Well, if I am not wrong, grade 8 is split into 2 tiers. Most people get stuck here for quite a while before getting grade 9 which comes with the title of principal engineer. I do not know the salary range. The highest grade is 16 which is for the CE. Below that, there is DCE, Dir, DD, AD and the other appointments like Program Managers, Head Capability Development etc. I do not know if there's a 1 to 1 mapping for the grade numbers to the appointment, maybe some appointment spans more than 1 grade?

Perhaps those who know SAF officer's salary ranges can provide a clearer picture. Old birds would recall a COL Simon Hoon from the navy who took on the Dir HR after he hung up his uniform. And also the previous DCE(SD) BG Sin Boon Wah who was our defense attaché to Washington before joining DSTA. So the DIR's pay would be ~COL's pay while the DCE's pay is ~BG pay. Perhaps slightly less because they no longer have the uniformed services allowances, vocation pay and what not.