The income levels of top executives at agricultural holding companies are currently distributed as follows: chief financial officer—$0.2–1.2 million; agricultural production managers — $0.2–0.8 million; heads of sales or export divisions — $0.3–1.5 million per year. This applies to companies with a strong export business.
“The upper limit of such compensation is typical primarily for publicly traded companies or businesses with a large export and sales component, where a significant portion of executives’ income comes from bonuses and incentive programs,” — Markiyan Novak, a partner at United Consultants, told Latifundist.com.
The market uses two methods for calculating bonuses for top managers. The first is a percentage of salary. This method is used in HR practice to compare compensation across companies. The target bonus for a CEO is 80–100% of their salary. The second method is the bonus as a percentage of total compensation. It shows how an executive’s income is tied to business results.
“For private Ukrainian agricultural companies, the bonus ranges from 15 to 30% of total compensation. For large agricultural holdings listed on the stock exchange, the norm ranges from 30 to 60%. In companies where profits depend on trade, exports, and global commodity prices, the variable portion of compensation can exceed 70%,” the expert noted.
The logic behind this system is confirmed by examples from agricultural holding companies: “Kernel”—of the team’s $23.8 million in compensation, $21.2 million consisted of bonuses; Astarta—in 2025, the bonus portion was nearly equal to the salary: 769 thousand euros in bonuses versus 870 thousand euros in salary.
CEO Salaries in Manufacturing, Services, and IT
A comparison of the annual earnings of top managers at agricultural holdings with those in other sectors shows that the agricultural sector remains one of the most lucrative for executives, especially in publicly traded companies. The energy sector consistently competes with the agricultural sector in terms of compensation levels for strategic executives, offering between $150,000 and $600,000 per year.
In the public sector, the range of compensation depends significantly on the size of the enterprise: the head of Naftogaz of Ukraine earns about $700,000 a year, while executives at strategic companies such as Ukrposhta receive about $280,000–$300,000 a year. At Ukrzaliznytsia, the compensation level for CEO-1-level executives in state-owned monopolies is estimated to range from $150,000 to $300,000 per year.
In the IT sector, despite the high median salaries of programmers, the annual earnings of strategic managers often fall short of the amounts received by top managers in the agricultural or energy sectors, ranging from $80,000 to $240,000 per year. In the manufacturing and healthcare industries, earnings range from $60,000 to $300,000 per year.
International corporations form a separate segment, where the compensation for a Country Manager or CEO ranges from $150,000 to $450,000, including bonuses. As a large, vertically integrated company listed on international exchanges, Metinvest maintains high standards: compensation for top management approaches the upper end of the industrial sector market—ranging from $300,000 to $800,000 per year, depending on EBITDA results and bonus programs. Executives at Ukrainian subsidiaries of companies such as “”, “Nestlé,” “Carlsberg,” or “Mondelēz” earn between $150,000 and $400,000 per year.
