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The tech industry is one of the most lucrative industries in the world. From the corporate behemoths of Silicon Valley to the rapidly-growing startups of London, it boasts some of the most successful companies in any industry. Tech leaders like Google, Microsoft and Amazon are all on track to reach the $5 trillion mark by the end of 2038, while Apple is set to reach that threshold by the end of the decade. 

According to IDC, over half of the global economy is built on, or influenced by digital services. By the end of this year, almost 90 per cent of organisations worldwide will have already started to invest in digital tools to augment physical spaces and assets. 

With all this investment, it comes as no surprise that the professionals developing the technologies for digitalisation boast some of the highest-paying salaries in any industry. While the tech industry is extremely broad, experienced professionals within the industry can expect triple-figure salaries, with many others earning much, much more. 

But with technology rapidly evolving, with new technological advancements like AI the metaverse ad cloud computing, the demand for specific skills changes year by year. A few years ago, COBOL programmers were some of the highest-paid professionals in the space. But in 2023, the best-paying jobs are all directly related to data science, cloud architecture, artificial intelligence and application development. 

In this list, we’ve compiled the top 10 best-paying careers across the tech landscape, using data from Glassdoor to provide an overview of the average salary of each job title. 

Mobile App Developer – $80,069

 As of July 2022, there are over 2.18 million apps on Apple’s App store, all of which are able to generate revenue through sales, advertising or in-app purchases. The magnitude of applications available to smartphone users means it is critical for companies to provide simple, effective and easy-to-use apps to offer their services. Otherwise, they may find themselves falling behind the competition. 

Due to the massive demand for app development, app developers can make huge amounts of money, but the salary they command can vary greatly depending on the size of the company they work for. Entry-level positions offer salaries of $40,000 but experienced professionals easily make over $200,000. The salary of the average app developer has decreased over the past year as coding because more accessible with the development of AI technologies like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Full-Stack Developer – $85,796

Full-stack developers work on both front-end and back-end programming, creating client and server software using code. They are proficient in both frontend and backend languages and frameworks, as well as in server, network and hosting environments. 

Due to the fact that full-stack development is a fairly broad discipline that includes everything from WordPress developers to cloud application developers, the salary can change drastically with each position. But the skills required in full-stack development are always in demand, making it a lucrative and profitable career for anyone with extensive coding experience.

Big Data Engineer – $117,273

A Big Data engineer is responsible for building, maintaining, analysing and evaluating an organisation’s data processing system. They manage databases for vast datasets, working with NoSQL databases and other database technologies. Big Data engineers also frequently move into AI or machine learning to allow them to comb through large amounts of data and find patterns and information that are useful and actionable for an organisation. 

As companies now collect, store and process huge amounts of data, daily the role of the Big Data Engineer is more important than ever before. Without Big Data engineers, the huge amounts of data collected by companies would not be useful, preventing data scientists from using the data to provide actionable insights.

Data Scientist – $125,549

Not to be confused with data engineers, data scientists derive insights and explain data trends to help organisations make better decisions based on data. They don’t usually come from IT or programming backgrounds but from another science field of study such as Mathematics. In fact, they are often not even required to understand programming at all but instead possess extensive experience using and working with data-related programs. 

The perks of being a data scientist have lured many IT professionals to the career in recent years. Professions with minimal experience can expect starting salaries of £25,000 to 50,000 for entry-level roles, with plenty of chance for growth. Many data scientists easily make triple figures with a few years of experience and the demand for the role is only increasing.

AI Engineer – $127,303

Artificial intelligence and machine learning technology have advanced exponentially over the past few years. A decade ago, AI required huge amounts of resources for its employment in business operations. But thanks to cloud computation, AI can today be applied to almost anything from self-driving cars to banking. 

AI engineers play a critical role in the application of AI within a business. They build AI models using ML algorithms and deep learning neural networks to draw business insights. With new generative AI wired technologies such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT creating new demand for AI across the tech landscape, the salary for professionals working in the field is set to surge as demands heighten. By 2030, AI is expected to contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy, and this number could increase further with the current rate of advancement within the field.

DevOps Engineer – $133,474 

DevOps engineers are IT generalists with wide-ranging knowledge of both development and operations, including coding infrastructure management, system administration, and DevOps toolchains. The role requires great interpersonal and project management skills as DevOps engineers must create a more collaborative environment and ensure CI/CD processes run smoothly. 

Although DevOps is far from new technology, its recent surge in popularity has made experts specialising in DevOps some of the most sought-after professionals in the tech world. It has become one of the best-paying positions in technology and is likely to remain near the top of the list for the years to come.

Data Architect – $162,729

The third position on this list involving data management, data architects find ways to analyse and optimise data for a variety of different applications. They work closely alongside AI engineers, cloud architects, and IT security managers to provide the data necessary to drive and improve their operations. This requires them to optimise extremely scalable systems, working with SWL and NoSQL databases effectively and delving deep into the fundamentals of mathematics to find ways to optimise data. 

Since data architects must conceptualise systems to centralise and protect diverse data, they often play a critical role in helping organisations access and exploit data, requiring high-level communication skills paired with an understanding of business goals and initiatives. Since the role can require multiple high-level skills and qualifications, data architects are often compensated more generously than other data-related roles, with yearly salaries easily surpassing the $100k mark.

IT Security Manager – $152,628

IT security managers play one of the most important roles in an organisation's IT team. They oversee and control a company’s main line of defence against security threats, identifying, communicating and managing current and emerging cyber threats with relevant stakeholders. The role involves planning and carrying out security proceedings to safeguard a business’ critical data from being stolen by malicious actors or breached by deliberate attacks. 

With the cyber threat landscape worsening year by year, the role of cybersecurity professionals is more important than ever before. Experts believe cybercrime will cost the world $10.5 trillion by 2025, leading many Business Leaders are looking to strengthen defence mechanisms to protect themselves from the increased risk of cybercriminal activity. This has increased the demand for professionals within the space, and this demand will likely continue in the coming years.

Applications Architect – $174,667

Application architects manage the design and development of software applications within an enterprise. They collaborate with stakeholders and application development teams to implement and monitor application development stages and document application development processes.

The role requires various programming and communication skills, as architects are expected to understand all interactions between components on a level of abstraction and defiance of limitations and requirements for source code. This often involves training a team of software developers to ensure each of them understands the context and influence they have on the system so they can work together to manage the entire system.

Cloud Architect – $198,354

Cloud architects supervise a company’s cloud computing systems. With many organisations now committing to large-scale cloud architectures, cloud architects have the important job of ensuring these systems are effectively managed and maintained. They must also ensure that all systems – both technical and non-technical – are set up for an organisation’s operations. 

The cloud architects' role is not limited to managing systems, however. They must also bridge the gap between complex business challenges and solutions within the cloud, requiring them to be highly knowledgeable about modern cloud solutions. Most cloud architects are expected to already have several years in the industry as cloud analysts or administrators to obtain this knowledge. Today, a single organisation may employ up to 200 cloud-native SaaS solutions for business operations, all of which need to be secured and integrated. The cloud isn't going anywhere anytime soon, so the cloud architect will likely remain one of the most important roles in an enterprise as well as the top paid