Tech Salaries in Stuttgart 2026: Germany's Automotive Tech Powerhouse

Stuttgart is Germany's automotive capital — and it's rapidly becoming one of Europe's most important tech hubs. Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Bosch are headquartered here, each pouring billions into software development, autonomous driving, and digital transformation. The result is a tech job market that doesn't look like Berlin or Munich, but pays surprisingly well for engineers willing to work at the intersection of software and hardware.

The city isn't just about cars anymore. Industry 4.0, IoT, and AI-driven manufacturing are creating thousands of new tech roles. Engineering consultancies, mid-size software companies, and a growing startup scene round out a market where demand for skilled tech workers consistently outpaces supply.

If you're considering Stuttgart — or already here and wondering if you're paid fairly — here's what every major tech role actually earns in 2026.

Methodology

Data sources: CareerCheck salary database (14,000+ real job listings), Glassdoor Stuttgart data (1,200+ submissions), Levels.fyi verified reports, IG Metall collective agreement pay scales for Baden-Württemberg, and Destatis regional wage data. Important context: Many OEM tech roles fall under IG Metall agreements with structured pay bands, 13th-month salary, and profit sharing — total compensation often adds 15-25% on top of base salary. All figures below are annual gross base salary. Stuttgart includes the Baden-Württemberg premium: the state pays 5-10% above the national average.

The Complete Stuttgart Tech Salary Breakdown

Now let's break down each role in detail.

Software Engineer — €48K-€105K

Software engineers in Stuttgart earn €48,000-€105,000 per year, with a median around €78,000. This places Stuttgart firmly between Berlin (€55K-€95K median ~€72K) and Munich (€75K-€115K median ~€92K) — but with significantly better purchasing power than Munich. Salary range: €48K-€105K/year Median: ~€78K/year

The range reflects Stuttgart's two-tier market:

Automotive OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers. Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Bosch employ thousands of software engineers. These roles are increasingly pure software — building cloud platforms, developing ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems), creating digital cockpit experiences, and architecting connected vehicle infrastructure. Mid-level engineers at OEMs earn €65,000-€85,000 base, with IG Metall benefits adding 15-25% in total compensation. Senior engineers in specialized domains (autonomous driving, embedded real-time systems) reach €90,000-€105,000. Software companies and consultancies. Hewlett Packard Enterprise (European HQ in Böblingen), Vector Informatik, and engineering consultancies like Capgemini Engineering and EDAG employ engineers working on everything from automotive toolchains to enterprise software. Pay is competitive at €55,000-€85,000 for mid-level roles, though without the IG Metall bonus structure. Key stacks: C/C++ and Rust (embedded, safety-critical), Python (ML, automation), Java/Kotlin (enterprise, Android Automotive), React/TypeScript (internal tools), and ROS2 (robotics, autonomous systems).

For the full breakdown, see the Software Engineer salary data.

ML Engineer / AI Specialist — €52K-€120K

Machine learning engineers are among the highest-paid individual contributors in Stuttgart — and for good reason. Every major automotive company is racing to build AI capabilities for autonomous driving, predictive maintenance, natural language interfaces, and manufacturing optimization.

Salary range: €52K-€120K/year Median: ~€82K/year Why Stuttgart pays a premium for ML:

Stuttgart's ML engineering roles are uniquely demanding. Unlike web-scale ML in Berlin's startup scene, Stuttgart ML engineers work on:

Autonomous driving perception systems — computer vision, sensor fusion, real-time inference on edge hardware. Mercedes-Benz's Level 3 autonomy (the first legally approved in Germany) was built by engineers in and around Stuttgart

Predictive maintenance — ML models that prevent production line failures across Bosch's global manufacturing network

Natural language AI — MBUX voice assistants and in-car AI systems

Quality control — computer vision systems inspecting parts at speeds humans can't match

Employer breakdown:

Mercedes-Benz: ML engineers for ADAS, MBUX, and digital services earn €70,000-€110,000. The autonomous driving division (based in Sindelfingen/Stuttgart) commands top salaries

Bosch: AI Research Center in Renningen (near Stuttgart) is one of Europe's largest industrial AI labs. ML engineers earn €65,000-€105,000

Porsche: Smaller but aggressive digital engineering team. AI specialists earn €70,000-€115,000

Senior ML engineers at OEMs with autonomous driving or computer vision expertise can reach €120,000+ with total compensation factoring in bonuses and profit sharing.

For detailed ML salary data, see the ML Engineer salary guide.

Data Scientist — €48K-€110K

Stuttgart's data science market is powered by manufacturing data. The sheer volume of sensor data, production metrics, and connected vehicle telemetry creates demand for data scientists who can extract value from complex, messy, real-world datasets.

Salary range: €48K-€110K/year Median: ~€75K/year What's different about Stuttgart data science:

Berlin data scientists optimize click-through rates. Stuttgart data scientists optimize production lines, predict battery degradation, and analyze crash sensor data. The domain expertise required pushes salaries above pure-software data science roles.

By experience level:

Junior (0-2 years): €48,000-€60,000 — Entry roles at Bosch, Mercedes, or consultancies. Strong Python and SQL required, domain knowledge a bonus

Mid-level (3-5 years): €62,000-€82,000 — Independent project ownership. Specialization in NLP, computer vision, or time-series forecasting starts to pay off

Senior (6+ years): €78,000-€110,000 — Leading data science teams or owning strategic analytics platforms. At Mercedes-Benz, senior data scientists with autonomous driving or connected car specialization earn at the top of this range

Key difference vs. Berlin/Munich: Stuttgart data science roles more frequently require German language skills, as cross-functional work with manufacturing teams and business stakeholders often happens in German. English-only roles exist but are less common than in Berlin.

Explore Data Scientist salary data for comparisons across German cities.

DevOps Engineer / SRE — €46K-€100K

DevOps engineers in Stuttgart manage infrastructure for some of the most demanding production systems in European tech — not web applications, but manufacturing execution systems, connected vehicle platforms, and safety-critical cloud infrastructure.

Salary range: €46K-€100K/year Median: ~€72K/year By experience level:

Junior (0-2 years): €46,000-€56,000 — CI/CD pipelines, basic cloud infrastructure, monitoring setup

Mid-level (3-5 years): €58,000-€78,000 — Kubernetes clusters, multi-cloud architectures, infrastructure as code at scale

Senior (6+ years): €75,000-€100,000 — Platform engineering, SRE leadership, automotive-grade reliability engineering

What makes Stuttgart DevOps unique:

Automotive software has regulatory requirements that web companies don't. Stuttgart DevOps engineers deal with ASPICE and ISO 26262 compliance, hybrid infrastructure (cloud + factory on-premise), edge computing across thousands of vehicles, and massive manufacturing IT operations. In-demand skills include Kubernetes, AWS/Azure automotive specializations (IoT Greengrass, Digital Twins), Terraform, and GitOps for automotive software delivery.

See DevOps Engineer salary data for city-by-city breakdowns.

Data Engineer — €45K-€98K

Data engineering is a rapidly growing function in Stuttgart, driven by the automotive industry's push toward data-driven decision-making, connected vehicles, and smart factories.

Salary range: €45K-€98K/year Median: ~€70K/year By experience level:

Junior (0-2 years): €45,000-€55,000 — ETL pipelines, data warehouse fundamentals, SQL optimization

Mid-level (3-5 years): €58,000-€76,000 — Building and maintaining data platforms, real-time streaming architectures, data governance

Senior (6+ years): €72,000-€98,000 — Owning enterprise data architecture, designing data mesh implementations, leading data platform teams

Stuttgart-specific context:

Demand is accelerating because connected vehicles generate terabytes of data daily, Bosch's Industry 4.0 operations produce massive manufacturing datasets, and GDPR plus automotive-specific data regulations mean data engineers who understand compliance earn a premium.

Key tech stack: Apache Spark, Kafka, Flink for streaming; Databricks and Snowflake increasingly adopted by OEMs; dbt for transformations; Azure Data Factory and AWS Glue in multi-cloud environments.

Check the Data Engineer salary guide for detailed comparisons.

Product Manager (Tech) — €50K-€110K

Product managers in Stuttgart's tech scene operate differently from their counterparts in Berlin's startup ecosystem. Here, product management often means managing complex technical products — vehicle software platforms, industrial IoT systems, manufacturing tools — where deep technical understanding is as important as user empathy.

Salary range: €50K-€110K/year Median: ~€76K/year By experience level:

Junior (0-2 years): €50,000-€62,000 — Associate PM roles, typically supporting a senior PM on a defined product area

Mid-level (3-5 years): €65,000-€85,000 — Owning a product or significant feature area. At OEMs, this might mean managing a vehicle infotainment module or a factory analytics dashboard

Senior (6+ years): €82,000-€110,000 — Leading product strategy for major platforms. Senior PMs at Mercedes-Benz Digital or Porsche Digital can reach the top of this range

Stuttgart vs. Berlin for PMs:

Berlin PMs optimize consumer products and marketplaces. Stuttgart PMs manage products where a bug can stop a production line or compromise vehicle safety. The stakes are different, and so is the compensation. Stuttgart PM roles more frequently require an engineering background, German proficiency, and domain expertise. Senior PMs on IG Metall contracts at Porsche Digital, Mercedes-Benz Digital, and Bosch can earn €100,000+ with bonuses.

Browse the Product Manager salary data for comparisons.

Stuttgart vs. Other German Tech Hubs

How does Stuttgart stack up against Germany's other major tech cities?

The Stuttgart Purchasing Power Advantage

Here's the number that makes Stuttgart interesting: after rent, Stuttgart tech workers keep more money than their Munich counterparts. According to LohnTastik's 2025 rental analysis, Stuttgart residents keep approximately €2,315 after rent on an average tech salary — that's €392 more per month than Munich despite lower nominal salaries.

The math is straightforward:

A Stuttgart software engineer at €78K takes home approximately €4,200/month after tax

A one-bedroom apartment in a decent Stuttgart neighborhood costs €850-€1,200/month

That leaves €3,000-€3,350 for everything else

Compare to Munich:

A Munich engineer at €92K takes home approximately €5,000/month after tax

A one-bedroom in Munich costs €1,600-€2,800/month

That leaves €2,200-€3,400 for everything else — often less than Stuttgart despite earning €14K more

Stuttgart's cost of living is 18% lower than Munich's when including rent (Numbeo, February 2026). Daily expenses — groceries, transport, dining — are comparable to Berlin and 8% lower than Munich.

Where Munich Still Wins

Munich pays more for pure software roles — no automotive domain knowledge required. If you're a full-stack developer building SaaS products, Munich's Celonis, Personio, and corporate tech teams pay €75K-€115K. Stuttgart's equivalent roles (fewer in number) top out around €90K-€100K.

Munich also has a larger, more diverse tech ecosystem. Stuttgart is deep but narrow — automotive-adjacent roles dominate. If you want startup diversity, Munich and Berlin offer more options.

See: Tech Salaries in Munich 2026

Where Stuttgart Beats Berlin

Stuttgart's nominal salaries exceed Berlin's by 5-10% with comparable cost of living. The real advantage: IG Metall contracts add 13th-month salary, profit sharing (€3,000-€8,000), 35-hour weeks (vs. 40 at Berlin startups), and 30 days vacation. A Stuttgart engineer at €78K base with IG Metall benefits has effective total compensation of €88K-€95K — matching a Berlin engineer earning €85K-€90K base.

The Major Employers: Who's Hiring and What They Pay

Mercedes-Benz Group

Mercedes-Benz is Stuttgart's largest tech employer. The company has fundamentally shifted toward software-defined vehicles, investing €3 billion annually in digitalization. Key tech divisions:

Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation (Sindelfingen/Stuttgart) — digital services, connected car platforms, MBUX

Autonomous driving unit — Level 3+ autonomy, perception systems, sensor fusion

Mercedes-Benz.io — digital products, e-commerce, customer-facing platforms

Salary ranges:

Software Engineer: €60K-€100K

ML Engineer: €70K-€110K

Data Scientist: €60K-€100K

Product Manager: €65K-€105K

Most engineering roles fall under IG Metall Tarifvertrag, with ERA bands (Entgeltrahmenabkommen) typically EG 12-17 for software engineers.

Porsche AG

Porsche's tech hiring has accelerated dramatically with the Taycan, Macan Electric, and digital services expansion. Porsche Digital (Berlin + Stuttgart) develops connected car features, and the main Zuffenhausen/Weissach operations run massive engineering software teams.

Salary ranges:

Software Engineer: €62K-€105K

Data Engineer: €58K-€95K

DevOps Engineer: €55K-€95K

Product Manager: €68K-€110K

Porsche is known for above-average IG Metall compensation, with profit-sharing bonuses of €5,000-€9,000 in strong years — among the highest in German industry.

Robert Bosch GmbH

Bosch is the world's largest automotive supplier and a major technology company in its own right. With 400,000+ employees globally, the Stuttgart-area operations (Gerlingen, Renningen, Feuerbach) focus on IoT, Industry 4.0, autonomous driving, and AI research.

Salary ranges:

Software Engineer: €55K-€95K

ML Engineer/AI Researcher: €60K-€105K

Data Scientist: €55K-€92K

DevOps Engineer: €52K-€88K

Bosch's AI Center in Renningen is one of Europe's premier industrial AI research labs, making it a top destination for ML engineers and researchers who want to work on real-world applications at scale.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)

HPE's European headquarters is in Böblingen (Stuttgart metro area). The site employs hundreds of engineers working on high-performance computing, hybrid cloud, and storage systems.

Salary ranges:

Software Engineer: €58K-€100K

Data Engineer: €55K-€90K

DevOps/Cloud Engineer: €55K-€95K

Other Notable Employers

Vector Informatik (automotive tools, €50K-€85K), Teamviewer (Göppingen, €55K-€95K), Trumpf (industrial laser/Industry 4.0, €55K-€90K), and engineering consultancies like Capgemini Engineering, EDAG, Bertrandt (€50K-€80K) round out the employer landscape.

Job Market Trends: What's Changing in Stuttgart Tech

1. The Software-Defined Vehicle Shift

Stuttgart's biggest trend is cars becoming software platforms. Mercedes-Benz aims for software to generate €10 billion in annual revenue by 2030, driving hiring across every role covered here. New roles that didn't exist five years ago — vehicle cloud architects, OTA update platform engineers, vehicle API developers — are now among the most-hired positions.

2. The Startup Scene is Growing

Stuttgart's startup ecosystem is smaller than Berlin or Munich, but it's maturing. Startup Autobahn (Porsche/Mercedes-backed accelerator), Arena2036 (Industry 4.0 innovation campus), and growing VC interest in automotive-adjacent startups are creating new opportunities. Startup salaries are typically 10-15% below OEM rates, but equity potential exists.

3. Remote Work and Hybrid Models

Most Stuttgart employers now offer hybrid arrangements (2-3 office days). Fully remote positions are rarer than in Berlin — some automotive work requires physical presence. However, cloud engineering, data science, and product management roles increasingly offer location flexibility, creating arbitrage opportunities for engineers living in more affordable surrounding towns.

4. AI and Industry 4.0 Premium

Engineers bridging software and industrial applications earn 15-25% above baseline. Top-paying specializations: autonomous driving (computer vision, sensor fusion), industrial AI/ML (predictive maintenance), edge AI, digital twin engineering, and robotics software (ROS2).

Cost of Living: What Your Salary Actually Buys

Stuttgart is expensive by German standards — but significantly cheaper than Munich and roughly comparable to Berlin. Here's the reality for a tech professional:

Monthly Budget (Single, Software Engineer at €78K)

Key cost facts: Rent in Stuttgart city centre averages €1,098/month (Numbeo, Feb 2026), outside centre: €858/month — compare to Munich's €1,600-€2,800. The Deutschlandticket (€49/month) makes commuting from surrounding towns very affordable. Average monthly net salary is €3,942 (Numbeo). Groceries and dining are comparable to other German cities.

Housing Tips

Stuttgart's valley geography means space is tight. Consider surrounding towns connected by S-Bahn: Böblingen/Sindelfingen (close to Mercedes and HPE), Esslingen (charming, 15 min), Ludwigsburg (spacious, 15 min north). All offer significantly lower rents with easy commutes.

Getting Hired in Stuttgart

Language

This is the biggest differentiator from Berlin. Stuttgart's tech scene operates more in German than Berlin's. At the OEMs, meetings with cross-functional teams (manufacturing, quality, supply chain) happen in German. English-first teams exist — especially in autonomous driving, AI research, and digital services divisions — but German proficiency (B2+) significantly expands your options and accelerates career progression.

Rule of thumb: International-facing R&D teams at Mercedes-Benz, Bosch, and Porsche → English works. Anything touching manufacturing operations, supplier management, or customer-facing products → German strongly preferred.

Application Channels

Company career pages remain the primary channel — Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Bosch post all roles directly. LinkedIn is active for mid-senior roles. StepStone and Indeed are still heavily used by German employers. Referrals are the highest-conversion channel, and Stuttgart's engineering community is tight-knit.

IG Metall Contracts: What You Need to Know

Many OEM tech roles fall under IG Metall collective agreements: 35-hour work week, 30 days vacation, 13th-month salary, profit sharing (€3,000-€9,000/year), structured ERA pay bands, and strong termination protection. Not all tech roles qualify — some digital units (Mercedes-Benz.io, Porsche Digital) operate on separate contracts. Ask during the interview process.

The EU Blue Card Path

For non-EU engineers, Stuttgart's OEMs are experienced with Blue Card processing. The salary threshold for 2026 is €58,400 (or lower for shortage occupations, which includes IT). Most mid-level tech roles in Stuttgart exceed this threshold comfortably.

For broader European comparison, see Tech Salaries in Europe 2026.

Is Stuttgart Worth It?

Yes, if you want to work in automotive tech, Industry 4.0, or embedded systems (this is the global epicenter), you value IG Metall benefits (35-hour weeks, 13th-month salary, profit sharing), you want strong purchasing power over nominal salary, and you have or are willing to learn German. Think twice if you want a diverse startup ecosystem (Berlin/Munich have more variety), prefer English-only work environments, are purely a web/SaaS developer with no interest in automotive domains, or want a highly international social scene.

Stuttgart rewards specialization. Bring software skills to an industry that desperately needs them, and you'll be compensated well with excellent job security. The Swabian engineering culture, wine-growing hills, and quiet orderliness have their own appeal.

Check your salary fit to see where you'd land in the Stuttgart market — or explore the full Germany tech salary data for context across all cities.