TL;DR
- Jobs in consulting, finance, and tech dominate the list of the highest paying jobs for MBA graduates
- Some of the highest paid MBA roles include management consultant, investment banking associate, and C-suite titles such as chief technology officer
- With average salaries for some of these roles exceeding $500,000 a few years down the line, there are some particularly lucrative MBA career paths
From McKinsey to Amazon, the largest recruiters of MBA graduates offer highly lucrative salaries to new hires, with earning potential that can rise significantly over time.
Take a look at the journeys of grads at top global business schools, many of whom land roles with the world’s most renowned companies, and you can quickly get a sense of just how lucrative the highest paying MBA jobs can be.
The average MBA salary for MBA grads at Harvard Business School three years after graduating is over $256,000. Stanford Graduate School of Business MBA grads can expect to earn around $242,000, while INSEAD MBAs earn average salaries of $210,000 three years after graduation.
Each year, you’ll find fresh MBA graduates earning six-figure consulting salaries while others land some of the best paid jobs in technology or the highest-paying finance jobs.
So, here’s a breakdown of nine of the highest paying jobs awaiting MBAs after graduation.
9 of the highest paying MBA jobs
1. Management consultant
It’s no surprise that the role of management consultant is one of the jobs on this list. Consulting gives MBA grads huge earning potential. The Big Three consulting firms, McKinsey, Bain & Company, and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), hire thousands of MBA grads every year.
The average MBA salary for MBB consultants starts at around $190,000, with your earning potential only increasing as your progress in your career. After 10 years, a senior partner at a firm like BCG can expect to earn over $500,000 per year.
There are also MBA job opportunities at an array of boutique consulting firms, many of which offer MBA grads starting salaries of at least $160,000.
2. Senior project manager
If an MBA teaches you anything, it’s how to manage and lead people across multiple projects. Working in diverse teams on real-time consulting projects is a key part of your MBA education.
Many MBA graduates enter roles as senior project managers in industries ranging from tech to consumer goods. Average salaries in the US sit at around $140,000 according to Glassdoor, but senior project managers working for top firms such as Wells Fargo could earn over $164,000.
3. Senior product manager
A senior product manager will manage multiple products for a company, or a single product that is highly complex, high-risk, or sensitive. To do this role successfully you’ll need to be able to manage multiple people and oversee tasks across various departments.
Glassdoor figures suggest that the average MBA salary for a senior product manager in the United States is $220,000. That figure is likely to be even higher at top tech firms such as Amazon, Oracle, or Google.
4. Finance manager
As a finance manager you’re tasked with advising on financial strategy and helping refine decision making processes to ensure the business is financially successful, keeping a close eye on the balance sheet.
You’ll need a wide finance knowledge to be able to effectively allocate resources, manage budgets, and ensure the financial stability of the company.
Finance is one of the top three industries MBAs enter after graduating and many MBAs become finance managers, while some work as finance managers for companies within other sectors.
Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggest that the average salary of finance managers is $161,000. However, it’s worth noting that the top-paid 25% earn over $210,000.
5. Investment banking associate
Working as an investment banker lets you put to work many of the skills you acquire on an MBA. You’ll need hard financial skills as well as strong soft skills to communicate with multiple stakeholders.
You’ll work on transactions between firms during mergers or acquisitions, or help clients to establish business plans. You'll also work in teams focused specifically on transactions or market sectors.
For MBA graduates, the typical entry point to investment banking is at associate level. According to Wall Street Prep, investment banking salaries for MBAs start at $150,000 at the top New York firms—though that figure can reach as high as $250,000 after bonuses. Outside the US, salaries tend to begin at around $102,000.
6. Private equity associate
Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, BlackRock: all of the financial heavyweights hire private equity associates straight out of business school—usually from the most prestigious institutions such as Harvard and Stanford.
You’ll need the knowledge and skillset to find potential investment opportunities, assist with investments, perform due diligence on clients, and see deals through to completion.
According to Wall Street Prep, first year private equity associates in the US can earn average salaries of between $135,000 and $155,000. However, that figure could be even higher at the most prestigious financial firms such as Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, and Bain Capital.
7. Chief technology officer (CTO)
Alongside finance, the tech industry is another of the top three industries that MBA grads enter. Whether you join a startup, an SME, or multinational, the chief technology officer role is a top position to aim for.
As a CTO you’ll be using your MBA skills to establish a company’s technical vision, manage a technical team, or oversee technological development.
Such a senior role means a hefty MBA salary. The annual salary of a CTO varies, depending on company size, location, and experience level. According to Glassdoor, the average chief technology officer salary in the United States is over $300,000. IBM pays CTOs around $374,000, at Google it’s $412,000, and at Microsoft it can be as high as $497,000.
8. Marketing manager
Marketing managers are responsible for organizing and managing marketing campaigns to help boost awareness of products and services offered by companies.
The average pay for marketing managers in the US is just under $160,000. Again, this is likely to be considerably higher at major tech firms—the best-paid 25% make over $200,000.
9. Senior data analyst
MBA job opportunities in data science have been on the rise for some time now.
A senior data analyst specializes in collecting data, organizing that data, and then analyzing before reporting their findings to help other departments make informed decisions.
In the US, the average salary for senior data analysts is around $130,000. However, average salaries at a major firm like McKinsey can reach a huge $210,000.
*Salary data sourced from Glassdoor, Management Consulted, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. News and World Report, and Wall Street Prep