38 jobs in South Africa that pay over R100,000 a month in 2023

 ·10 Jan 2023

Professional recruitment firm Robert Walters has published data from its 2023 South African Salary Survey, showing which top jobs pay some of the highest salaries across various professional sectors in the country.

According to Robert Walters, the landscape for professionals in South Africa shifted in 2022, with both employers and employees looking for different qualities from each other in a post-Covid world.

While employers are looking for highly qualified professionals and specialist skills, employees are looking for companies with good company culture, decent pay and, most importantly, flexible working hours.

This need comes from a significant change in work life in South Africa over the last few years, where the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown heralded a new way of remote working, where many employees now expect to work from home or only come into the office a few times a week.

Bosses have expressed a desire for a more full-time work schedule to return, but analysts have noted that it is unlikely that the working world will return to that way of doing business. Adding to the shift, international companies have embraced remote working, giving more opportunities to dip into limited pools of critical skills worldwide.

As has been widely reported, South African businesses are in dire need of skills across almost every sector – but as the Robert Walters survey shows, this does not mean that qualified professionals are guaranteed a job.

In fact, the survey indicated that there is a general oversupply of skills in the finance, HR and technology sector as a whole, with the group noting only low to medium demand for candidates.

Accounting, finance, banking and financial services professionals showed medium levels of demand, with the firm noting that it is “fairly easy” to hire in those sectors. The Human Resources, legal and technology sectors, meanwhile, are seeing low demand, with it being very easy to hire, Robert Walters said.

Despite an apparent oversupply of professionals in key sectors, those who are lucky enough to land a job will be well-rewarded and remunerated for it.

The survey identified 150 job roles in South Africa, with 81 of these delivering an earning potential of over R1 million a year. 52 of the positions have starting salaries at R1 million, but require at least 4 years of experience to even qualify.

The survey identified 38 jobs in the country with starting salaries at R1.2 million a year, or R100,000 a month. Most of these positions are reserved for those with 8 to 10 years of experience or more, noted the survey.

Job Sector From To
Chief Financial Officer (JSE Top 200) Qualified CA (SA) or CIMA or BCom R2 800 000 R4 000 000
CEO (SME) Executive/C-Suite R2 700 000 R2 700 000
COO Executive/C-Suite R2 500 000 R3 000 000
General Counsel In-house – Commerce & Industry R2 500 000 R2 500 000
General Counsel In-house – Financial Services R2 500 000 R2 500 000
Finance Director (Large Firm) Qualified CA (SA) or CIMA or BCom R2 000 000 R3 000 000
HR Executive Human Resources R2 000 000 R3 000 000
CFO (Qualified CA) Senior Finance R2 000 000 R2 600 000
General Manager Operations R2 000 000 R2 500 000
Equity Director / Senior Director Private Practice (Large Firm) R2 000 000 R2 000 000
Commercial Director Operations R1 800 000 R2 500 000
Group Treasury Manager Taxation/Treasury R1 800 000 R2 500 000
Group Tax Manager Taxation/Treasury R1 800 000 R2 300 000
Actuary Risk, Data Science & Analytics R1 700 000 R1 700 000
CFO/FD (SME) Qualified CA (SA) or CIMA or BCom R1 600 000 R2 600 000
HR Director Human Resources R1 600 000 R2 500 000
CA (SA) Qualified CA (SA) or CIMA or BCom R1 600 000 R2 300 000
Head of Legal In-house – Commerce & Industry R1 500 000 R2 500 000
Head of Legal In-house – Financial Services R1 500 000 R2 500 000
COO Executive/C-Suite R1 500 000 R2 000 000
General Manager Operations R1 500 000 R2 000 000
Private Equity/Corporate Finance Banking R1 500 000 R2 000 000
Finance Director (Large Firm) Qualified CA (SA) or CIMA or BCom R1 500 000 R1 800 000
Chief Risk Officer (CRO) Risk, Data Science & Analytics R1 400 000 R3 200 000
Head of Internal Audit/ CIA (Chief Internal Auditor) Internal Audit or IT audit R1 400 000 R2 500 000
Chief Technical Officer Technology R1 400 000 R1 900 000
Head of Finance/ Finance Executive (Qualified CA) Senior Finance R1 400 000 R1 800 000
Financial Planning & Analysis Qualified CA (SA) or CIMA or BCom R1 350 000 R1 350 000
Relationship Manager/Corporate Banker Banking R1 300 000 R2 000 000
Strategy Consultant Management Consultancy R1 300 000 R2 000 000
Junior Director/ Salaried Director Private Practice (Large Firm) R1 300 000 R1 900 000
Internal Audit Manager Qualified CA (SA) or CIMA or BCom R1 300 000 R1 700 000
Qualified CA(SA) Johannesburg Accounting, Audit, Tax & Treasury R1 300 000 R1 700 000
Finance Manager Qualified CA (SA) or CIMA or BCom R1 300 000 R1 600 000
Group Treasury Manager Taxation/Treasury R1 300 000 R1 600 000
CFO/FD (SME) Qualified CA (SA) or CIMA or BCom R1 200 000 R1 550 000
Financial Controller Qualified CA (SA) or CIMA or BCom R1 200 000 R1 200 000
Equity Director / Senior Director Private Practice (Boutique Firm) R1 200 000 R1 200 000

Read: Starting salaries for banking and finance jobs in South Africa in 2023 – including graduates

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