The permanent chief executive of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority will be paid about $500,000 a year.
The salary is in the top six bands paid to state service chief executives.
The stand-alone authority was announced by the Government on Tuesday and has been established for five years, but will be reviewed annually.
It has been given wide powers to relax, suspend or extend laws and regulations in order to help the region recover from recent quakes.
The State Services Commission on Thursday confirmed the salary bracket for the authority's chief executive will be between $495,000 and $555,000.
The country's top civil servants - the heads of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Ministry of Social Development - are paid between $570,000 and $580,000.
A spokesperson for the commission says a number of factors are involved in establishing remuneration for chief executives.
They include the complexity of the job, its budget, the number of staff, work programmes and policies that have to be implemented, and the profile of the organisation.
A permanent chief executive has yet to be appointed, but deputy State Services Commissioner John Ombler is doing the job in the interim.
