Highest paying jobs in Singapore 2021: Which jobs pay 6-figure annual salaries?
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PUBLISHED ONSeptember 08, 2021 8:37 AMByJoanne Poh
I firmly believe that comparing ourselves to others is a pointless exercise. Only tiger parents engage in that kind of toxic crap. Yet here I am, writing this article about the highest paying jobs in Singapore that is sure to give you a moment of panic… unless yours appears on the list.
The following salaries, taken from Morgan McKinley’s Salary Guide, reflect what an employee should be paid while working in a permanent role for a period of five to 10 years. Read it and weep
Highest paying jobs in accounting
Those G2000-clad accountants might look like they’re in need of a personality, but hey, at least they’re earning more than you. Turns out being handy with a calculator can get you far in life.
|
Job |
Annual salary |
|
CFO / VP Finance |
$250,000 |
|
Finance Director |
$180,000 |
|
Internal Audit Director |
$160,000 |
|
Tax Director |
$160,000 |
|
Treasury Director / Treasurer |
$160,000 |
|
Financial Controller |
$150,000 |
|
Financial Planning and Analysis Director / Business Controller |
$140,000 |
|
Corporate Finance Manager / Director |
$120,000 |
|
Financial Planning and Analysis Manager |
$100,000 |
Highest paying jobs in banking & finance
There’s a reason so many fresh grads are anxious to work for banks, even with degrees in biology or sociology. For the warm fuzzies when they make big companies and high net worth individuals’ lives better, of course.
|
Job |
Annual salary |
|
Managing Director (Investment Banking) |
$500,000 |
|
Managing Director (Private Equity) |
$500,000 |
|
Director (Investment Banking) |
$400,000 |
|
Management Director (Private Banking) |
$400,000 |
|
Director (Private Equity) |
$350,000 |
|
Executive Director (Private Banking) |
$280,000 |
|
VP (Investment Banking) |
$275,000 |
|
VP (Private Equity) |
$275,000 |
|
Associate (Investment Banking) |
$180,000 |
|
VP / Director (Private Banking) |
$180,000 |
|
Associate (Private Equity) |
$150,000 |
|
COO / Head of Operations |
$120,000 |
|
Analyst (Investment Banking) |
$120,000 |
|
AVP / Associate Director (Private Banking) |
$120,000 |
Highest paying jobs in HR
Turns out, firing people and organising team building activities can actually pay quite well.
|
Job |
Annual salary |
|
HR Director / Head of HR |
$160,000 |
|
Head of C&B |
$150,000 |
|
Head of L&D |
$132,000 |
|
HR Business Partner |
$120,000 |
|
C&B Manager |
$120,000 |
|
HR Associate Director |
$108,000 |
|
Head of Talent Acquisition |
$100,000 |
Highest paying jobs in tech
If you are over 30, tough luck, because your parents who bugged you to become a doctor or lawyer could never have known that IT would become one of the highest paying industries of the 2020s.
|
Job |
Annual salary |
|
Cyber Security, Governance and Audit in IT |
|
|
Cyber Presales (Figures inclusive of OTE) |
$100,000-$250,000 |
|
Technology Risk & Governance |
$100,000-$160,000 |
|
IT Audit |
$100,000-$160,000 |
|
IT Security |
$100,000-$160,000 |
|
Security Project / Program Manager |
$100,000-$160,000 |
|
Cyber Security Operation |
$90,000-$120,000 |
|
Cyber Security Engineering |
$90,000-$120,000 |
|
Cyber Threat Intelligence |
$90,000-$120,000 |
|
Cyber Security Analytics |
$90,000-$120,000 |
|
DevSecOps |
$90,000-$150,000 |
|
Sales, Pre-Sales – FinTech and Telecommunications |
|
|
Solution Architect / Pre Sales (Figures inclusive of OTE) |
$150,000-$250,000 |
|
Business Development (Figures inclusive of OTE) |
$120,000-$250,000 |
|
PreSales (Fintech) (Figures inclusive of OTE) |
$150,000-$180,000 |
|
Inside Sales (Figures inclusive of OTE) |
$120,000-$180,000 |
|
Channel Sales (Figures inclusive of OTE) |
$120,000-$180,000 |
|
Direct Sales (Figures inclusive of OTE) |
$100,000-$250,000 |
|
Account Management (Figures inclusive of OTE) |
$90,000-$200,000 |
|
Infrastructure in Technology, Telecommunications & Fintech |
|
|
Cloud |
$80,000-$130,000 |
|
DevOps |
$80,000-$130,000 |
|
Network (Data/Voice/Firewall) |
$80,000-$120,000 |
|
Project Management |
$80,000-$120,000 |
|
Servers (Unix/Linus/Wintel) |
$80,000-$120,000 |
|
Storage |
$80,000-$120,000 |
|
Data Centre |
$80,000-$100,000 |
|
Database |
$80,000-$100,000 |
|
End-User Computing (Desktop/Messaging/Collaboration) |
$80,000-$100,000 |
|
Infrastructure in Banking & Financial Services |
|
|
End-User computing (Desktop/Messaging/Collaboration) |
$80,000-$120,000 |
|
Network (Data/Voice/Firewall) |
$80,000-$120,000 |
|
Storage |
$80,000-$120,000 |
|
Database |
$80,000-$120,000 |
|
Middleware |
$80,000-$120,000 |
|
Servers (Unix/Linux/Wintel) |
$80,000-$120,000 |
|
Data Centre |
$80,000-$120,000 |
|
Cloud Engineer/Architect |
$100,000-$120,000 |
|
Infrastructure Project Management |
$100,000-$120,000 |
|
Technical Infrastructure Architecture |
$100,000-$120,000 |
|
DevOps |
$80,000-$130,000 |
|
ITIL Process Owner (Incident/Problem/Change/etc) |
$80,000-$100,000 |
|
Application Support in Banking & Financial Services |
|
|
Trader Support (FO) (Application) |
$75,000-$100,000 |
|
Head of Application Support (FO) |
$75,000-$100,000 |
|
Level 3 Technical Support |
$70,000-$100,000 |
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Highest paying jobs in marketing
Marketing grads are thought of as the underachievers of business school, but guess what, marketing can actually be quite lucrative in certain industries, especially if you’re a digital marketing specialist.
|
Job |
Annual salary |
|
Vice-President/President/CxO (Technology) |
$300,000 |
|
Marketing Director/Senior Director (Pharmaceutical & Medical Devices) |
$220,000 |
|
Marketing Director / Senior Director (Consumer Goods) |
$200,000 |
|
Regional Head of Marketing/Director/Executive Director (Banking & Financial Services) |
$180,000 |
|
Associate Director/Director (Technology) |
$180,000 |
|
E-Commerce VP/Director (Digital Marketing) |
$180,000 |
|
Digital Marketing Director (Digital Marketing) |
$160,000 |
|
Associate Marketing Director (Consumer Goods) |
$160,000 |
|
Associate Marketing Director (Pharmaceutical & Medical Devices) |
$160,000 |
|
Head of Marketing/VP/SVP (Banking & Financial Services) |
$120,000 |
|
Head of Marketing/Communications (Technology) |
$120,000 |
|
SEO Director/Lead (Digital Marketing) |
$120,000 |
|
Head of Content/Director (Digital Marketing) |
$120,000 |
|
Marketing Manager (Consumer Goods) |
$120,000 |
|
Trade Marketing Director (Consumer Goods) |
$120,000 |
Highest paying jobs in supply chain & procurement
These behind-the-scenes employees are seldom seen by consumers, but the highest-level posts actually pay quite well.
|
Job |
Annual salary |
|
Procurement/Purchasing Director |
$120,000 |
|
Supply Chain Director |
$120,000 |
Highest paying jobs in sales
Salespeople are some of the biggest hustlers of the working world. Given the salaries and commissions involved, it’s not hard to see why.
|
Job |
Annual salary |
|
Director/Managing Director |
$200,000 |
|
Account Director (Regional/Global) |
$200,000 |
|
Head of Strategic Partnerships |
$150,000 |
|
Category Director |
$150,000 |
|
Country General Manager/Commercial Director |
$140,000 |
|
Head of Sales/Business Development Director |
$140,000 |
|
Business Manager/Business Unit Head |
$120,000 |
|
Business Development Manager |
$100,000 |
|
National Sales Manager |
$100,000 |
Highest paying jobs in business management
Yup, these people get paid more to “transform businesses” than the people doing the actual work in the business.
|
Job |
Annual salary |
|
Programme Manager |
$150,000 |
|
Business Transformation |
$150,000 |
|
Agile Coach |
$120,000 |
|
Lean Six Sigma/Operational Excellence Expert |
$120,000 |
|
Business Process Improvement Manager |
$120,000 |
|
Senior Business Analyst |
$100,000 |
|
Process Analyst |
$100,000 |
|
Digital Project Management |
$100,000 |
|
Change Manager |
$100,000 |
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This article was first published in MoneySmart.