Top 100 Jobs In Singapore (2012)

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This is the 2012 edition of our ever-popular list of 100 best-paying jobs in Singapore.

The Ministry of Manpower has just released Report on Wages in Singapore 2011 (released 29 June 2012). We use the wage data in this report to generate our Top 100 Jobs ranking table.

The MOM wage data exclude bonuses and profit sharing. You may also wish to note that “(t)he wages for certain occupations, especially those where performance-based bonuses constitute a significant portion of total wage, would be lower than expected. Examples of such occupations are brokers, dealers and senior management staff.”

Without further ado, we present the top 100 best-paying jobs in Singapore. The wage numbers are the third-quartile monthly gross wages.

  1. Managing director/ Chief executive officer – $29,102
  2. Foreign exchange dealer/ Broker – $22,302
  3. Marketing and sales representative (institutional sales of financial products) – $20,834
  4. Trade broker (including oil and bunker trader) – $19,500
  5. Company director – $17,142
  6. Financial/ Investment adviser – $15,500
  7. Chief operating officer/ General manager – $15,005
  8. Commodities derivatives broker – $15,000
  9. Ship broker – $15,000
  10. Creative director (advertising) – $14,750
  11. University lecturer – $14,000
  12. Real estate agent – $13,952
  13. Software and applications manager – $12,280
  14. Advocate/ Solicitor – $12,213
  15. Lawyer (excluding advocate and solicitor) – $10,900
  16. Financial/ Insurance services manager (eg financial institution branch manager) – $10,250
  17. Chemical engineer – $10,105
  18. Network and communications manager – $10,024
  19. IT service manager – $9,999
  20. General practitioner/ physician – $9,963
  21. Research and development manager – $9,685
  22. Legal officer – $9,624
  23. Editor (news and periodicals) – $9,500
  24. Journalist – $9,441
  25. Chief information officer/ Chief technology officer – $9,405
  26. Marketing and sales representative (ICT) – $9,396
  27. Risk analyst (financial) – $9,335
  28. Treasury manager – $9,160
  29. Budgeting and financial accounting manager (including financial controller) – $9,150
  30. Business development manager – $9,100
  31. Technical/ Engineering services manager (eg shipyard manager) – $9,078
  32. Policy and planning manager – $9,000
  33. Human resource manager – $8,491
  34. Customer service manager – $8,462
  35. Securities and finance dealer/ broker – $8,367
  36. Wholesale trade manager – $8,243
  37. Sales and marketing manager – $8,125
  38. Management and business consultant – $7,982
  39. Quality assurance manager – $7,848
  40. Procurement/ Purchasing manager – $7,804
  41. Manufacturing plant/ production manager – $7,652
  42. Premises and facilities maintenance manager – $7,638
  43. Insurance sales agent/ broker (including independent financial planner) – $7,632
  44. Advertising/ Public relations manager – $7,600
  45. Information technology project manager – $7,570
  46. Business services and administration manager (excluding manager in finance, administration, HR, policy and planning) – $7,535
  47. Administration manager – $7,100
  48. Instrumentalist – $7,078
  49. Health services manager – $7,027
  50. Chief/ Executive cook – $7,000
  51. Education manager – $6,998
  52. Producer (stage, film, television, computer games, video and radio) – $6,970
  53. Supply and distribution/ Logistics/ Warehousing manager – $6,822
  54. Database architect – $6,817
  55. Building and construction project manager – $6,800
  56. Building architect – $6,800
  57. Industrial safety engineer – $6,790
  58. Pharmacologist and related professional – $6,790
  59. Systems analyst – $6,674
  60. Surveyor – $6,672
  61. Fund manager – $6,603
  62. Financial analyst (eg equities analyst, credit analyst) – $6,565
  63. Transport operations manager – $6,500
  64. Art and craft instructor (extracurriculum) – $6,500
  65. Telecommunications engineer – $6,456
  66. Medical scientist – $6,436
  67. Database administrator – $6,435
  68. Advertising salesman – $6,348
  69. Insurance underwriter – $6,262
  70. Network/ Infrastructure architect and engineer – $6,235
  71. Pharmacologist – $6,187
  72. Chemical engineering technician – $6,182
  73. Information technology security specialist – $6,100
  74. Software, web and multimedia developer – $6,065
  75. Environmental engineer – $5,854
  76. Artistic director (stage, film, television and radio) – $5,834
  77. Electronics engineer – $5,756
  78. Marketing and sales representative (medical and pharmaceutical products) – $5,693
  79. Civil engineer – $5,690
  80. Biomedical engineer – $5,687
  81. Auditor (accounting) – $5,668
  82. Electrical engineer – $5,593
  83. Interior designer – $5,500
  84. Mechanical engineer – $5,440
  85. Market research analyst – $5,407
  86. Author and related writer – $5,346
  87. Mathematician, actuary and statistician (including operations research analyst) – $5,339
  88. Pharmacist – $5,330
  89. Accountant – $5,240
  90. Quantity surveyor – $5,200
  91. Network/ Computer systems administrator – $5,180
  92. Human resource consultant (excluding executive search consultant) – $5,173
  93. Industrial and production engineer – $5,100
  94. Book editor – $5,075
  95. Catering services manager – $5,050
  96. Application/ Systems programmer – $5,023
  97. Petroleum/ Natural gas engineer – $4,955
  98. Chemist – $4,945
  99. Information technology testing/ quality assurance specialist – $4,800
  100. Ships’ engineer – $4,765

Compare the above with our previous Top Jobs List, which garnered a respectable 927 likes from Facebook.

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30 Comments

  1. in case you’re wondering, government ministers and permanent secretaries are missing in the list.

    i remember someone commented previously that you need to add up the top 10 to get a sense of what they are getting… heheehe

  2. nothing much on

    Also this is only covering “CPF” contributing people. Also not quite sure whether it includes MNC’s or simply local firms. So kind of pretty skewed data

  3. to nothing much on

    aren’t we all mostly “CPF contributing” people?

    do you wanna compare with low wage workers like cleaners? but i think they also have CPF.

    or do you mean those people who technically don’t hold jobs but make lots of money dabbling in investments? people like Peter Lim (not the sex offender) comes to mind.

  4. how they calculate the “pay”?

    Is it just the basic pay (exclusive any bonus)

    or

    Is it Annual salary/12

  5. Nice to know… Our’s Number 3
    Marketing and sales representative (institutional sales of financial products) – $20,834

  6. Accountant – $5,240 – this is too good to be true but unfortunately i didnt even earn tt much after working fot 3 years.

  7. Guys, you all miss out this:
    “The wage numbers are the third-quartile monthly gross wages.”

    These values are all based on the top 25% of that income group. I think the average value of the income group should be around half of that.

  8. Doctors & lawyers are not even in the top 10 wage-earner! Study so hard for what?

    Real estate agents earn as much as university lecturers! The only PhD you need is poor, hungry, desperate!

  9. I’m a trainee lawyer. I don’t know how this table is calculated, but fresh lawyers are paid AT LEAST $5k per month with yearly increments of $1k. Our career track is very predictable and stable, ie if you stick around for 6 years, you’re guaranteed to make $10k+ per month. Our median salary is certainly very high. Which other professions rival ours in stability and median income? Not many.

  10. Also, it seems like this table only covers CPF-contributing employees. The highest-earning lawyers are partners in law firms – they’re considered self-employed persons and they don’t get paid under CPF. I would think that law firm partners were excluded from this table; many of them easily command $30k – $40k a month.

  11. Information technology security specialist – $6,100 ???
    Software, web and multimedia developer – $6,065 ???
    Information technology testing/ quality assurance specialist – $4,800 ???

    Are you serious??? So far most I see for even very experienced ones in the private sector only get ard 4.5k max…. 2.7k starting

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