AU 01
What the Job Pays — Australia
Queensland first, then Australia‑wide. Read Mod 02+ first for the mechanics — this sheet is the actual numbers for one specific market, not a replacement for that framework.
Read this before the numbersEvery figure below is Australian, gross, excluding superannuation, and current as at September 2026. Salary data ages fast and the sources disagree with each other, sometimes by twenty per cent for the same title — which is a finding in itself, not a flaw in the table. Use the bands to know whether an offer is inside the market or outside it. Do not use them to argue a specific number.
Indicative bands — Australia, national, base only
Assembled from the sources at the foot of this sheet. Superannuation of 12% sits on top of every figure; variable sits on top again.
| Band | Base (AUD, ex‑super) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Associate / Junior Sales Engineer | $90k – $115k | Usually little or no variable in the first year |
| Sales Engineer / Solutions Consultant | $120k – $150k | SEEK puts the average presales engineer band at $130k–$150k |
| Senior SE / Senior Solutions Consultant | $150k – $180k | The band where the variable starts to be worth negotiating rather than accepting |
| Principal SE / Solutions Architect | $165k – $195k | Robert Half's 2026 guide puts Solutions Architect at $165k / $175k / $195k across the 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles |
| Pre‑Sales Architect / Field CTO | $180k – $230k+ | Glassdoor's Australian pre‑sales solutions architect data shows base averaging ~$174k in a $156k–$191k band, with additional pay averaging ~$50k — a total around $224k |
| Pre‑Sales Manager / Practice Lead | $190k – $240k | Variable usually shifts to team attainment rather than individual deals |
For comparison at the top of the market: RepVue's Australian sales‑engineer data — which skews heavily to enterprise software vendors rather than services businesses — reports a median base of about $174,000, median OTE of about $230,000, and top performers above $335,000. That is the vendor end of the profession, not the MSP end, and the gap between the two is the single largest variable in this whole sheet.
Queensland
Brisbane is a smaller market than Sydney or Melbourne, weighted toward managed service providers, systems integrators, state government and the resources supply chain rather than software vendor head offices. That shapes the pay in two ways: fewer high‑variable vendor roles, and more roles where the scope document and its margin genuinely sit with you.
| Queensland market | Base, indicative | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| MSP / managed services, Brisbane | $140k – $175k | The largest single employer group for pre‑sales in this state. Often little or no formal variable scheme; a discretionary annual bonus instead |
| Systems integrator / consultancy, Brisbane | $150k – $190k | Closer to project economics; utilisation pressure is real even in a pre‑sales seat |
| Software vendor, Brisbane office | $160k – $200k+ base, with variable on top | Fewer of these than in Sydney or Melbourne. Where they exist the OTE is the highest in the state |
| State government & agencies | $140k – $175k | Usually as a solutions architect rather than pre‑sales; stable, slower, and the classification framework caps the top |
| Resources & energy (incl. Gladstone, Bowen Basin, Mackay) | $160k – $210k | Pays to attract and retain. Often includes travel, camp or FIFO components that don't appear in a salary comparison |
| Gold Coast / Sunshine Coast | $120k – $160k | Thin market. Most roles are Brisbane roles someone commutes to, or remote roles priced nationally |
| Townsville / Cairns / regional north | $120k – $155k | Genuinely regional pre‑sales roles are rare; the common pattern is a capital‑city role with a travel expectation and a vehicle |
The published Brisbane data for the architect title sits either side of $150k–$177k depending on who you ask: Glassdoor's Brisbane solution‑architect figures show a base averaging $150,000 in a $136k–$175k band with about $15,000 of additional pay on top (total around $165,000, high $195,000), while Robert Half's Brisbane figures for the same title are $166,650 / $176,750 / $196,950 across the quartiles. Both are correct about different populations — see the note below.
Nationally, by market
| Market | Relative to Sydney | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney | Benchmark — highest | Head offices, the largest concentration of vendor and enterprise roles |
| Melbourne | Slightly below | Deep market, similar mix, marginally lower rates |
| Canberra | At or above, for cleared work | Federal government and defence. SEEK reports Canberra as the highest‑paying location for presales engineers at about $162,500. A clearance is worth real money and is slow to obtain |
| Perth | Comparable, sometimes above | Resources and energy pay to attract and retain; fewer roles, less competition for them |
| Brisbane | Roughly 10–15% below on comparable roles | Smaller market weighted toward MSPs, integrators and state government. Sources disagree here: city‑level tech data puts Brisbane clearly under Sydney, while Robert Half's Brisbane solutions‑architect figures ($166,650 / $176,750 / $196,950) sit marginally above their national numbers |
| Adelaide | Roughly 15–20% below | Defence and state government anchor the market |
| Regional | Rarely a separate market | Almost always a capital‑city role with a travel expectation rather than a regionally‑priced one. Where a genuinely regional role exists, expect capital‑city money to be the exception and a vehicle to be standard |
Why two sources disagree by $27,000 about the same job in the same cityThey are measuring different populations, and knowing which is which is worth more than either number. Self‑reported data (Glassdoor, Payscale, Levels) reflects what people currently in the seat are paid — including everyone who has been there four years without a market adjustment, which drags the average down. Recruiter salary guides (Robert Half, Hays) reflect what employers are paying to hire right now, which is generally higher than what incumbents are on, and which the recruiter also has a commercial interest in pitching upward. Job‑board data (SEEK) reflects only the advertisements that state a range, and employers advertising a range skew toward the middle of the market. The useful read is the shape: if the incumbent average and the hiring band differ by twenty per cent, that market is repricing, and the people being underpaid are the ones who stayed put.
The rest of the package, Australian specifics
Commonly included
- Vehicle allowance or tool‑of‑trade vehicle where the role includes regular client site visits
- Novated lease access via salary sacrifice — the tax‑advantaged structure Module 02+ refers to generically
- Vendor certification costs, exam vouchers, and paid study or exam leave
Worth asking about specifically
- Whether super is paid on the variable as well as the base
- Whether commission is paid on renewals and expansions or only on new business
- Parking, tolls or travel reimbursement if the role is site‑heavy, especially resources‑sector roles
Three questions that change the number more than negotiating the base
"Is that figure base, base plus super, or total package?" Ask it in the first conversation. A $170,000 "package" is a $151,800 base; a $170,000 base is a $190,400 package. The same word covers both, and the assumption is rarely corrected until the contract arrives.
"What did the team actually earn against the variable last year?" Not the plan — the outcome. If attainment ran at 60%, the OTE you were quoted is a number nobody in that team has seen.
"Is the vehicle a taxable allowance or a novated arrangement?" A $20,000 car allowance is taxed as income and worth roughly $12,000 in the hand. The same money structured as a novated lease is worth materially more, and costs the employer no extra.
SourcesSEEK career advice salary data (presales engineer, September 2026); Robert Half 2026 Australia Technology & IT Salary Guide and its Brisbane solutions‑architect figures; Glassdoor Australia; RepVue Australia sales engineer data; Glassdoor Brisbane solution architect (August 2026); Emanate Technology Australian tech salary trends (July 2026) for city differentials; base/variable split conventions from published sales‑engineer compensation practice. Superannuation guarantee rate and the 2026‑27 maximum contribution base of $270,830 from Australian Taxation Office rules. Band boundaries are this manual's synthesis of those sources rather than any single one of them, and are stated as judgement, not as a finding.