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 work for my days off. I'm 55, come for a working class, low income background. Somehow dragged myself to University. Now live in the south east living a very middle class lifestyle on a hansome salary. But, work was a double-edged sword. I put work before family, and I miss my Mum. She's long since passed but I'd give up the pension just to be back in that steamy kitchen of hers, having a chat round the kitchen table.

The paperchase gives you a temporary sense of wellbeing. Find a job you can do, for a salary you can live on. Keep it simple.

I have a relative who is head of compliance for uk, Eur and Far East including Aust. I think he is earning about £300 thousand. He is available all the time because of time differences. He was not very bright at school but had a very good education. He got degrees but not from top unis. He just found his niche as obsessed with his field but now he says very well qualified people eg ex Oxford under him are not willing to take decisions. Re Tech field - also know someone very well qualified/intelligent/hard working/driven/successful who is being laid off after she has set up a new program that means she does not have a job any more!!

Ok what do you want in terms of lifestyle and how can a job give you that? £200k sounds great, but any job I can think of that would pay that = incredibly long hours; niche skills combined with luck; high stress; travelling away from family etc. I am a mid career academic and freelance writer, my salary combined with extra earnings from freelance = about £85k pa. It was hard work to get here (lots of sacrifices for work, PhD study, training etc). Now though it is a nice job to have. There’s lots of perks, including flexibility to shape the job to my niche interests, choose my own hours within reason, long stretches where I don’t need to be in the office, excellent pension/benefits. I will likely make £100k plus at sometime in the next decade but in no rush to progress as the sector is in a bad way and the higher your salary, the more vulnerable you are. My husband is a freelance removals person. He works part time on about £18k pa, he does a lot of our childcare and we see each other loads and spend loads of quality time during the week when kids are at nursery/school. Combined earnings enough for a mortgage on a small London house, a few holidays a year (we have relatives overseas so this helps with the costs), meals out now and then, treats for the kids. No way would I swap that for working all hours in a job where I had little control over the substance of my work and working hours, whatever the salary - what would be the benefits? Bigger house? Designer jewellery? I don’t want that. Some do. But it’s horses for courses.

I’m a Group CFO in a FTSE business. Base around £500k plus 200% bonus and 200% shares (obviously performance related). There are many people at the level below me on £200+ shares/bonus. Most will be Big 4 trained and 15 years plus into their careers.

The job of course has a huge level of responsibility, but I don’t work “harder” now than I did when I was in middle management, and have enough flexibility to spend time with my family. Nor do I spend all of my money on taxis and spa treatments per PP upthread!

It is absolutely worth the sacrifice and my life is infinitely better for following a tough but “boring” career path.

I would think they are CEO type roles. I know there was the wife of a British Airways pilot who posted on here years ago and he was on £250 from memory.

The one and only person I actually know and socialise with with a salary like that (or more probably) is a venture capitalist. He doesn't seem to work especially hard tbh, but does travel abroad a lot.

I have very wealthy relatives in the distant family, so I don't see them that often, who were a stockbroker (now retired), merchant banker and partner in a large law firm. They are a Dad and two sons - the adoration of money obviously runs in their family!

Senior sales operations - tech.

And yet senior teachers are well within the top 20percent of salaried earners. What do you think everyone else does?

Senior Director in a strategy role in big tech earning somewhere between £500k and £1.5m depending on how stock price is doing.

State school educated, not Oxbridge and 22 years into career. I work remotely and hours vary but on average maybe 40-45 a week. I work fewer hours now I am very senior and mainly in a decision making rather than doing role.

As this thread shows, sector is so important - my role would be paid less than half in most normal industries but tech has the benefit of typically granting shares/RSUs in a broad based way which massively increases earning potential. So being amazing at your specialism (eg HR, finance, project management) and then seek roles in the highest paying sectors is a great way to increase earnings quickly rather than retraining and going backwards to go forwards. This is especially true with how AI is eating into more junior roles.

How do you deal with kids? I have two daughters, 7 and 4, who both demand.time and nerve I feel I am in a cage

I wish I'd been more motivated by money than:'I don't want to work in an office and want a job i can use my degree in. ' I get the job satisfaction of increasingly rude and disinterested kids; more and more kids (with all the needs) rammed into classrooms; impossible demands from slt alongside the kinds of hours worked by people on 3x my salary.

I hate the 'making a difference' vs big money narrative. Naively, at 22 a quarter of a century ago in a v wc town, i tight teaching WAS the big money!

My husband earns around £120k PA. He’s in sales with no qualifications higher than his standard grades.

If you’re in a decent company and are good at selling, you can make a lot of money.

I know £120k is far from £200k but earning potential, with the right bonus structure, is limitless.

I totally get this. I stupidly followed my happiness over money and became a teacher. Which ironically made me very unhappy.

I no longer work as I’m a SAHM but you wouldn’t catch me going back to teaching

What is your job?
Real estate development

What is your salary?
£180ish including a variable bonus, plus another £25k from a non-executive role.

How many years into your career are you?
22

What are the key qualifications/experience for the role?
Most people would have a decent degree in something related, and a financial or surveying qualification. Then years working in this area. Need to be financially literate but it's as much about business acumen, networks and connections, internal management of stakeholders etc.

What hours do you work?
Varies between 35 to all the hours if there's a deal closing.

there are some industries that pay better than others for your type of work.
you need to go to the ones that tend to pay really well

@Soontobesingles
Early career academic here. May I ask what kind of freelance writing you do and how you got into it?
I did my PhD mid-life so though I love the academic side, had to take a pay cut and really need to boost my income. Would greatly appreciate any advice! Thanks.

A friend of mine has just started a job as a CEO of a small charity (£2m annual turnover), her total package is £150-£200k (you can look it up on Charity Commission website). She has no prior CEO experience but has worked in the sector in various roles including freelancing.

CEO of an academy chain. They shouldn't make that sort of money but many do.

It was an inserted management position. Directors of Education, for LAs, never made/make that sort of money and are responsible for many more schools and pupils.

Brain surgeons don't earn £200k generally.

With bonuses, being a high billing executive search consultant you could earn this and more. And with a relative non-stressful environment and flexibility to work from home.

I'm sure a top consultant working privately would!

Also a lawyer and also agree that AI is going to have an enormous impact on the need for junior lawyers.

I wouldn't be advising anyone to go into law now. Law firms will need a very small fraction of the juniors they used to take on. My office used to take 12 a year and in the next round (for 2028) is taking 2. DH's firm is trialling new AI software at the moment which is specifically designed to replace paralegals, trainees and mid level lawyers doing process based churn work.

Except not really accurate....

Top consultant pay is £145,000, even with additional PAs, responsibility allowances etc you're going to struggle to hit £200k unless you're doing substantial amount of private work.

Notwithstanding if OP is starting medicine as a carerr change it's much more likely than not that they'll never make it as a far as a consultant post. From today it would take an absolute minimum of 22 years to reach the top nodal point on the consultant pay scale.

OP what is your degree in? That will have a bearing on where you could go.

I know most successful novelists don't make anything like that much. But I know two who do. I know far more who are household names and don't earn enough to pay tax, as I said.