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?

I think this is sensible. My DH earns 200k+ (actually he tipped into 7 figures in recent years). He has worked in the same industry, the financial part, for 30 years, has professional qualifications and world leading expertise in his field… but has also worked a min12 hour day, excluding commuting, so often 14hrs for about 15 years. Travels a lot, is on call 24/7 as its a global business. He wouldn’t have been able to do this without having me as basically a SAHP throughout as we have no family on hand to help. He thinks he can ‘cope’ with this for another 3-5 years max and then take early retirement, but our kids are just starting uni and he is working to ensure they are funded.

He reaaaally does not want our DCs to go into similar professions or adopt similar lifestyles and often questions whether we should have taken a different route, but we both left uni at a time of a graduate recession (mid 90’s) so took what we could, tried to feel grateful and worked hard. We’ve had a good life materially and been able to buy the support our children needed at various points when CAMHS, school, GPs were unable to help due to 5 year waiting lists on referrals and treatment. He’s hoping that the money he has earned and what he will be able to leave the kids will mean that they can make different choices and follow their interests and passions and not the money.

Actually many of us high earners have said that we had to work stupid hours early in our career, to get where we are now. I personally don't do it any more. I have way more flexibility and autonomy now and my job is significantly more interesting on 200K than it was on 20K. It really isn't that black and white, high income does not mean you work yourself to early grave and never see your kids.

I manage a team of technical subject matter experts supporting an enterprise software sales team (i.e. we do all the technical work for the sales team to help them sell).

My base is £150k but my on-target earnings (i.e. if sales hit their goal) are £225k. They aren't capped, though, so if goal is exceeded, I can earn more than that.

My team's on-target earnings are in the range of £130k-£150k each (these are individual contributors).

To get into this role, you would need to have experience managing a team as well as 10+ years of experience working in pre-sales (i.e. as a technical subject matter expert of a software product). Also beneficial would be software implementation experience.

You have to be relatively technical, and you need to be able to liaise between business end users and management and internal teams (sales, other technical groups, etc.). You must be commercially minded, an excellent presenter, and good at detangling complex problems.

In a week where I'm working from home (80-90% of the time), I work around 40 hours a week - except in Q4 and in January/February, where it is closer to 50 hours a week. In a week where I'm traveling (10-20% of the time), I work 70-80+ hour weeks.

It's a great job - one I never expected to have and that my career gradually built to over many years. I am about 20 years in to my field, with 10 years of implementations experience, 6 years of experience as a senior software seller myself, and the rest leading this team.

Actually many of us high earners have said that we had to work stupid hours early in our career, to get where we are now. I personally don't do it any more. I have way more flexibility and autonomy now and my job is significantly more interesting on 200K than it was on 20K. It really isn't that black and white, high income does not mean you work yourself to early grave and never see your kids

Spot on. I worked a lot more hours and with inflexibility at the beginning. As I progressed and pay went up, hours went down and flexibility increased.
ETA - that meant I had a lot more scope to organise my time around school events etc, just providing there was enough notice, got caught out on the odd occasion there was limited notice but it worked well in the main.

Profit is £300k annual

DH is a management consultant and we run a small business, we employ a few people. He's had decades of long hours on challenging projects. Truth is though, he enjoys it - loves problem solving, loves sitting at the table with very talented clients, loves making a difference, loves helping people, enjoys using his brain, his clients love him - I have met a few and they are like his fan club😂 So while it's long hours and hard work, he gets a lot out of it besides a high salary. He's not what you'd expect - when I met him I had no idea how senior he was - he's very low key.

I think there is a difference in people that work really hard 9-5 hours , feel stuck in the job and also it can be financially limiting

vs people that genuinely enjoy working on something that brings fulfilment whether it’s building a company, helping people the financial freedom

for me it’s all of the above and like a adrenaline rush of creating new business, a service that helps others and winning contracts

i dont drink / smoke / party
but I defiantly can relax and have a lot of free time with my son.

To answer the original intention of the OP rather than nit pick about salaries (which are often not public) by far the easiest way to earn £200k+ is to have your own company- by far the biggest group earning to this degree will have their own company or a stake in the company they work in. Having your own company also means you do not suffer so much with losing a decent proportion of it to tax.

You spelt nous wrong.

I'm really impressed that you manage a start up and only work 4 hours a day - do you employ people? There's just so much stuff to do and so little time to get it all done especially in the early days. Even when you outsource a lot of the functions you still have to be on top of what they're doing. Seriously the list of shit we have to do feels never ending.
Accounts, IT, recruitment, business development, contracts, people development and training from zero to £945k a year on 4 hours a week. Amazing.

Can you share what your business is?

100%, it’s something that people don’t really think about when they see a big headline gross.

As I do a self assessment return because of my income, HMRC tells me that I paid £98k in tax last year, they even kindly tell me how they spent it!

This coupled with my pension contributions reduces the big salary by almost 50%. Granted my net pay is still much larger than a lot of people’s gross pay, but a £200k salary doesn’t go as far as people think it does (I realise this sounds a bit diamond shoes too tight, sorry it’s not intended).

Thanks for the kind comments
i have a large team of 187 people on a sub contractual basis.

i became a single mum at 27, and it was a survival instinct to build something. I just came back from Dubai with my son. I still had to do an hour or 2 sat on the laptop in the kids club whilst they entertained him, but I’m very grateful

I just oversee it
I would prefer not to share as some peoples opinions aren’t always very nice on here.

however I’m very grateful.

Well done! 👏🏽

Portfolio career in deep tech. Mostly I advise CEOs on a consultant/mentor basis, but I also do some strategic analysis for bankers/VCs/corporates, sit on some boards, have some investments into startups, even do a bit of govt. work (by far the lowest paid element!) Before that I had a C-level corporate job. The money is pretty much exactly the same (over your 200K target, though I'd rather be vague how much over) but the control, freedom and satisfaction def higher working as I do now. Training has had relatively little to do with it, though I do have some letters after my name–what counts is experience and proven success.

One thing to note: that's cash renumeration. I also have equity positions based on my investments and board roles that might ultimately have considerable upside (or crash out spectacularly). Over the last 10 years cashing out some of those positions have probably made me nearly as much as my salaries, so do pursue them even if it means forgoing a bit of cash.

It so interesting reading this and then another thread about getting young people to be ambitious. And just the almost natural reflex to pessimistic response or calling people materialistic or money hungry.

we are not creating an environment for ambitious young people to thrive or maintain ambition with these attitudes.

Completely agree. Or by the more well meaning “don’t you know how hard it is” posts referring to people’s background. All with the intention or effect of putting people off.

Oh yes, so I did. Thanks, will note it for next time.

People selling b2b blue chip management consulting SUCCESSFULLY can earn a basic of 120, plus massive commission.

Another poster shared some stats which suggested the majority of people earning over this amount were paid in dividends ie were owners of or had shares in the companies they work for.

Builder. Had some work done, builder was turning down work left, right and centre (£100k work) and he’s got work forever. Gets to finish work at 4pm. Starts at 8.30pm, does kitchens, bathrooms, loft conversions. He’s got a £2m house and employs 5 builders under him. He’s laughing all the way to the bank. Picks and chooses his work.

He’s 32.

His work will never be replaced by AI. Ever.

It'll be hard for you to get a job that pays £200k+ without training or degrees as it'll mainly be someone in a lawyers firm or baking management role or someone working at a big tech firm ect which all needs degrees so unless you have a degree in there it might be a bit of a long shot.

+£350k - FTSE company. Never chased the career ladder but been afforded lots of opportunities. It’s 50% hard wok and 50% luck. I always tell DC to get a profession or do something they have a passion for. I think job security - knowing you will still be a doctor / nurse / teacher etc in 10 years or 20 years, and feeling satisfied and secure, is more valuable than earning high but never knowing when a new CEO will move you out. Worrying what you could lose is constant in high earning environments.

I would have thought senior fintech role, CFO, COO, General Counsel or senior legal director/ head of legal, good sales people, medical consultant

The tech and stem industry's are begging for women to train. So many courses available to start you off and once you work your way up, you can be earning plenty.

Where did she say that?