Directors’ Remuneration – How much do Australian NEDs currently get paid?

Gaining a Non-Executive Director (NED) role can be a significant milestone and something many aspire to. As such, I regularly field two related questions. The first is ‘How do I gain a board appointment?’ The second is ‘How much could I expect to be paid as a NED?’ This second question is the one I will attempt to answer in this article.

The Australian governance landscape is expansive, with David Maywald estimating approximately 520,000 governing bodies, including incorporated charities, unincorporated NFPs, unlisted companies, and body corporate structures. That translates to 2.5 million governance positions nationwide. 

In doing so, I hope to cut through some of the complexity and provide a view of current Australian director remuneration. To do this, I will explore the remuneration differences between listed, private, government, and charity roles, examine the impact of size, location, and expertise on remuneration levels, and delve into the dynamics of committee fees and equity awards that can influence a director’s total compensation. 

A complex landscape

Obtaining a unified, reliable picture of director remuneration has always been challenging, as compensation varies significantly by organisation type, role, industry, and sector, which are reported on by numerous reports that are often skewed toward the ASX, where formal reporting is required, or that rely on surveys with relatively small sample sizes. 

Mapping the NED remuneration landscape.

Director pay is highly influenced by the organisation’s financial size, geographic location, and the industry:

• Organisational Size: There is a consistent correlation between larger organisations and higher fees. Median Chair pay starkly contrasts between organisations with over $1 billion in revenue ($180,000) and those with less than $10 million in revenue ($40,000).
• Location: NEDs in metropolitan areas ($50,000 median) receive double the remuneration of those in regional areas ($25,000 median).
• Industry Extremes: The highest-paid NED industries, such as Information Media and Telecommunications ($85,000 median) and Construction ($80,000 median), contrast sharply with the lowest-paid sectors, including Public Administration and Safety ($17,500 median) and Arts and Recreation Services ($12,750 median).

Director pay is also, unsurprisingly, influenced by the sector in which they operate:

• ASX-listed companies represent only 10–15% of all remunerated boards but are the most reliable payers, with ~96% of companies compensating their directors.
• Private Sector Competition: The private sector is becoming highly competitive for talent, with businesses of $10 million to $50 million turnover aggressively offering starting fees of $50,000 to $60,000.
• Family Offices: Are noted as particularly lucrative, often offering $120,000+ per annum for modest commitments.
• In contrast, a significant proportion of Charity and NFP roles are unpaid. Only an estimated 5% of registered charities provide director fees, challenging the common belief that the figure is closer to 15%.

Chairs and NEDs remuneration & equity findings – most recent and changes

The AICD compared changes in average remuneration between 2016 Vs 2024 and found:

Type                      2024               2016

Listed Sector        $100,000        $87,604

Private Company  $50,000         $53,777

NFP Sector            $30,000         $25,930

Charity Sector       $20,000         Unavailable

The trend shows a shift from averages to medians in reporting, but listed and NFP sector fees have generally increased, while private company fees have remained stable.

According to Glassdoor’s data as of early 2026, the average annual salary for a Non-Executive Director in Australia is approximately $102,782, though specialised roles can range from roughly $30,000 to over $300,000 depending on the company size, sector, and board responsibilities, with high earners potentially exceeding $500,000 in major cities.

According to the Salary Expert website, the average non-executive director & vice chairman gross salary in Australia is between 48K-133K base salary for NEDs. A search for ‘average board chairman gross salary in Sydney, Australia’ finds that it is $131,472. This is 6% higher (+$7,952) than the average board chairman’s salary in Australia. In addition, they earn an average bonus of $15,264. An entry-level board chairman (1-3 years of experience) earns an average salary of $86,274. On the other end, a senior-level board chairman (8+ years of experience) earns an average salary of $198,184. I am not sure how much stock to put in these findings, given that salary estimates are based on salary. survey data collected directly from employers and anonymous employees in Sydney, Australia.

Remuneration for the largest companies on the ASX shows substantial differences across roles and the significant impact of non-base-fee compensation.

• Chair vs. NED: For ASX 200 companies in the 2025 reporting period, the median Chair fee was $425,000, reflecting a 7.7% median increase year-over-year. In comparison, the median NED fee was $230,000, rising more moderately by 2.7%.
• Sector Variation: The Financials sector consistently reported the highest median fees for both Chairs ($386,210, up 10%) and NEDs ($245,685, up 2%). Conversely, the Energy sector saw a 13% decline in median Chair fee, attributed to a large restricted share grant at NexGen Energy Ltd in the prior year that distorted the figures. The Healthcare sector, however, saw a 45% spike in median Chair fees, driven by equity awards at Mesoblast Limited and Immutep Limited.
• Equity Impact: Equity-based awards can dramatically skew total remuneration, especially for medium-small cap directors. For instance, a NED of a listed resources company received $4.7 million primarily in performance rights, illustrating how total board fees for some medium-small cap directors can exceed those of the top ten directors in the ASX 200. Overall, 37 directors earn over $1.0 million.

Gender and Diversity

• Diversity: Women hold 37.5% of all board seats in the ASX 300 (42.3% of NED seats), but representation at the Chair level remains significantly lower at 16.1%, with none in the ASX 20.
• Gender Pay Dynamics: The gender pay dynamics present a contrast:
  • Female Chairs are paid 7.2% less than men. This gap is attributed to the concentration of women in smaller organisations where fees are lower, not lower pay within comparable companies.
  • Female NEDs are paid 5.6% more than men, reflecting the correlation between larger companies—which pay more—and a higher percentage of women NEDs on their boards.

Committee Service

Finally, Committee Fees are a meaningful component of total remuneration, with over 88% of companies paying additional fees. As a rule of thumb, a Committee Chair typically receives an additional 10% of the base board fee, while members receive around 5%. For instance, the median Chair fee for an Audit Committee is $13,000, compared to $9,550 for a member. 

The formation of specialised Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) committees is a fast-growing trend, with 25% of companies now having dedicated committees.

In conclusion

David Maywald estimated in 2024 that there would be about 93,000 NEDs in Australia. This is a huge number, but regardless of whether they remunerate their NEDs or not, the market for board seats is highly competitive.

While the average director remuneration across all sectors has increased fairly significantly, the path to a board role remains competitive and often voluntary, reinforcing that most individuals pursue board appointments for career advancement and broader benefits rather than immediate financial gain.

Ultimately, gaining a board appointment usually requires a substantial investment of your time, but the effort is rewarded. Most people pursue board appointments because they recognise the wider benefits – they want to give back, recognise the career benefits of operating at board level, or believe this is where they can be most effective. For these reasons, few care whether they are paid well.

If you are considering a board appointment and would like some help, reach out to start a conversation.

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