What you're actually paying data scientists in Romania and Poland this year
Your CFO just asked why the data science team costs 40% more in Warsaw than Bucharest. You've got three different salary figures from three different recruiters, none of which account for employer contributions. And the board wants a headcount plan by Friday.
This is the reality for People Operations leaders at mid-market companies building distributed data teams across Central and Eastern Europe. The salary comparison between Romania and Poland looks straightforward until you factor in total cost of employment, the EU Pay Transparency Directive coming into force in June 2026, and the question of whether you're hiring through an EOR, a local entity, or contractor arrangements that might not survive regulatory scrutiny.
Let me share what I've learned from helping hundreds of companies navigate this exact decision.
The real numbers behind your Romania vs Poland decision
For mid-market employers (200–2,000 employees) hiring in 2026, Teamed salary benchmarking for Central and Eastern Europe indicates a typical gross annual base salary range for data scientists in Romania of €30,000 to €70,000, depending on seniority and sector. Poland typically prices 15% to 35% higher for equivalent roles.
Poland generally commands higher data scientist salaries than Romania, though strong candidates in Bucharest and Cluj can overlap with mid-range offers from Warsaw and Krakow
Budget against total cost of employment, not just base pay. Employer contributions, benefits, and EOR or entity overhead add 20% to 35% on top of gross salary in both countries
Yes, both countries still cost less than hiring in London or Amsterdam, but that discount is shrinking fast. If your 2024 budget assumed 40% savings, you're in for a surprise.
Choose your market based on role requirements, not just cost. Client-facing roles requiring English fluency and stakeholder management often justify Polish premiums
Treat salary benchmarking as a documented, regularly reviewed process. The EU Pay Transparency Directive requires defensible rationale for pay differences across locations
Breaking down the actual salary differences
For mid-market employers hiring in 2026, Teamed salary benchmarking indicates a typical gross annual base salary range for data scientists in Poland of €40,000 to €90,000, depending on seniority and city. Romania ranges from €30,000 to €70,000 for comparable roles.
Poland typically sits higher on the data scientist salary range than Romania. The differential runs 15% to 35% for like-for-like seniority levels, based on Teamed's market calibration of EU and UK remote hiring offers. But this isn't a simple cost arbitrage story.
Warsaw and Krakow host dense concentrations of multinational technology centres, financial services operations, and analytics teams. This creates sustained demand pressure that Romania's smaller, though rapidly growing, data ecosystem doesn't yet match, with Poland maintaining an unemployment rate of just 2.90% in 2025.
Offers in both countries are commonly quoted as monthly gross in local currency. RON in Romania, PLN in Poland. Finance teams should convert to annual EUR or GBP for cross-market comparison and internal equity alignment. A mid-level data scientist earning PLN 18,000 monthly in Warsaw translates to roughly €50,000 annually, while a comparable role in Bucharest at RON 15,000 monthly comes to approximately €36,000.
The city matters as much as the country. Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca command the upper end of Romanian ranges. Warsaw, Krakow, and Wroclaw drive Polish premiums. Regional cities in both countries price 15-25% below major hubs.
What data scientists actually cost in Romania
A data scientist is a technical role that applies statistics, machine learning, and data engineering practices to build predictive or explanatory models used in business decision-making. In Romania, these professionals typically earn €30,000 to €70,000 annually depending on seniority, sector, and location.
Romanian offers are typically framed as gross monthly RON plus an optional performance bonus. For a mid-market company based in the UK or Western Europe, you'll want to convert this to annual EUR or GBP for portfolio-level planning and internal equity comparisons.
Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca command the higher end of Romanian salary bands. Roles serving Western European clients, particularly those requiring regular stakeholder interaction, lean toward upper ranges. A data scientist in Bucharest working on customer-facing analytics for a UK fintech will expect more than one building internal models for a local retailer.
Role clarity matters here. Data scientist, data analyst, and machine learning engineer are distinct job families with different compensation expectations. Benchmarks must align with the actual scope of work. A "data scientist" title covering basic reporting and dashboards shouldn't be priced against roles involving production ML systems.
What drives salaries up: Bucharest and Cluj command premiums. Add UK stakeholder management, AWS/GCP experience, or healthcare compliance knowledge? You're at the top of the range. Someone who owns models from development through production and speaks fluent English can name their price.
What keeps costs down: Hire in Iași or Constanța. Focus on internal analytics rather than client-facing work. Skip the MLOps requirements if you don't actually need them. Junior talent doing supervised analysis costs half what autonomous model builders command.
Growing foreign employer presence and strong demand are applying upward pressure on Romanian averages. Romanian minimum wages increased 22.73% in 2025, one of the fastest rates across Europe. This wage acceleration cascades into professional roles, particularly in technology.
The Polish data science market reality
For mid-market employers hiring in 2026, Poland's data scientist salary range spans €40,000 to €90,000 annually, with Warsaw, Krakow, and Wroclaw commanding the upper bands.
Polish offers follow the same structure as Romania: gross monthly PLN with benefits, requiring normalisation to annual EUR or GBP for cross-country comparison. A senior data scientist in Warsaw earning PLN 25,000 monthly translates to approximately €70,000 annually.
The city concentration effect is pronounced. Warsaw hosts approximately 100 active data and analytics roles at any given time, with Krakow maintaining roughly 75 openings. Wroclaw, Poland's third-tier tech market, sustains close to 30 roles. Major employers include CloudPay, Nielsen, EPAM Systems, Deloitte, PwC Poland, UBS, and Capgemini.
English and German fluency carry a noticeable premium, particularly for client-facing roles. A data analyst with foreign-language skills commands approximately PLN 9,000 gross monthly, while domestic-market-focused analysts average closer to PLN 15,000. This structure creates a critical decision point: the salary premium for multilingual, internationally experienced data professionals reflects genuine scarcity, not just credential inflation.
Intense competition and the growth of shared service and technology centres have elevated average expectations over recent years. The structural undersupply of data professionals relative to demand has cascaded into salary growth exceeding 15% annually for experienced data engineers and senior data scientists.
Title calibration requires attention. Labels like junior, regular, and senior vary by employer and can mask actual level. Validate scope and responsibilities against benchmarks before extending offers.
How seniority actually affects your budget
A salary band is a compensation governance tool that defines a minimum and maximum base pay range for a role and level, typically adjusted by country, location, or labour market. In 2026 budgeting, Teamed recommends using a 10% to 20% variance buffer between the bottom and top of a country-specific salary band for data scientist roles.
Junior (entry/associate): 0–2 years experience, project support, supervised modelling, limited stakeholder ownership. Romania and Poland are relatively close at this level, with modest Polish premiums of 10-15%. Junior data scientists in Romania typically fall in the €30,000-€40,000 range, while Poland runs €35,000-€45,000.
Mid-level: 2–5 years experience, independent model delivery, data pipeline maturity, cross-functional collaboration. Polish mid-level roles start to pull ahead due to higher demand in major hubs. Expect €40,000-€55,000 in Romania versus €50,000-€70,000 in Poland.
Senior/Lead/Principal: 5+ years experience, production ML, architecture decisions, stakeholder leadership, measurable business impact. Poland commands a stronger premium versus Romania at senior levels, reflecting deeper markets for advanced roles. Senior data scientists in Romania range €55,000-€70,000, while Poland reaches €70,000-€90,000.
A blended approach can optimise cost and capability for mid-market teams. Consider a senior anchor hire in Poland with junior and mid-level support in Romania. This structure captures Polish depth for leadership roles while managing overall team costs.
Set explicit, documented bands per level and country. The EU Pay Transparency Directive requires defensible rationale for pay differences across comparable roles and locations.
Is CEE still worth it compared to Western Europe?
Romania and Poland remain below UK, Germany, and Netherlands salary levels for data scientists, but the differential is narrowing. The traditional arbitrage model, where European firms captured 40-50% cost savings by hiring in CEE versus Western Europe, has compressed to approximately 25-35% for mid-to-senior data science roles.
How much do data scientists make in the UK and Germany? Senior data scientists in London or Berlin command €85,000-€120,000 annually. A comparable role in Warsaw runs €70,000-€90,000, while Bucharest prices at €55,000-€70,000. The savings are real, but they're not as dramatic as planning assumptions from 2023 might suggest.
Why do mid-market companies still hire in CEE? Strong universities, multilingual talent, proximate time zones, and cultural alignment with Western European business practices. Romania and Poland both produce substantial numbers of STEM graduates annually, and English fluency is high among technology professionals.
But salary isn't the only consideration. Hiring speed, retention risk, and cross-border management complexity can erode headline savings if not planned carefully. A data scientist in Bucharest earning €45,000 who leaves after 8 months costs more than one in Berlin earning €95,000 who stays for three years.
Wage growth in CEE continues to outpace Western Europe. Avoid assuming static advantages across multi-year plans. The cost differential that makes sense today may narrow substantially by 2028.
Some roles fit best in London, Berlin, or Paris. Others are ideal in Romania or Poland depending on stakeholder proximity, language requirements, and technical specialisation. The decision should be strategic, not purely financial.
Your actual costs (the numbers that matter to your CFO)
Total cost of employment (TCE) is an employer budgeting measure that includes gross salary plus mandatory employer social contributions, statutory benefits, and any recurring employment administration costs. For 2026 workforce planning, Teamed's total-cost modelling assumes employer-side statutory costs and payroll overhead add 20% to 35% on top of gross salary for employee hires in Romania and Poland.
A data scientist earning €50,000 gross annually in Poland doesn't cost €50,000. Add employer social contributions (approximately 20% of gross reflecting 17.5% increase in 2024), statutory benefits, equipment, software licences, and any EOR or local payroll fees. The true cost runs €60,000-€67,500.
Romania's contribution structure differs from Poland's, but the overall burden is similar. A €40,000 gross salary in Bucharest translates to €48,000-€54,000 in total cost.
Employer of Record fees: EOR simplifies entry and compliance with a per-employee service fee. A typical EOR arrangement in Romania costs approximately €80-200 per month per employee on top of gross salary. Poland-based EOR services range from €120-250 per employee monthly, reflecting Poland's higher compliance complexity.
Setting up your own entity: Budget three to six months and €25,000 to €100,000 upfront. Then €1,000 to €5,000 monthly for accounting, payroll, and staying compliant. The math usually works above 10 employees, but every situation is different.
Compare total cost lines for Bucharest versus Warsaw for the same role. Headline salary parity can still produce different overall budgets. A €45,000 data scientist in Romania through an EOR might cost €57,000 annually. A €55,000 data scientist in Poland through an EOR might cost €72,000. The €10,000 salary gap becomes a €15,000 total cost gap.
Document your assumptions. Include non-cash overhead like management time and compliance complexity so HR and Finance share a single source of truth.
Contractor vs EOR vs entity: which actually works?
An Employer of Record (EOR) is a third-party organisation that becomes the legal employer for a worker in a specific country and administers payroll, tax withholding, statutory benefits, and employment compliance while the client directs day-to-day work. A business-to-business (B2B) contractor arrangement is a service engagement model in which an individual or personal services company invoices for work, and the client does not run payroll but assumes misclassification and permanent establishment risk if control and integration resemble employment.
Contractor engagements work for short-term, project-based, or exploratory hires in Romania and Poland. You get speed and flexibility with low initial setup. But misclassification risk is real for full-time roles. If the contractor operates like an employee, with fixed hours, company equipment, and integration into your team, local authorities can reclassify the relationship and assess back taxes and penalties.
Employer of Record arrangements suit rapid, compliant entry when building the first 1–10 hires across Romania or Poland. The EOR handles payroll, contributions, and contracts. You get fast cross-border setup without entity establishment. The trade-off is service fees and some policy constraints. Long-term costs can exceed a local entity once you scale past 10-15 employees.
Local entity establishment makes sense for stable headcount and long-term presence. You get stronger employer brand, tailored benefits, and lower marginal cost at scale. The downside is setup and maintenance overhead, plus ongoing local compliance and administration.
We can help you figure out which model fits your situation and plan the transition when you outgrow it. Most companies start with contractors, graduate to EOR, then establish entities once they hit critical mass.
Where salary planning goes wrong
Overgeneralising from global sites. Generic "European averages" miss current conditions in Bucharest, Cluj, Warsaw, and Krakow. A salary figure for "Eastern Europe" tells you nothing useful about what a mid-level data scientist in Warsaw expects in 2026.
Converting contractor rates directly. Applying a day-rate multiple to set employee salaries leads to misaligned offers and compliance risks. A contractor earning €400 daily isn't equivalent to an employee at €96,000 annually. The contractor handles their own taxes, benefits, and equipment.
Treating Romania and Poland as interchangeable. Senior talent depth, language availability, and hub-level salary pressure differ materially. Poland's data ecosystem is more mature. Romania's is growing faster but from a smaller base.
Ignoring total cost. Omitting contributions, benefits, and provider fees causes under-budgeting and difficult renegotiations. Your CFO will ask why the "€50,000 hire" is costing €65,000 on the P&L.
Undocumented rationale. Bands without a written basis create exposure under pay transparency rules. Under the EU Pay Transparency Directive, employees can request information on average pay for comparable roles. You need defensible documentation for why Warsaw pays more than Bucharest.
Your 90-day plan for getting this right
The EU Pay Transparency Directive (Directive (EU) 2023/970) must be transposed into national law by Romania and Poland by 7 June 2026. Under this directive, job applicants must be provided information about the initial pay level or pay range before an interview or before a job offer, and employers cannot ask candidates about their prior pay history.
Define the role clearly. Clarify purpose, seniority, location scope (Bucharest, Warsaw, or remote), and stakeholder interactions with UK or EU teams. A data scientist building internal dashboards is a different role than one advising clients on analytics strategy.
Gather current market data. Triangulate multiple sources: local recruiters, recent candidate pipelines, up-to-date reports specific to Romania and Poland. Generic European salary surveys won't give you the precision you need.
Set documented bands. Establish country-specific and level-specific bands with negotiation room, review cadence, and clear internal equity principles across European locations. In mid-market EU and UK hiring, base salary commonly represents 75% to 90% of a data scientist's annual cash compensation package.
Align HR and Finance. Agree total cost models per country, including contributions and the chosen employment model. The People team and Finance team should work from the same numbers.
Build in regular review. Refresh bands at least annually with mid-year spot checks in fast-moving hubs. Link updates to performance and budget cycles. Document rationale for differences across locations.
If you want a second opinion before locking in salary bands or an employment model in Romania or Poland, talk to the experts at Teamed. We can walk you through the options and their implications for your specific situation.
Quick answers to your remaining questions
How often should mid-market companies review data scientist salary ranges in Romania and Poland?
Revisit at least annually with mid-year spot checks in fast-moving hubs like Warsaw and Bucharest. Link updates to performance and budget cycles. Document rationale for any changes to maintain pay transparency compliance.
Are bonuses and equity common parts of data scientist compensation in Romania and Poland?
Cash bonuses and performance pay are common in both markets. Equity or virtual shares exist but are less prevalent than in Western Europe or the US. Confirm market norms and tax treatment before rolling out equity programmes.
Can data scientists in Romania or Poland be paid in euros or pounds instead of local currency?
Employment contracts are typically denominated in local currency (RON or PLN). Some employers reference EUR or GBP for banding purposes and convert at payroll. Obtain legal and payroll advice before deviating from local currency payment.
How does the EU Pay Transparency Directive affect data scientist salaries in Romania and Poland?
Under Directive (EU) 2023/970, employers recruiting in Romania or Poland must provide the initial pay level or pay range to candidates before interview or offer. Employers with 250 or more workers must report gender pay gap information annually starting from June 2027. Maintain defensible, documented banding across comparable roles.
What should companies consider when publishing salary ranges for remote data scientist roles across Europe?
Decide on a single reference rate versus country-adjusted bands. Ensure published ranges align with internal equity and local expectations in Romania, Poland, and other EU markets. Document your methodology for determining geographic pay differentials.
What is mid-market and why does it matter for data scientist salary strategy?
Mid-market companies (50-2,000 employees) face cross-border complexity without large in-house global teams. They need structured salary strategy that accounts for multiple countries, employment models, and regulatory requirements, but can't afford enterprise consulting engagements or dedicated global employment counsel.
