Shortlist salary benchmarking: What finance leaders in renewables can earn

From the newsletter

Salary benchmark data for senior finance leaders in renewable energy in South Africa, Kenya, Egypt and Nigeria shows that highly qualified hires expect to be paid a minimum of $72,000 to $85,000 per year. A safe “retention rate”, where finance leaders are not easily poached by competitors, is between $119,000 and $182,000, varying from country to country.

• By “leaders” we mean the top functional posts in a company. Our benchmark data is for mid-size companies and assembled in partnership with Shortlist, a leading recruitment agency in Africa.

• In exceptional cases, top finance officers at renewables multinationals can expect as much as $192,000 to $293,000. South African professionals earn the most, followed by those in Kenya, while Nigeria and Egypt have lower benchmarks.

More details

• We monitored salaries for top leaders in renewables finance and compared them to those for leaders in sales and marketing/communications. Together, these roles have a primary impact on revenue and financial management.

• Across four countries (Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa), finance leaders can earn the most among this group. In South Africa, finance leaders start at $110,500, which is $26,000 more than sales leaders and $33,000 more than marketing/comms leaders. 

• South Africa nonetheless leads in pay for marketing and communications leaders across the four countries. Salaries are between $78,000 and $110,500 in most cases, though in exceptional cases up to $156,000. Over the past few weeks, renewables companies have advertised a growing number of marketing and communication roles.

• Though we noticed a net decrease in senior sales staff hiring over the past few months, across the board, once again, South Africa pays sales leaders the highest, starting at $84,500 annually. Kenya follows with a threshold rate of at least $65,000. In Nigeria (from $58,500) and Egypt (from $55,250), sales leaders receive lower pay.

• Overall, South Africa’s high salaries signal its leadership in attracting top finance talent, likely due to its large and more complex renewables sector. 

Our take

• As renewables projects scale up in size and complexity, the risks and regulatory hurdles multiply, and skilled finance leaders are in greater demand to secure funding and keep projects compliant. Without their expertise, even the promising projects risk stalling or failing outright.

• We see a persistent salary hierarchy, with finance leaders earning up to 30 to 60% more than sales or marketing peers across all countries. Financial leadership remains the backbone of successful renewables expansion.

• By global standards, African renewables salaries remain modest. Local employers who fail to match benchmarks are in danger of losing talent to global competitors, leaving critical projects under-resourced and at risk.