £400 to £700 |
| Project Director | £60k to £80k | £350 to £500 |
| Senior Project Manager | £45k to £65k | £300 to £375 |
| Project Manager | £30k to £45k | £225 to £275 |
| Junior Project Manager | £22k to £35k | £150 to £200 |
| Senior Resource/Traffic Manager / Director | £45k to £65k | £200 to £350 |
| Resource / Traffic Manager | £24k to £45k | £120 to £250 |
STRATEGY
| Title | Full Time | Freelance |
| Head of Planning / Strategy | £90k to £150k+ | £600 to £1,000+ |
| Planning / Strategy Director | £70k to £100k | £400 to £750 |
| Senior Planner / Strategist | £50k to £70k | £350 to £450 |
| Planner / Strategist | £30k to £50k | £225 to £300 |
| Research Analyst / Junior Planner | £25k to £35k | £150 to £200 |
USER EXPERIENCE
| Title | Full Time | Freelance |
| Head of User Experience | £80k to £90k | £500 to £550 |
| Senior User Experience Architect | £55k to £65k | £350 to £450 |
| User Experience Architect | £35k to £45k | £250 to £350 |
| Junior User Experience Architect | £20k to £32k | £150 to £250 |
| Senior Interaction Designer | £45k to £55k | £350 to £425 |
| Interaction Designer | £40k to £50k | £250 to £350 |
| Junior Interaction Designer | £25k to £30k | £150 to £200 |
BRANDS / CLIENTSIDE
| Title | Full Time | Freelance |
| Head of Sales and Marketing | £60k to £100k+ | £350 to £500+ |
| Head of Ecommerce | £75k to £100k+ | £350 to £500+ |
| Digital /Online Marketing Manager | £35k to £60k | £200 to £280 |
| Digital/Online Marketing Executive | £25k to £35k | £150 to £200 |
| Web Content Strategist | £65k to £75k | £380 to £450 |
| Business Intelligence Lead | £60k to £70k | £380 to £450 |
| Scrum Master | £60k to £65k | £300 to £375 |
| Business Analyst (Web) | £50k to £65k | £350 to £425 |
| Product Manager | £50k to £60k | £300 to £375 |
| Online Games Producer | £45k to £55k | £250 to £330 |
| Web Analytics Manager | £45k to £60k | £325 to £380 |
| Web Analytics Executive | £30k to £40k | £180 to £250 |
| Web Content Manager | £40k to £50k | £250 to £325 |
| Web Content Editor / Producer | £30k to £38k | £180 to £250 |
| Mobile Producer | £35k to £45k | £275 to £325 |
| Social Media / Community Manager | £30k to £40k | £180 to £250 |
| SEO Manager | £35k to £45k | £230 to £300 |
| SEO / PPC Executive | £22k to £30k | £140 to £200 |