Highest-paying jobs in the UK

Want to know what the highest-paying jobs in the UK are? We list them here including roles you don’t need a degree for.

The number of job vacancies in the UK has fallen by almost 300,00 since the record high seen in May 2022, according to the latest official figures. Despite the drop there are still around 1 million jobs being advertised.

Human health and social work activities saw the biggest increases in vacancies in the latter end of 2023, while real estate, the arts, entertainment and recreation, professional, scientific, and technical activities have seen the largest fall in vacancy numbers, according to the latest data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

In this article, we cover:

• Highest-paying jobs in the UK
• What are the best university degrees for job prospects?
• What are the best-paid graduate jobs?
• High-paying jobs that don’t need degrees
• Which jobs will receive the highest pay rises in 2023?

Read more: Minimum wage rise 2023: How much is it going up?

What are the highest-paying jobs in the UK?

Chief executive and senior-level roles are perhaps unsurprisingly the highest-paid jobs in the UK, according to analysis of official ONS data by SavetheStudent.

Marketing, sales and advertising directors, doctors, headteachers and airline pilots also come in the top 10.

It is very difficult however to definitively determine what the highest-paid jobs are. There can be a lot of variation between roles depending on your experience, individual companies, and location.

For example, a teacher in inner London can expect to be paid between £36,745 and £56,959 a year, according to the Department of Education. The same teacher in the rest of England would receive between £30,000 and £46,525.

The average solicitor’s salary in the UK is £55,200 a year. This does not include bonuses or profit-sharing schemes, according to Jobted. A newly qualified solicitor can expect an average salary of £35,000 per year.

Read more: Which jobs are most at risk from AI?

These are the best-paid jobs in the UK along with their average annual salaries, according to online job finder Indeed (correct as of August 2023):

1. Chief financial officer – £124,677
2. Vice president of sales – £98,687
3. Orthodontist – £94,658
4. Nephrologist – £94,118
5. Ophthalmologist – £93,331
6. Anaesthesiologist – £93,072
7. Paediatrician – £92,864
8. Plastic surgeon – £90,531
9. Dermatologist – £86,734
10. Tax director – £89,619
11. Director of engineering – £78,368
12. IT director – £77,446
13. Managing director – £74,450
14. Marketing director – £69,049
15. Actuary – £64,362
16. Chief executive officer – £61,805
17. Lawyer – £51,237

What are the highest-paying companies in the UK?

Technology and finance firms made up the majority of the highest-paying companies in the UK in 2022, according to Glassdoor.

The top 10 companies hand out an average base salary of over £93,000 to staff. This places their average employee in the top 4% of UK taxpayers:

1. Citadel – financial services company (£121,759)
2. Contino – business management consultant (£108,128)
3. White & Case – international law firm (£102,115)
4. G-Research- quantitative finance research firm (£101,066)
5. Google Cloud – cloud computing services (£99,677)
6. Palantir Technologies – software company (£98,095)
7. Squarepoint Capital – investment services (£96,933)
8. Bank of America Merill Lynch (£94,393)
9. MongoDB – developer data platform (£93,993)
10. Pegasystems – software company (£93,844)

What are the best companies to work for in the UK?

The highest-paying roles aren’t necessarily the roles with the highest satisfaction scores.

The best companies to work take into account work-life balance, a good team and culture, great pay. They also have perks, strong leadership and good career growth.

Jobsite Glassdoor ranks tech companies in its top 50 list with Apple, Microsoft and Google all making the cut. Management consultancy firms do even better. Bain and Company come top and Boston Consulting Group is third.

Based on the five criteria above, Glassdoor ranked the following as the best companies to work for in the UK in 2023:

1. Bain & Company 
2. ServiceNow 
3. Boston Consulting Group 
4. Equinix 
5. Ocado Technology 
6. Mastercard 
7. Google 
8. Arup
9. Salesforce 
10. Version 1 
11. Softcat
12. BlackRock
13. Microsoft
14. Adobe
15. Novuna
16. Imagination Technologies
17. Johnson & Johnson
18. SAP
19. Wise
20. Capgemini Invent

What are the best university degrees for job prospects?

University is not the only route to a good job but many positions do require one. Competition is fierce once you get out into the real world of work so it is important to do your research when choosing a degree. 

There are over 65,000 university courses on offer. The subject area which offers the highest employment rates for graduates is medicine and dentistry, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

Over 99% of people can expect to be employed in this sector within six months of graduating, commanding a salary for medicine and dentistry is around £35,000 per year. 

Veterinary science comes second with almost 96% of graduates finding employment within six months of graduation, commanding a £32,000 wage.

Over 90% of graduates in allied medicine subjects (such as pharmacy and physiotherapy), education and architecture also found work within six months of leaving university.

What are the best-paid graduate jobs?

University degrees don’t come cheap but many companies offer lucrative graduate training schemes and graduate positions with a view to developing their next generation of leaders.

So if you are looking for an immediate return on your university investment, these are the best-paid graduate jobs according to graduate career resource website, Milkround:

1. Investment Banker £35,000–£60,000
2. Management Consultant £45,000–£50,000
3. Trainee Solicitor £26,500–£50,000
4. Graduate Sales Manager (Retail) £37,000–£44,000
5. Software Developer £31,500–£45,000
6. Graduate Petroleum Engineer £33,000–£43,000
7. Actuary £31,000–£35,000
8. Civil Servant – £27,000–£32,000
9. Civil Engineer – £24,000–£31,000
10. Clinical Scientist – £29,000–£30,000

Note that salaries will vary between organisations and location. Graduate roles are likely to be better paid in London than the rest of the UK.

What high-paying jobs don’t need degrees?

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a degree to get a high paying job. A third of graduates earn less than those who go straight into the job market, according to the ONS.

In fact many of the most famous and richest CEOs in the world, such as Richard Branson, Alan Sugar, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, never graduated from university. 

You also don’t need a degree to be a train or tram driver, positions that also feature in the top highest-paying jobs in the UK.

While a degree may help, in many industries, experience and knowledge is equally valuable. Although you may need to carry out continuing career development courses.

Personal trainers (salary of up to £60,000), estate agents (£49,000), nutrition consultants (£44,000) and recruitment consultants (£30,000) are the top paying jobs that you don’t need a degree for, according to data from FutureFit:

1. Personal trainer: average salary – £23,353, highest salary – £60,000
2. Estate agents: average salary – £21,250, highest salary – £41,000
3. Nutrition coach:  average salary – £28,000, highest salary – £44,000
4. Recruitment consultant:  average salary – £30,344, highest salary – £38,000
5. Pilates instructors:  average salary – £25,000, highest salary – £52,000
6. FireFighter: average salary – £44,027, highest salary – £64,000
7. Health & wellbeing coach:  average salary – £35,000, highest salary – £74,400
8. Police officer: average salary – £35,763, highest salary – £43,032
9. Marketing executive:  average salary – £29,650, highest salary – £33,290
10. Computer games tester: average salary – £31,090, highest salary – £40,000

Which jobs will receive the biggest pay rises in 2024?

The sectors that saw higher-than-average pay increases in 2023 included sustainability, accountancy and finance and procurement, according to recruiter Hays. 

Increased demand for energy/carbon managers, electrical design engineers, valve technicians, machine learning scientists, senior sustainability consultant, credit controllers, payroll administrators and supply chain managers pushed up wages for these roles.

IT and cyber security managers can expect to receive some of the biggest wages (£81,500 a year) as the world becomes increasingly digitised. 

The most sought-after employees however are expected to be in AI, sustainability, clinical healthcare, data, cloud computing, machine learning engineering and cybersecurity, according to Bernard Marr, author of ‘Future Skills: The 20 skills and competencies everyone needs to succeed in a digital world.’

UK minimum wage changes in 2024

From April 1 2024, a number of minimum wage rises will come into effect.

The national minimum – known as the National Living Wage – will increase by more than £1 an hour, from £10.42 an hour to £11.44. 

Eligibility for the National Living Wage will also be extended by lowering the age limit to 21-year-olds for the first time.  It means 21-year-olds and 22-year-olds will get a 12.4% increase, from £10.18 an hour currently to £11.44 from April.

National Minimum wage rates for younger workers will also increase. It means 18-20-year-olds will get a wage boost to £8.60 an hour – a £1.11 hourly pay rise.  

What are the highest-paying tech jobs in the UK?

The technology industry in the UK is thriving and competition for the best talent is fierce. Valued at over £800,000, the industry is worth five times that of France and Sweden, and double that of Germany, according to gov.uk. 

There are thousands of roles to choose from but the tech job with the highest average salary in the UK is senior software engineer at £67,049, according to data from Indeed.

Data engineers can also expect to earn around £60,000 on average, while developers can expect an average salary of £50,000 a year.

What is London weighting?

You are likely to be paid more working in London than in other areas of the UK due to the higher cost of living in the capital.

This supplement to your wage is often referred to as the London Weighting or the London Allowance. The concept first appeared in a 1974 report of the Pay Board.

There is no set amount or agreed universal method for calculating how much you will receive. Instead, it will vary depending on your employer and industry. 

Research from the Trust for London recommends a minimum London weighting of £9,600 in Inner London and £6,549 in Outer London is needed to cover a basic standard of living in the capital.

What is the gender pay gap?

Since 2017 the government has introduced measures to try and tackle the gender pay gap. Since then employers with 250 staff or more are required to publish their gender pay gap data.

The video below explains what the gender pay gap is, and how you can check your company’s data.