Executive Assistant Salaries in Germany

An Executive Assistant in Germany earns an average of €59,900 gross per year in 2026, with a typical range of €49,950 to €71,000 and top earners reporting €88,700. Frankfurt and Munich lead the market at €65,000 and €64,000, while Berlin sits around €54,000 despite being the largest city in the country.

This page sets out what Executive Assistants are paid across Germany, how German salary figures work before you compare them with anything else, and how the German market compares with Austria and Switzerland.

Three points that matter before the numbers.

Figures are quoted brutto. German advertisements and surveys quote gross annual pay. What reaches your account depends heavily on your tax class, whether you pay church tax, and which health insurance you have, so the same gross salary can produce meaningfully different net pay for two different people. Treat any single net conversion as indicative only.

Part-time is normal, and the figures reflect it. A large share of German executive support roles are advertised at 20 or 30 hours a week. Average annual figures usually assume a full-time week of around 40 hours, so always check the basis before comparing.

Collective agreements set pay in much of the market. Where a Tarifvertrag applies, the band, the annual increase, and often a thirteenth-month payment are set by the agreement rather than negotiated individually. Public sector roles work the same way against published grades.

The gap between €50,500 and €59,900 depends on which roles each source counts. Sources that group Office Manager and assistant positions into the same category report lower figures, and the combined Office Manager and Executive Assistant title averages €51,800 nationally. Sources that measure the Executive Assistant title on its own report closer to €59,000.

Entry-level pay sits around €57,500 for the Executive Assistant title specifically, and around €3,750 gross per month for broader assistant roles at career start, which shows how much the title itself is doing in these figures.

Reported salary data updated between June and July 2026. Sample sizes range from 42 in Hamburg to 200 in Berlin, so the Berlin and Munich figures carry more weight than the others.

This second table uses a different methodology from the city table above, which is why Berlin appears in line with the national average here but below it there. The index measures advertised monthly pay across the whole assistant category, while the city table measures reported pay for the Executive Assistant title specifically. Both are useful, and the difference between them is itself informative about the Berlin market.

Frankfurt and Munich

Frankfurt pays the highest average in Germany at €65,000, roughly 9 per cent above the national figure, and the reason is concentration rather than cost of living. The European Central Bank, commercial banks, asset managers, and the professional services firms that serve them all sit within a few streets of each other, and all expect English as standard from executive support staff.

Munich follows at €64,000 and has the widest upper quartile of the major cities at €75,900, supported by insurance, technology, automotive and a heavy concentration of corporate headquarters. Munich also carries the highest living costs in Germany, which takes some of the shine off the premium.

Düsseldorf and the Rhine-Ruhr region

Düsseldorf averages €58,500 but has by far the widest spread of any German city, from €47,600 at the lower quartile to €82,000 at the upper quartile and €95,100 at the top. That spread reflects a market split between the international corporate head offices in the city, many of them Japanese- and Dutch-owned, and the broader administrative market across the Rhine-Ruhr region. For an experienced bilingual assistant, Düsseldorf offers one of the strongest earning ceilings in the country.

Hamburg

Hamburg averages €57,000 with top earners at €92,200. Media, logistics, shipping, trade and a substantial consumer goods sector support the upper end. Hamburg roles frequently require English because so much of the local economy is international by nature.

Berlin

Berlin remains the anomaly of the German market. It has the largest number of reported Executive Assistant salaries in the country and one of the lowest averages among the major cities at €54,000. The reason is the mix of employers: startups, non-profit organisations, associations, cultural institutions and public bodies all sit alongside the corporate market, and they pay differently. Berlin startup roles in particular often trade salary for equity, flexibility or scope.

For an assistant considering Berlin, the practical point is that the city average is close to meaningless. What matters is which part of the Berlin market you are entering.

Leipzig, Dresden and eastern Germany

Leipzig and Dresden sit around 10 per cent below the national average, which is the widest regional gap in Germany. Both cities have grown as business locations over the past decade, and living costs are substantially lower than in Munich or Frankfurt, so the effective difference in disposable income is smaller than the salary gap suggests.

Part-time Executive Assistant pay

Part-time working is far more established in German executive support than in the UK or the United States, and it is worth knowing the going rate. A 20-hour week averages around €2,442 gross per month, and a 30-hour week around €3,663. Both track the full-time rate proportionally rather than at a discount, which is not true in every European market.

Executive Assistant to the CEO and senior roles

The step up to supporting a chief executive or the management board is the largest single move in German executive support pay. Assistants at that level in Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf and Stuttgart sit in the upper quartile and above, which means €75,000 to €95,000 depending on the city and sector.

Titles vary and are a poor guide on their own. The same work appears as Executive Assistant, Assistenz der Geschäftsführung, Vorstandsassistenz and Chefsekretärin, with the English title most common in international employers and generally attached to the better-paid roles.

Which sectors pay the most in Germany

Banking and asset management, insurance, pharmaceuticals and chemicals, automotive, technology, management consultancy and corporate law all pay above the national benchmark. Frankfurt finance and Munich insurance set the ceiling.

Public sector roles, associations, education, cultural institutions, and non-profit organisations pay below the private market and set salaries against published grades, which limits negotiation but brings security, predictable progression, and pension arrangements that many assistants value more than the difference in gross pay.

Benefits and total package

German packages carry less discretionary variation than British or American ones and more structured entitlement. When comparing offers, focus on a thirteenth-month payment or Christmas bonus where a collective agreement provides for it, holiday pay, employer contributions to a company pension, capital-forming payments, a public transport subsidy, and the thirty days of annual leave standard in most of the market.

Bonus culture for executive support is modest outside financial services. In banking and consultancy, discretionary bonuses are common and can be significant. Elsewhere, expect the value to come from structured entitlements rather than variable pay.

Swiss national figures come from employer survey data and sit above the reported Zurich figure because they price the full role rather than reported pay. Vienna figures are the most recent available and date from late 2025.

Switzerland pays the highest Executive Assistant salaries in Europe by a wide margin, with Geneva running slightly ahead of Zurich and senior roles reaching CHF 120,000 and above. Swiss packages also normally include a thirteenth salary, and a modest bonus averaging around CHF 2,600. Against that, living costs and compulsory health insurance premiums absorb much of the difference.

Austria runs roughly 15 to 20 per cent below the major German cities, with very little variation between Vienna and the rest of the country. For fuller Swiss data, see our Switzerland Executive Assistant salary survey.

Work-life balance and the salary trade-off

The highest-paying German roles sit in Frankfurt banking, Munich insurance and consultancy, and the international head offices in Düsseldorf. All of them expect availability that the wider German market does not, which is worth weighing given how strongly working time protection is built into German employment law elsewhere.

The German market offers something unusual here: genuinely well-paid part-time executive support roles. For assistants who want a senior role without a sixty-hour week, a 30-hour contract in a large employer is a realistic option in a way it is not in most countries.

How to increase your Executive Assistant salary in Germany

1. Move to board or chief executive support. This is the clearest step change in the German market and moves you into the upper quartile.
2. Work in English. The best-paid roles in Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Munich and Hamburg are in international employers, and fluent business English is the entry requirement.
3. Move sector rather than city. The gap between banking and the public sector is larger than the gap between Frankfurt and Leipzig.
4. Check whether a collective agreement applies. If it does, your band and your increases are already set, and the route to more money is a different grade or a different employer rather than a negotiation.
5. Build advanced Microsoft 365 and AI skills. German employers increasingly price executive support on the time it saves the management team, and assistants who use AI tools for research, drafting, reporting and workflow can evidence that directly.

IEAA runs Executive Assistant training and qualifications for assistants across the DACH region, delivered in English through live virtual classroom and online study. See the full Executive Assistant course range, the qualification structure, our Microsoft Office courses, and our course locations in Frankfurt, Berlin and Zurich.

Frequently asked questions

What is the average Executive Assistant salary in Germany in 2026?

€59,900 gross per year, with a typical range of €49,950 to €71,000 and top earners reporting €88,700. Sources that blend Office Manager roles into the same category report lower figures, closer to €50,500.

Which German city pays Executive Assistants the most?

Frankfurt am Main at €65,000, followed by Munich at €64,000. Düsseldorf has the highest ceiling, with top earners reported at €95,100.

Why is Berlin below the German average?

Because of its employer mix. Startups, associations, cultural institutions, non-profit organisations and public bodies make up a large share of the Berlin market and pay differently from the corporate employers concentrated in Frankfurt and Munich.

What does a part-time Executive Assistant earn in Germany?

Around €2,442 gross per month for a 20-hour week and €3,663 for a 30-hour week. German part-time executive support pay tracks the full-time rate proportionally, not at a discount.

How much does an Executive Assistant to a CEO earn in Germany?

Board and chief executive support sits in the upper quartile and above, which means roughly €75,000 to €95,000 in Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf and Stuttgart, depending on sector.

How do German salaries compare with Switzerland and Austria?

Switzerland pays far more, with a national average of CHF 105,484 and Zurich at CHF 96,500, though living costs absorb much of the difference. Austria runs roughly 15 to 20 per cent below the major German cities, with Vienna at €51,250.

Do you need German to work as an Executive Assistant in Germany?

For most of the market, yes. The exception is the international employer segment in Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Munich and Hamburg, where English is the working language and where the best-paid roles sit.

Method and sources

Figures on this page come from Glassdoor, jobvector, StepStone, Jooble, Robert Half, SalaryExpert, and published German pay analyses based on Federal Employment Agency data and collective agreements, using data published between February and August 2026. All figures are gross annual unless stated.

Where sources disagree, we show the spread and explain what each one measures rather than averaging them into a single number. The two city tables use different methodologies and are presented separately, not merged.

Learn more about the role in our guide to what an Executive Assistant does, or compare with our UK and France Executive Assistant salary data.

Find out more about the wide range of Executive Assistants courses we offer

Find out more about our qualification structure and how to progress your career.