Tech jobs pay well in the UK, so it's no surprise that many people want to make the most of their skills, particularly in the IT sector. The list of high-skilled, high-paid jobs in this niche is constantly adjusting as new technologies emerge and their predecessors become a thing of the past.
One of the reasons why the tech sector pays so well - in any country, not just in the UK - is that the IT industry requires its professionals to adjust to constantly changing requirements, learning new skills literally on the go. That is already a challenge in itself, so when looking for one of the most in demand jobs in the UK, it is equally important to consider the city you'd like to work in. Even though the unemployment rate in the country is less than 4%, the chances of landing a high-paid job are still higher in major UK tech hubs. So, which jobs would those be, exactly? Read on to find out the highest-paying tech jobs in the UK with average salaries, ranked from high to low, based on 2022 data.
#1 Software Architect
Average Annual Salary £73,000
Software architects owe their job title to the simple fact that they are very similar to building architects when the scale of a project is concerned. Just like architects working with physical buildings, software architects are responsible for a full, detailed plan for any to-be-developed software. Depending on the project scale, software architects can work either in teams or individually. In any case, they should provide a full project specification before the development can even begin.
#2 Systems Architect
Average Annual Salary £72,000
A systems architect's job that pays almost as well as that of a software architect is also an executive position in most IT companies. Systems architects are responsible for every step of the working process, and it is up to them to figure out the best technical ways to meet the software's business and marketing needs. This is probably one of the most responsible jobs in any IT company that also calls for very extensive experience in several business segments.
#3 Data Warehouse Architect
Average Annual Salary £66,000
Recently, the IT sector has been raving about big data, and it looks like this trend will continue in 2023. As information becomes more and more crucial, so do databases for storing and retrieving these data. Managing and designing such databases - both in machine and cloud storage - is the primary job of a data warehouse architect.
#4 Development Operations Engineer
Average Annual Salary £65,000
Development operations, commonly known as DevOps, are Agile Experts responsible for introducing new tools, systems, and methodologies to optimize the development processes. While many mistake Agile Operations for a purely administrative position, all high-paid DevOps are experts in several programming languages and have sufficient experience in several more. Simply put, DevOps search for the optimal ways to create software and support their development teams.
#5 Java Developer
Average Annual Salary £62,000
Java developers have been enjoying their spot in the sun for some time now, and it seems that this trend will continue. To qualify for a top-paying salary, Java developers should also know a couple more programming languages, i.e., Python and Perl.
#6 Product Manager
Average Annual Salary £51,500
A product manager is of the few high-paid jobs in the IT sector that do not necessarily require coding skills. Of course, to qualify for an IT product manager, you must have an understanding of the industry as well, but the real gist of this job generally comes down to marketing and analytics according to most job descriptions. But even here, a lot will depend on the product in question - when developing a tool for developers, marketing experience alone may not be enough.
#7 Full Stack Developer
Average Annual Salary £51,000
This is neither a managing nor executive position, but it pays so well because full-stack developers are responsible both for client and server software - that is, both front-end and back-end. Since user interface and server-side usually call for different programming languages, these versatile experts reap greater rewards than most other developers in non-management positions.
#8 Front-end Developer
Average Annual Salary £50,000
Still, developers responsible for the user's side of the developed software do not lag behind full-stack programmers - not too much, at least. They deal with pretty much the same user interface, navigation, and graphic issues but do not interfere with the server side of the process. Yet, on average, they earn only a thousand pounds less every year, which means that it is the front-end side of development that is so important these days. Besides offering a rewarding annual salary, this position is also in very high demand - just check out the most popular job descriptions on major hiring platforms, and you will see quite a lot of openings in this area.
#9 Data Scientist
Average Annual Salary £49,000
Data scientist is another high-paid job on the technical list that may not necessarily require programming experience. The primary goal of a data scientist is to analyze various data to make predictions about a company, a particular project, etc. So, it is not unlike a research analyst's job, where the actual specifics will depend on the company and industry in question.
#10 .NET Developer
Average Annual Salary £48,000
Another technology that has stood the test of time and has been highly rewarding for many .NET developers worldwide. Additional technology knowledge is essential to qualify for the highest-paying positions. While a bachelor's degree is usually enough as far as academic experience is concerned, most employers will also expect candidates to have practical experience with HTML, JavaScript, jQuery, Bootstrap, and CSS.
More high paying IT jobs in the UK include:
Cybersecurity expert £47,000 per year
IoT engineer £47,000 per year
Mobile developer £40,000 per year
Database administrator £39,000 per year
Web developer £35,000 per year
So, you can clearly see the list of lucrative career opportunities in the UK IT section is quite long and will probably keep on growing. The final word of advice while looking for employment in the tech sector is to consider not only the salary but also the demand. We already mentioned that the unemployment rate in the UK is low, but the IT sector still needs more developers than PMs and CTOs. This, of course, does not mean that you should not aspire for top management positions - just that you cannot 'teleport' from entry to executive level when a career path is concerned. And to make sure your career progresses smoothly, you need to set realistic milestones, search for promising companies, and - on occasion - even seek out help from professional recruiting agencies. But most importantly - never stop at the top!
