Ranked list · 48 careers
48 Tech Jobs, Ranked by Fit and Pay (2026)
Chief AI Officer tops this list at $175,140 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025), with +15.8% projected employment change over 2025–2035. Below are 48 careers that meet the criteria, each with its real median wage, outlook and entry requirement.
- Careers on this list
- 48From 1,731 in the bank
- Median pay on the list
- $164,265BLS OEWS, May 2025
- Projected to grow
- 48 of 48BLS EP, 2025–2035
- Openings a year
- 2,173,800Combined, BLS EP
Method
How we built this list
Careers in computing, software, data and IT, from developers and data scientists to security analysts, network architects and the managers who run technology teams. Careers centred on this field come first, then the ones that touch it, each group ranked by national median pay from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. Specialty careers, which BLS reports inside a broader occupation, show that occupation’s figures and are labelled on their pages.
- Careers in computing, software, data and IT, from developers and data scientists to security analysts, network architects and the managers who run technology teams. Careers centred on this field come first, then the ones that touch it, each group ranked by national median pay from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. Specialty careers, which BLS reports inside a broader occupation, show that occupation’s figures and are labelled on their pages.
- Occupations with no BLS wage or projection data are excluded rather than estimated.
- The list is regenerated from source data on every bank refresh. It is not hand-picked and no editorial ranking is applied.
The list
The top 48 tech jobs
100% of these careers already have a full profile page; the rest publish with the next tranche and show the same bank data here in the meantime.
- 1
1. Chief AI Officer
Specialty within it manager
- Median pay
- $1,560,700typical, Equilar 2025 Top 50 Survey
- Growth
- +15.8%
- Openings / yr
- 53,500
- Education
- Bachelor's
The executive who sets an organization's artificial intelligence strategy, governance and investment, from internal tools to AI-powered products.
- 2
2. Chief Information Security Officer
Specialty within it manager
- Median pay
- $392,000typical, IANS Research and Artico Search, 2025 CISO Compensation Benchmark Report
- Growth
- +15.8%
- Openings / yr
- 53,500
- Education
- Bachelor's
The executive accountable for protecting an organization's systems and data from cyberattacks and for reporting cyber risk to leadership.
- 3
3. Director of Engineering
Specialty within it manager
- Median pay
- $255,000typical, Glassdoor via KORE1 Director of Engineering Salary Guide 2026
- Growth
- +15.8%
- Openings / yr
- 53,500
- Education
- Bachelor's
Runs a software engineering organization of several teams and their managers, owning delivery, headcount, budget and technical health for a product area.
- 4
4. Director of Product Management
Specialty within it manager
- Median pay
- $221,293typical, Built In; Levels.fyi
- Growth
- +15.8%
- Openings / yr
- 53,500
- Education
- Bachelor's
Leads a team of product managers and owns the product strategy for a business line, connecting customer needs, engineering capacity and company goals.
- 5
5. IT Manager
Management
- Median pay
- $175,140median a year
- Growth
- +15.8%
- Openings / yr
- 53,500
- Education
- Bachelor's
Plan, direct, or coordinate activities in such fields as electronic data processing, information systems, systems analysis, and computer programming.
- 6
6. Security Engineering Manager
Specialty within it manager
- Median pay
- $175,140median (parent occupation)
- Growth
- +15.8%
- Openings / yr
- 53,500
- Education
- Bachelor's
Leads a team of security engineers who build the defenses, tools and secure infrastructure that protect a company's products and systems.
- 7
7. Software Engineering Manager
Specialty within it manager
- Median pay
- $357,360typical, Levels.fyi
- Growth
- +15.8%
- Openings / yr
- 53,500
- Education
- Bachelor's
Leads a team of software engineers, responsible for hiring, growing and supporting people while making sure the team ships reliable software.
- 8
8. Vice President of Engineering
Specialty within it manager
- Median pay
- $278,877typical, Built In; Glassdoor via KORE1 VP of Engineering Salary Guide 2026
- Growth
- +15.8%
- Openings / yr
- 53,500
- Education
- Bachelor's
The executive who runs a company's engineering department, responsible for people, delivery, budget and engineering culture.
- 9
9. Vice President of Product
Specialty within it manager
- Median pay
- $273,344typical, Built In
- Growth
- +15.8%
- Openings / yr
- 53,500
- Education
- Bachelor's
The executive responsible for a company's product strategy and product management organization, deciding what the company builds and why.
- 10
10. Silicon Engineering Manager
Specialty within architectural and engineering manager
- Median pay
- $171,270median (parent occupation)
- Growth
- +5.5%
- Openings / yr
- 14,900
- Education
- Bachelor's
Leads teams that design and verify computer chips, owning schedules, quality and staffing from specification through manufacturing handoff.
- 11
11. Director of Developer Relations
Specialty within marketing manager
- Median pay
- $166,790median (parent occupation)
- Growth
- +6.9%
- Openings / yr
- 34,000
- Education
- Bachelor's
Leads the team that builds a company's relationship with software developers through documentation, community programs, events and technical content.
- 12
12. Chip Architect
Specialty within computer hardware engineer
- Median pay
- $424,566typical, Levels.fyi (NVIDIA company pages)
- Growth
- +9.1%
- Openings / yr
- 4,100
- Education
- Bachelor's
Defines the high-level design of processors and other chips, deciding how they compute, move data and balance speed, power and cost.
- 13
13. Computer Hardware Engineer
Architecture and Engineering
- Median pay
- $161,740median a year
- Growth
- +9.1%
- Openings / yr
- 4,100
- Education
- Bachelor's
Research, design, develop, or test computer or computer-related equipment for commercial, industrial, military, or scientific use.
- 14
14. Design Verification Engineer
Specialty within computer hardware engineer
- Median pay
- $161,740median (parent occupation)
- Growth
- +9.1%
- Openings / yr
- 4,100
- Education
- Bachelor's
Finds bugs in computer chip designs before they are manufactured, by building simulation testbenches that exercise every corner of the logic.
- 15
15. AI Research Engineer
Specialty within computer and information research scientist
- Median pay
- $598,000typical, Levels.fyi company pages (Anthropic, OpenAI)
- Growth
- +21.8%
- Openings / yr
- 2,900
- Education
- Master's
Builds and runs the large-scale training and evaluation systems used to create frontier AI models such as large language models.
- 16
16. AI Research Scientist
Specialty within computer and information research scientist
- Median pay
- $305,000typical, Levels.fyi
- Growth
- +21.8%
- Openings / yr
- 2,900
- Education
- Doctorate
Invents and tests new machine learning methods, publishing research and building the model techniques that later become products.
- 17
17. AI Safety Researcher
Specialty within computer and information research scientist
- Median pay
- $140,300median (parent occupation)
- Growth
- +21.8%
- Openings / yr
- 2,900
- Education
- Master's
Studies how to make advanced AI systems behave safely and as intended, through research on alignment, interpretability and dangerous capabilities.
- 18
18. Applied Scientist
Specialty within computer and information research scientist
- Median pay
- $306,000typical, Levels.fyi (Amazon company page)
- Growth
- +21.8%
- Openings / yr
- 2,900
- Education
- Master's
A scientist at a tech company who develops new machine learning and statistical methods and builds them into products at scale.
- 19
19. Autonomous Vehicle Research Scientist
Specialty within computer and information research scientist
- Median pay
- $373,250typical, Levels.fyi (Waymo company page)
- Growth
- +21.8%
- Openings / yr
- 2,900
- Education
- Master's
Researches the perception, prediction and planning methods that let self-driving cars and trucks drive safely without a human.
- 20
20. Computer and Information Research Scientist
Computer and Mathematical
- Median pay
- $140,300median a year
- Growth
- +21.8%
- Openings / yr
- 2,900
- Education
- Master's
Conduct research into fundamental computer and information science as theorists, designers, or inventors.
- 21
21. Quantum Computing Researcher
Specialty within computer and information research scientist
- Median pay
- $140,300median (parent occupation)
- Growth
- +21.8%
- Openings / yr
- 2,900
- Education
- Doctorate
Develops algorithms, software and error-correction methods for quantum computers, working at the frontier of physics and computer science.
- 22
22. Robotics Research Scientist
Specialty within computer and information research scientist
- Median pay
- $140,300median (parent occupation)
- Growth
- +21.8%
- Openings / yr
- 2,900
- Education
- Doctorate
Develops new methods that let robots perceive, plan and act in the real world, from learned manipulation to humanoid locomotion.
- 23
23. Data Warehousing Specialist
Computer and Mathematical
- Median pay
- $139,500median a year
- Growth
- +9.4%
- Openings / yr
- 3,900
- Education
- Bachelor's
Design, model, or implement corporate data warehousing activities.
- 24
24. Database Architect
Computer and Mathematical
- Median pay
- $139,500median a year
- Growth
- +9.4%
- Openings / yr
- 3,900
- Education
- Bachelor's
Design strategies for enterprise databases, data warehouse systems, and multidimensional networks.
- 25
25. AI Engineer
Specialty within software developer
- Median pay
- $135,980median (parent occupation)
- Growth
- +10.2%
- Openings / yr
- 95,300
- Education
- Bachelor's
Builds software products on top of large language models and other AI systems, wiring them into apps with retrieval, tools and safety checks.
- 26
26. Computer Vision Engineer
Specialty within software developer
- Median pay
- $135,980median (parent occupation)
- Growth
- +10.2%
- Openings / yr
- 95,300
- Education
- Bachelor's
Builds software that lets machines interpret images and video, used in self-driving cars, medical imaging, factory inspection and phone cameras.
- 27
27. Distinguished Engineer
Specialty within software developer
- Median pay
- $1,080,000typical, Levels.fyi company level pages (Microsoft, Google)
- Growth
- +10.2%
- Openings / yr
- 95,300
- Education
- Bachelor's
One of the most senior technical leaders at a large tech company, recognized for industry-level contributions and trusted to set direction across the business.
- 28
28. Embedded Software Engineer
Specialty within software developer
- Median pay
- $135,980median (parent occupation)
- Growth
- +10.2%
- Openings / yr
- 95,300
- Education
- Bachelor's
Writes low-level software and firmware that runs inside devices such as cars, medical equipment, appliances, drones and industrial controllers.
- 29
29. Forward Deployed Engineer
Specialty within software developer
- Median pay
- $230,000typical, Levels.fyi (Palantir company page)
- Growth
- +10.2%
- Openings / yr
- 95,300
- Education
- Bachelor's
A software engineer embedded with customers to build and deploy a company's platform for their specific problems, from data pipelines to AI applications.
- 30
30. Founding Engineer
Specialty within software developer
- Median pay
- $135,980median (parent occupation)
- Growth
- +10.2%
- Openings / yr
- 95,300
- Education
- Bachelor's
One of the first engineers at a new startup, building the initial product end to end and shaping the company's technology and engineering culture.
- 31
31. GPU Kernel Engineer
Specialty within software developer
- Median pay
- $310,000typical, Levels.fyi (NVIDIA company pages)
- Growth
- +10.2%
- Openings / yr
- 95,300
- Education
- Bachelor's
Writes and tunes the low-level GPU code, called kernels, that makes AI training, inference and scientific computing run fast.
- 32
32. Machine Learning Engineer
Specialty within software developer
- Median pay
- $282,750typical, Levels.fyi
- Growth
- +10.2%
- Openings / yr
- 95,300
- Education
- Bachelor's
Builds, trains and ships machine learning models inside real software products, from recommendation engines to fraud detection and language features.
- 33
33. ML Compiler Engineer
Specialty within software developer
- Median pay
- $135,980median (parent occupation)
- Growth
- +10.2%
- Openings / yr
- 95,300
- Education
- Bachelor's
Builds the compilers that translate AI models into efficient code for GPUs and custom AI chips.
- 34
34. ML Inference Engineer
Specialty within software developer
- Median pay
- $135,980median (parent occupation)
- Growth
- +10.2%
- Openings / yr
- 95,300
- Education
- Bachelor's
Makes trained AI models answer requests quickly and cheaply in production, optimizing serving systems, memory use and hardware utilization.
- 35
35. MLOps Engineer
Specialty within software developer
- Median pay
- $135,980median (parent occupation)
- Growth
- +10.2%
- Openings / yr
- 95,300
- Education
- Bachelor's
Builds the pipelines and infrastructure that let machine learning models be trained, deployed, monitored and updated reliably at scale.
- 36
36. Platform Engineer
Specialty within software developer
- Median pay
- $135,980median (parent occupation)
- Growth
- +10.2%
- Openings / yr
- 95,300
- Education
- Bachelor's
Builds the internal platform of tools, templates and infrastructure that other software engineers use to build, test and deploy their code.
- 37
37. Principal Software Engineer
Specialty within software developer
- Median pay
- $551,000typical, Levels.fyi End of Year Pay Report 2025
- Growth
- +10.2%
- Openings / yr
- 95,300
- Education
- Bachelor's
A top-tier individual-contributor engineer whose technical decisions shape an entire organization or product line, above the staff level.
- 38
38. Site Reliability Engineer
Specialty within software developer
- Median pay
- $200,200typical, Levels.fyi
- Growth
- +10.2%
- Openings / yr
- 95,300
- Education
- Bachelor's
Keeps large online services fast and available by applying software engineering to operations, monitoring and incident response.
- 39
39. Software Developer
Computer and Mathematical
- Median pay
- $135,980median a year
- Growth
- +10.2%
- Openings / yr
- 95,300
- Education
- Bachelor's
Research, design, and develop computer and network software or specialized utility programs.
- 40
40. Staff Software Engineer
Specialty within software developer
- Median pay
- $457,000typical, Levels.fyi End of Year Pay Report 2025
- Growth
- +10.2%
- Openings / yr
- 95,300
- Education
- Bachelor's
A senior individual-contributor engineer who sets technical direction for several teams, owning the hardest design problems without managing people.
- 41
41. Cloud Architect
Specialty within computer network architect
- Median pay
- $216,000typical, Levels.fyi
- Growth
- +7.7%
- Openings / yr
- 9,600
- Education
- Bachelor's
Designs how an organization's applications and data run on cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure and Google Cloud, balancing cost, security and reliability.
- 42
42. Computer Network Architect
Computer and Mathematical
- Median pay
- $134,050median a year
- Growth
- +7.7%
- Openings / yr
- 9,600
- Education
- Bachelor's
Design and implement computer and information networks, such as local area networks (LAN), wide area networks (WAN), intranets, extranets, and other data communications networks.
- 43
43. Cybersecurity Architect
Specialty within computer network architect
- Median pay
- $134,050median (parent occupation)
- Growth
- +7.7%
- Openings / yr
- 9,600
- Education
- Bachelor's
Designs the overall security structure of an organization's networks, applications and cloud systems, setting the controls other teams build.
- 44
44. Telecommunications Engineering Specialist
Computer and Mathematical
- Median pay
- $134,050median a year
- Growth
- +7.7%
- Openings / yr
- 9,600
- Education
- Bachelor's
Design or configure wired, wireless, and satellite communications systems for voice, video, and data services.
- 45
45. FPGA Engineer
Specialty within electronics engineer, except computer
- Median pay
- $130,220median (parent occupation)
- Growth
- +3.7%
- Openings / yr
- 4,900
- Education
- Bachelor's
Designs digital circuits that run on reprogrammable chips called FPGAs, used in radar, telecom, trading systems, medical imaging and space hardware.
- 46
46. AI Red Teamer
Specialty within information security analyst
- Median pay
- $129,180median (parent occupation)
- Growth
- +21.0%
- Openings / yr
- 14,100
- Education
- Bachelor's
Attacks AI models and AI-powered products on purpose, using jailbreaks, prompt injection and misuse scenarios, to find safety and security failures before real attackers do.
- 47
47. Information Security Analyst
Computer and Mathematical
- Median pay
- $129,180median a year
- Growth
- +21.0%
- Openings / yr
- 14,100
- Education
- Bachelor's
Plan, implement, upgrade, or monitor security measures for the protection of computer networks and information.
- 48
48. Developer Advocate
Specialty within sales engineer
- Median pay
- $124,900median (parent occupation)
- Growth
- +2.8%
- Openings / yr
- 3,800
- Education
- Bachelor's
Helps software developers succeed with a company's tools and APIs through tutorials, talks, sample code and community work, and brings their feedback back.
Questions
Tech Jobs: FAQ
What is the top career on the tech jobs list?
Chief AI Officer leads the list with a median wage of $175,140 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025) and projected employment change of +15.8% over 2025–2035. Typical entry-level education is bachelor's.
How was this list put together?
Careers in computing, software, data and IT, from developers and data scientists to security analysts, network architects and the managers who run technology teams. Careers centred on this field come first, then the ones that touch it, each group ranked by national median pay from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. Specialty careers, which BLS reports inside a broader occupation, show that occupation’s figures and are labelled on their pages. Careers in computing, software, data and IT, from developers and data scientists to security analysts, network architects and the managers who run technology teams. Careers centred on this field come first, then the ones that touch it, each group ranked by national median pay from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. Specialty careers, which BLS reports inside a broader occupation, show that occupation’s figures and are labelled on their pages. Every figure comes from BLS OEWS May 2025, BLS Employment Projections 2025–2035 and O*NET 31.0 Database.
How much do tech jobs pay?
Across the 48 careers on this list the middle occupation pays $164,265 a year, from $124,900 at the bottom to $1,560,700 at the top (BLS OEWS May 2025 and the industry compensation sources cited on each career page). The median across all US occupations is $50,980.
How many of these careers can you enter without a degree?
None. BLS lists an associate's degree or higher as the typical entry requirement for all 48 careers on this list.