What jobs do people have that pay £200k+?

[Diamondpearl123]

I am thinking about making a career change to earn more (aiming for £200k +) but would like to understand what types of roles I should aim for and whether they are realistic for me. Grateful to understand people’s experiences and hopefully start a good discussion. Some questions below. Thank you

• What is your job?
• What is your salary?
• How many years into your career are you?
• What are the key qualifications/experience for the role?
• What hours do you work?

Hah, I think we’d all like this kind of career change!

Investment banker
lawyer in a good firm
some senior support roles in banks, tech, law firms etc eg ma eg marketing, finance

I don’t earn 200k because it was never something I wanted.

Rather than wait for someone to suggest test pilot, brain surgeon or leader of industry - why don't you mention your current skills first?

I'm an in-house lawyer on £150k, so not the target you have set.
I'm 16 years PQE
I have a law degree and a LPC
Key requirements for the role are the business experience I have from my life before I became a lawyer in my forties.

Is this a route to high salary in the future for younger people? I don't know. I don't think AI will replace lawyers but it will change the world of work.

"You won't lose your job to AI, you'll lose it to someone who knows how to use AI"

My husband earns about £225k. He works for an Investment Bank. Back Office and quite senior.

I think someone who's likely to land a job earning £200k+ doesn't start off on Mumsnet asking "What do you do?" to get ideas.
It's a bit reminiscent of Yosser in Boys from the Blackstuff: "Gissa job - I could do that"

• Partner in a top 50 law firm
• £500k
• 20 years
• To get in as a trainee: stellar academics including an extra year’s law conversion course after another degree, work experience, wide range of extra curriculars showing drive, organisation and commercial nouse
• To progress and earn more than £200k: years of technical excellence, developed a high profile for the type of work I do, regularly attract new clients, ability to cement and develop existing clients; good management skills and work ethic.
• Around 60 hours per week (many evenings and weekends).

Edited to add: I agree with PP that AI will have a huge impact on jobs in law, particular those starting out.

You could just get a job on the telly. Helps to have family connections though.

I just left one.

I was a senior program manager in big tech (non tech role)
Salary was 220k ish pre tax.

No specifics qualifications needed 10 years experience in advertising.
A basic degree and very specific/ niche experience in ad agencies was what got me the job.

I worked between 40 and 60 hours per week. 60hrs would be unusual but would happen. Mostly 40-50
So i'd do a 9-6 or 8.30-5.30 then an hour in the evening.

Would i recommend it? Approx 50% of my hair fell out last year in q2 and I took a 70k pay cut to leave.... but it did a lot for me financially while I was there and will give me more financial freedom in the next 5 years

The engineers i worked with were making that at ic4 /ic5 so as young at 26/27? Most were latest 20-early 30s....
So com sci Or sweng is probably good to study.
A few were salty they didnt specialise in AI at uni as they felt underpaid vs their mates.

Board level tech leader (CIO/CTO) for a medium sized global organisation
Managing Director of a medium sized global organisation
20 years plus experience, working all the hours, always being ‘on’ and contactable even on holiday.
Or you could try OnlyFans…

I really appreciate the responses so far.

On my current skills. I’m in a management role and do a lot of managing, coordinating, and planning! But I am willing to retrain and I want to challenge myself to see what I can achieve.

I think I have been quite naive in my career so far. I have done ok just from being clever at school and working hard. But the last few years have been quite opening on how much some people earn. I feel like people, women in particular, never really talk about how much they earn.

Finance director.

I know someone earning more than 200k as a quantitative analyst for traders.

@Diamondpearl123 the most important words here are that women don't talk about what they earn.

People, talk to your daughters about the different pay levels of various jobs. "Oh just do something you love" is shorthand for 'you'll get married and give up work so it doesn't matter'.

Im in sales and although personally never earned 200k i have colleagues who have
Im usually maxed out at 100k p/y

Business Development, SaaS product, unfortunately its all men i can think of because they never stop working, someone else does the house and children tasks...

Its high pressure, demanding, all consuming and stressful but weve all got caught in the sales lifestyle trap so need to keep going.
I agree with you that people dont (women) dont talk about what they earn.
What do you earn currently op?

I didn’t earn anywhere near that as a teacher but the job satisfaction- seeing children thrive was worth far more. Personally considering teachers shape the future generations it’s a pittance but money shouldn’t be your motivator. My DH always said if money is your motivation you will never be happy because you will always want more.
Perhaps what you need to look for is a career that will be both challenging and rewarding but not necessarily in the financial aspect.

😱😱 she should look for something that isn't necessarily financially rewarding, because ........ she's a woman?

That is not what I was saying. Crikey what an assumption. My point regardless of gender is to have a job that is rewarding regardless of income. For some that might be stacking shelves for others it might be an Astro phycisist. It’s what makes you happy and is fulfilling.

even if you “re train” it would take you years to build up to a job paying 200k op.

my husband for example started out as a hr assistant basically doing admin - then he got a better hr job, then a better one and so on and moved companies several times to one day earning over 100k in his late 40s..

similar to me receptionist to office manager to payroll, to studying my ass off for years on the side of my fill time job and all through my maternity leave and about to qualify as an accountant which was my goal.

what do you do now and what would you retrain as

Teaching when you have a DH is ok. Teaching on its own if you are single would mean a very small property and a big mortgage I would think.

Dentist. But working as a general dental practitioner won’t get you anywhere near that figure. Im
a practice owner with ten clinicians working for me. In my spare time I also have an educational role ( consultant level) , which pays me a salary on top of my day job. I’m also an expert on several panels, working with government bodies and health boards. Combined it pays well but I also don’t have any free time, work most evenings, and am pretty exhausted all the time. It took me 25 years ( and some post graduate training) to get to this point

The person i know in the trading world... huge pressure. One fuck up and you're out. Taken into a room and paid off ( very handsomely of course) and escorted from the building. He knows several people its happened to including himself a few years ago, but he bounced back.

I know someone who earns that salary. He's very senior in a niche environment. He assesses the potential wind tunnel effects of large and tall buildings in urban areas. They need to be under a certain level in order to get planning permission. So basically wealthy property developers need his sign off before they can even start building.

I think the other thing to bear in mind is that just because some people have done x,y and z and earn £200k, doesn’t mean that everyone that does x,y and z will earn that much.

Easy example is to ask a footballer - what do you have to do to earn that much? And however they answer, there will be people who could do that exact same thing on paper but not make it.

Same with high paying lawyers/journalists/bankers/ etc.

So first play to your strengths, and then look at something that is reasonably highly paid quite a few rungs down from the top.

I applaud your aims though - I think particularly for women you are right that people talk to little about different earning potentials of various jobs.