Tech companies with an Israel HQ are hiring in Israel less than they used to. In Q3 2026, just 40.8% of new hires at Israel-headquartered companies were based in Israel, as shown in an analysis of Israel-HQ companies in Pave's compensation database. Most of their new hires at these companies now happen outside the country—and the drop is sharp.
Let’s dive deeper into this and more trends around hiring and pay data at Israeli tech companies.
Sales leads hiring outside Israel
Customer-facing roles make up most of Israel-HQ companies' hiring outside Israel. Sales alone is the largest function at 39%. Perhaps surprisingly, engineering is well behind it.
The mix suggests this shift is less about relocating engineering and more about building customer-facing teams in the markets where customers sit. Sales and support roles are likely placed close to the customers they serve, which makes them natural candidates to hire outside the home market.
Engineering pay in Israel is rising faster than in the US
For those software engineers based in Israel, pay is on an upward trajectory. Median base salary for software engineers in Israel is up 31.0% in shekel terms since Q4 2022, compared with 12.4% for US software engineers in dollar terms. Israeli engineering pay lagged at the beginning of this time series, but it then moved ahead of the US in 2025 and has pulled away since. It’s also growing faster than pay across all roles paid in shekels.
Both lines are measured in each market's own currency, so the gap reflects pay changes in each labor market.
Rising local engineering costs may be one reason companies look elsewhere to staff other functions, though the data shows these trends moving together, not that one causes the other.
In Israel, the currency changes the pay story
Across all roles in Israel, median base pay for roles paid in US dollars is up nearly 50% since Q4 2022, roughly double the increase for roles paid in shekels, normalized by level and job family. Most of the dollar-paid gain came after mid-2025. Shekel-paid growth was steadier and eased slightly in the latest quarter.
The disparity likely reflects different kinds of employers. Companies that pay Israeli employees in dollars are probably competing for talent against global offers, which may help explain why their pay pulled ahead. This comparison is a reason to benchmark by pay currency as well as by location, not a claim that the same job pays more in dollars.
What this means for compensation leaders
For total rewards leaders at Israel-HQ companies, the implication is that an Israel-only benchmark no longer describes many new hires. With most new hires now outside Israel, and most of those in customer-facing roles, those roles need benchmarks from the markets where they are hired, not Israeli data adjusted after the fact.
Meanwhile, the Israeli engineering market needs closer attention in the other direction. With software engineering pay climbing quickly since 2025, an annual benchmark refresh is likely to understate what offers need to look like today. Splitting Israeli benchmarks by pay currency is the more accurate approach, because dollar-paid and shekel-paid roles have moved at very different speeds.
Pave is a world-class team committed to unlocking a labor market built on trust. Our mission is to build confidence in every compensation decision.
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