A Guide to the 14 Best-Paying Jobs in Tech (Plus Duties)

Updated 17 April 2023

The information technology sector is active, offering a diverse range of professions, usually well-compensated. IT skills are in great demand in business due to society's reliance on technology. The high salary usually associated with IT jobs is likely to affect your decision, and there are several paths to follow if you want to pursue a career in this industry. In this article, we provide the best-paying IT occupations, their requirements and their main responsibilities.

14 best-paying jobs in tech

Here are a few examples of the best-paying jobs in tech:

1. Digital marketer

National average salary: £26,316 per year

Primary duties: A digital marketer is responsible for generating leads and increasing brand recognition through digital channels such as social media, email, search engine optimisation and content marketing. A digital marketer's duty is to collaborate with web developers and designers while also overseeing the entire process.

Marketers can use metrics-based analytics to discover inefficiencies and build plans to improve performance on digital channels to get an advantage in the digital marketing battle.

2. Computer hardware engineer

National average salary: £26,736 per year

Primary duties: Computer hardware engineering is the study of the physical circuitry that allows computers to work. In the information technology industry, the functioning of software resources is positively related to the performance of various IT support professions. Computer hardware specialists are referred to as hardware professionals since they're well-paid and have benefits similar to those of a software engineer.

3. Information security analyst

National average salary: £32,200 per year

Primary duties: Information security analysts find weaknesses in a company's digital security systems and then implement security solutions to safeguard sensitive or private data. Information security analysts use intrusion detection systems (IDS) to monitor networks for malicious activity. Companies need information security analysts to build intelligent security solutions to counteract cyber-fraud and phishing efforts.

4. Web developer

National average salary: £33,788 per year

Primary duties: Frameworks, programming languages and design methods are all specialised training for web developers. They put extra work into this, in addition to ensuring that they appropriately position all elements, text, photos and other design components on the page. These are the most in-demand positions as one of the high paying tech jobs. People divide web developers into three categories: front-end developers, back-end developers and full-stack developers.

5. Database administrator (DBAs)

National average salary: £41,057 per year

Primary duties: Database administrators assist with managing digital information, and they help do so with great quantities of digital data. Their tasks include maintaining database operations and ensuring that computers are working to their highest capabilities. DBAs handle back-up and recovery regularly or as required.

Database administrators use specialised software to store, monitor and track sensitive information, such as customer data, purchase history and shipment records. They determine if the other physical features of the database systems, such as disk space and network resources, are needed.

6. IT manager

National average salary: £43,333 per year

Primary duties: IT managers are among the highest-paid positions in the industry. They play an important role in management since they have a thorough grasp of the IT industry, particularly in their specialisation, which makes the position one of the best paid IT jobs.

They're mostly concerned with an organisation's information technology (IT) department. This role is responsible for all aspects of planning and coordination. They're constantly looking for new ways to improve IT systems, and they have highly qualified technical teams working for them.

7. Quality assurance engineer

National average salary: £43,146 per year

Primary duties: In the software development life cycle, software engineers rely on quality assurance engineers for assistance. They run tests to discover any faults or problems in a software product and verify that it works as expected.

Engineers in charge of quality assurance ensure that outputs meet functional and non-functional (design) standards and requirements. In addition, QA engineers assist clients in resolving issues in real-world production scenarios.

8. IoT engineer

National average salary: £49,610 per year

Primary duties: The Internet of Things (IoT) is a huge network of interconnected internet gadgets that span the world. These many IoT-related sectors provide a wide range of high-paying IT professions that you may pursue and are highly rewarding. IoT engineers benefit from having up-to-date technical knowledge and a creative mindset.

9. Data scientist

National average salary: £50,272 per year

Primary duties: Data scientists are IT professionals who organise, clean, analyse and report on data. There are several job possibilities in data science, ranging from marketing to economics. Technical computing, data modelling, statistics, analytics and business know-how are among the duties done in this position.

Since most modern businesses rely on data analysis and trends to inform their decision-making processes, data scientists are highly essential. With this in mind, this profession is likely to remain competitive and offer a high salary to professionals with well-developed data science skills.

10. Product manager

National average salary: £51,641 per year

Primary duties: A product manager finds customer requirements and corporate goals for a product or service, then explains and motivates their team to achieve those goals. A project manager needs to consider numerous departments' opinions, concerns, suggestions, key stakeholders, executives, customers and clients. Product managers oversee the life cycle of a product, from design to marketing to retail.

11. Mobile app developer

National average salary: £55,032 per year

Primary duties: Mobile app developers are in high demand due to the widespread of mobile technologies like smartphones and tablets. They work individually or in teams to develop new apps and publish them for specific types of devices. During their work, they may be involved in the various stages of application development, or specialise in one specific niche. Some mobile app developers work freelance and may produce and publish their own apps. Others may work for large companies on widely used apps with a long development life cycle and post-release support.

12. Cloud architect

National average salary: £55,207 per year

Primary duties: The growing number of businesses moving their day-to-day operations to the cloud has resulted in a high demand for cloud architects. Cloud architects plan, design and implement cloud technologies. They may also provide long-term support to companies that use cloud software they implemented. A cloud architect may suggest a public, private or hybrid cloud architecture depending on the company's needs. Cloud architects are also in charge of performing the various installation, maintenance, supervision and administration tasks built into the deployed cloud's structure.

13. Machine learning engineer

National average salary: £56,902 per year

Primary duties: Machine learning is becoming increasingly widespread as it allows businesses to save money by automating their processes and quickly analyse large amounts of data. Machine learning engineers support these processes by designing, programming and implementing machine learning technologies.

As the need for machine learning engineers grows, so does their compensation. Companies are now looking to incorporate machine learning into their business strategies as the technology improves and grows. As a result, the job prospects are great.

14. DevOps engineer

National average salary: £63,874 per year

Primary duties: Many organisations have multiple departments, and IT has its own divisions. As the name suggests, DevOps emphasises communication between development and operational processes. This highly adaptable role requires individuals to challenge traditional thinking, encourage collaboration across software development and operational teams and expand on current systems. They use a time-tested method in which several different tasks, including development, quality control, deployment and integration, are completed simultaneously.

They're also in charge of publishing new software in the production environment. They stand out because they have a deep grasp of dedicated, multi-tenant or hybrid cloud systems, along with excellent IT infrastructure management skills. When looking for the highest paying IT jobs, keep in mind that competition in DevOps engineering may be high, so if you want a high-level position, be prepared for a lengthy recruiting process because a good DevOps engineer can be expected to manage many jobs at the same time, such as developing, integrating and testing.

Salary figures reflect data listed on Indeed Salaries at the time of writing. Salaries‌ ‌may‌ ‌‌vary‌‌ ‌depending‌ ‌on‌ ‌the‌ ‌hiring‌ ‌organisation‌ ‌and‌ ‌a‌ ‌candidate's‌ ‌experience,‌ ‌academic‌ background‌ ‌and‌ ‌location.‌

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