I unfortunately don’t have much perspective on software development on Europe, but one of the differentiators I’ve observed in the US between high salary SWE jobs/regions and lower SWE jobs/regions is that engineered in the higher categories are considered a core part of the business and are deeply integrated across the business. The engineers sit closer to and interact more with the “money people” than in companies where there might be a layer of analysts or business program managers, etc... As a result, engineering and computing at permeated throughout the business.
This often makes these companies more agile (the cycle times for requirements and feedback are shorter) and seems to make the business more willing to pay for engineering talent generally (as the decision makers see the value or are former engineers themselves.)
This is easier in some industries than others - consumer internet and commercial software companies will tend to organize more like this then health care, for example.
So I guess my answer would be ensure your software engineers aren't just doing software, but helping define the businesses
This often makes these companies more agile (the cycle times for requirements and feedback are shorter) and seems to make the business more willing to pay for engineering talent generally (as the decision makers see the value or are former engineers themselves.)
This is easier in some industries than others - consumer internet and commercial software companies will tend to organize more like this then health care, for example.
So I guess my answer would be ensure your software engineers aren't just doing software, but helping define the businesses