Every January and July we sit down with our placement data from the previous six months and ask the same question: what is the South East regional market actually paying for the roles we recruit?

The numbers below are based on 412 completed placements in the twelve months to April 2026. We have anonymised everything that needs anonymising and rounded to the nearest £500. The figures are accurate to within a small margin.

Commerce

Sales Manager at a mid-market SME — £55-72k base, average £62k. OTE typically takes total package to £80-95k. London commands roughly a 10% premium, Reading and Brighton are broadly equivalent.

Marketing Manager in B2B services — £45-58k base, average £52k. Demand-gen experience adds £4-8k. The market is consistently under-paying compared to comparable IC roles in tech.

Commercial Director at a £20-50m turnover business — £85-125k base + bonus + car/allowance. Average package £130-150k all-in.

Head of Sales at a £15-40m turnover business — £80-100k base, average £88k. OTE typically pushes total package to £130-160k.

Finance

Management Accountant (qualified) — £50-62k. Average £55k. CIMA-qualified candidates with 3+ years post-qualification consistently command the top of this band.

Financial Controller at a £20-60m business — £75-95k base, average £82k. A small bonus is the norm; ten percent is typical.

Finance Director at an SME — £100-140k base. Average £120k. Significant variation by industry; manufacturing pays at the lower end of this band, technology at the higher.

Interim Finance Director day rates — £750-1,100, with the strongest candidates and the most complex briefs commanding £950+. Outside-IR35 engagements are roughly 70% of the market we see.

Technology

Senior Developer at a regional SME — £65-82k. Average £72k. Full-stack TypeScript developers consistently top this band.

Tech Lead at an SME — £85-105k. Average £92k. Engineering Manager roles at the same business size are typically pegged at the same level.

Head of Engineering at a £20-60m business — £100-130k. Average £115k.

Operations

Operations Manager in food manufacturing — £55-70k. Average £60k. BRC AA-rated environments command a small premium.

Operations Director at an SME — £85-110k. Average £95k.

Supply Chain Manager — £55-75k. Average £63k. Procurement-heavy roles tend to fall at the upper end.

Executive Support

Senior Executive Assistant to a CEO at an SME — £55-70k. Average £62k. Family-office and private-equity EAs command a £15-25k premium.

EA to a Founding Partner / Principal at a family office — £75-95k. Average £82k.

Chief of Staff at a growing business — £75-100k. The market for this role has been hardening; the average has risen materially in the last two years.

If you would like the underlying data, broken down by sub-sector and seniority, we share the full dataset with serious clients on request. Email us and we’ll send it across in confidence.