Which are the best paying contracting jobs?
In its latest study, Emolument.com analysed compensation data from 3,694 UK contractors. Results show that the best paying contracting jobs are mostly in the finance, change and IT sectors, with an additional premium for contractors with strong technical skills (quant, modeling) or experience (programme management, IT senior management).
Rank | Job family | Job | Daily rate |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Finance | Risk Modeling / Quant | £760 |
2 | Change Management | Risk Change | £730 |
3 | Management | Programme Management | £640 |
4 | Finance | Model Validation | £610 |
5 | Change Management | Finance Change | £570 |
6 | IT | IT Senior Management | £570 |
7 | Consulting | Strategy Consulting | £570 |
8 | Finance | Credit Risk Management | £520 |
9 | Data | Business Analysis | £505 |
10 | IT | Enterprise Architecture | £505 |
11 | Finance | Operational Risk Management & Risk Analytics | £505 |
12 | Management | Project Management | £500 |
13 | Finance | Corporate & M&A Strategy | £495 |
14 | IT | IT Service Delivery | £485 |
15 | Change Management | Operational Change | £475 |
16 | Product | Product Manager | £475 |
17 | IT | IT Security | £450 |
18 | Outsourcing | Procurement & Purchasing | £445 |
19 | IT | Software development | £430 |
20 | Data | Data Analysis | £425 |
Highly skilled, highly paid: Risk modelers/quants combine both advanced mathematical knowledge and a high paying industry such as banking. Thanks to this winning combination, they are some of the highest paid contractors, at up to £760/day.
Seniority pays off in IT after all : Despite the headlines about technology 'wonderkids' being offered eye-watering pay packages, the highest paid IT contractors are still the ones with substantial experience (IT Senior Management, at £570/day & Enterprise Architecture, at £505/day)
Change management : High stakes, short time: Change management jobs are well-represented among the best paying contracting jobs (Risk change, Operational change, Finance Change). While stakes are high, as change projects can dramatically impact a company's bottom line, these jobs are temporary by nature.
Alice Leguay, Co-Founder & CMO at Emolument.com said: 'More and more, companies require specific skills and competencies at a given point in time which make the contractor model particularly attractive for employers, prepared to pay up for a targeted solution. Contractors also enjoy the freedom and job variety afforded by a consulting model, though rates vary widely, with some specialism affording much more financial security and visibility than others as our study shows.'
Emolument provides bonus and salary statistics based on data submitted directly by professionals like you. It is free, anonymous, and already a trusted tool for thousands of professionals worldwide. Are you paid enough? Click here to find out now.
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