Our 2026 Data Centre Salary Survey found that 46.4% of women in Europe feel their gender has negatively affected their pay or career, compared with 1.7% of men. In the US, the figures were 51.4% and 2.2%.
That difference is difficult to ignore.
The European salary data adds another layer. The gender pay gap in data centres is relatively narrow among our mid-level respondents but becomes considerably wider at senior level.
The survey can’t tell us why that happens. It also isn’t a like-for-like comparison of men and women doing exactly the same job. What it does give employers is a clearer idea of where to look more closely.
What does the European salary data show?
Among our mid-level European respondents, the average salary was £79,736 for men and £76,445 for women. That’s a difference of £3,291, or around 4%. Already highlighting the gender pay gap in data centres.
At senior level, the average was £106,210 for men and £82,871 for women. The difference increases to £23,339, or approximately 22%.
The mid-level figures are relatively close. At senior level, the difference is much larger.
That doesn’t prove that men and women doing the same work are being paid differently. These are averages across everyone within each seniority group, rather than a comparison of equivalent roles.
The results may be influenced by job type, location, experience, company type and the range of positions grouped within each level. They show the shape of the difference in our survey sample, not its cause.
Even with those limitations, the change between mid-level and senior-level pay is worth investigating.
Why career progression deserves attention
The figures don’t prove that promotion decisions are creating the senior-level salary difference. They do raise useful questions about progression.
Who gets access to high-profile work? Who receives training and development opportunities? Who is encouraged to apply for a more senior position? Are promotion requirements clear before a role becomes available?
By the time someone applies for a senior role, earlier decisions may already have influenced whether they have the experience, confidence and visibility needed to be considered.
This doesn’t mean lowering the standard for promotion. It means making the standard clearer and ensuring people have a fair opportunity to reach it.
Employers can start by setting out the experience required for each level, advertising development opportunities openly and explaining how promotion and pay decisions are made.
Women and men describe the data centre industry differently
The difference in how women and men responded is just as interesting as the salary figures.
In Europe, 46.4% of women said they feel their gender has negatively affected their pay or career. Only 1.7% of men said the same.
In the US, the figures were 51.4% for women and 2.2% for men.
These responses are based on personal experience and perception. They don’t, on their own, prove that discrimination has taken place.
That doesn’t make them unimportant.
When one group is far more likely to believe their gender has affected their career, employers have a reason to understand what sits behind that experience. It may relate to pay, progression, access to opportunities, recognition or a combination of factors.
The survey can identify the difference. Employers need their own conversations and workforce data to understand what may be causing it inside their business.
How employers can examine their gender pay gap in data centres
1. Compare pay by seniority and role
A single company-wide figure can hide where differences occur.
Look at pay by seniority, but also compare people doing similar work. Consider job title, location, experience, responsibilities and length of service wherever the sample allows.
2. Review the decisions made before promotion
Don’t look only at the final promotion panel.
Review who receives visible projects, training budgets, mentoring and opportunities to work with senior leaders. These experiences can affect who is ready to take the next step.
3. Make progression requirements clear
People should understand what is required to move into a more senior position and how those decisions will be made.
Clear criteria make progression easier to plan for and reduce the reliance on informal conversations or individual visibility.
4. Ask more useful questions
“Are you happy here?” is unlikely to tell you much about equality.
Ask whether people understand how promotions are decided, have equal access to development and feel their contribution is recognised. Then examine whether the answers differ by gender or seniority.
The bottom line
The survey doesn’t prove why the senior-level salary difference exists. It also shouldn’t be used as evidence that men and women in equivalent data centre roles are automatically being paid differently.
It does identify two findings that deserve attention.
Women are considerably more likely than men to feel their gender has negatively affected their pay or career. Among European respondents, the average salary difference is also much wider at senior level than at mid-level.
For employers, that’s a reason to look beyond a company-wide pay figure and examine progression, representation and access to development in more detail.
The most useful question isn’t whether the survey describes every data centre business. It’s whether the women in your own business would recognise its findings.
Download the full 2026 Data Centre Salary Survey to explore salaries by role and seniority, benefits, bonuses and what respondents across Europe and the US told us about their careers.
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