Data from salary comparison and career resource group Salary Explorer lists 22 jobs in South Africa that draw in a total package over R1 million a year.

The group’s data represents a combination of user-reported data and salary information from various recruitment agencies, companies and employers.

According to Salary Explorer, the average annual salary in South Africa is R337,000 before taxes – or just over R28,000 a month.
Executives and managers, as a category, are the best paid, averaging R60,580 per month, ahead of independent jobs, and government and defence jobs.
On the opposite end, cleaning and house-keeping workers are paid the lowest on average, at R3,820 per month, below pet care workers and fitness, hair and beauty workers.
The bulk of R1 million-plus jobs in South Africa are in the management and executive category, with chief investment officers ranking at the top with an average salary of R1.68 million a year.
This is followed by a legal services director (R1.55 million) and an IT director (R1.49 million).
The table below lists the 22 jobs that pay over R1 million:
JobSectorMonthlyAnnual
Chief Investment OfficerExecutive and ManagementR140 400R1 684 800
Legal Services DirectorLegalR129 333R1 552 000
IT DirectorInformation TechnologyR124 375R1 492 500
Financial Systems ManagerInformation TechnologyR120 000R1 440 000
Surgeon – NeurologyHealth and MedicalR120 000R1 440 000
Senior Sales ExecutiveSales Retail and WholesaleR119 000R1 428 000
Assistant to CEOExecutive and ManagementR117 019R1 404 229
Corporate DirectorExecutive and ManagementR115 000R1 380 000
Market Segmentation DirectorMarketingR108 333R1 300 000
Top R&D ExecutiveBusiness PlanningR108 333R1 300 000
DirectorExecutive and ManagementR103 125R1 237 500
Program DirectorInformation TechnologyR100 000R1 200 000
Finance ExecutiveAccounting and FinanceR97 500R1 170 000
Executive Human Capital ManagementHuman ResourcesR95 500R1 146 000
Managing DirectorExecutive and ManagementR94 712R1 136 545
Chief Executive OfficerExecutive and ManagementR90 140R1 081 683
Project DirectorEngineeringR90 000R1 080 000
Demand Planning ManagerPurchasing and InventoryR90 000R1 080 000
Physician – AnesthesiologyHealth and MedicalR88 528R1 062 336
Senior Electrical EngineerEngineeringR88 000R1 056 000
Chief Financial OfficerExecutive and ManagementR87 677R1 052 000
Inventory ManagerSales Retail and WholesaleR85 000R1 020 000
CEOs other directors at listed companies
A recent report released by PwC highlighted the average salaries earned by the top executives at listed companies.
Executives at small and medium-sized companies are more in-line with widely published salary data, with PwC putting the figures for CEOs at between R1.3 million and R2.5 million, and for Executive Directors at between R1 million and R2.1 million.
At big companies, these averages increase to between R3.3 million and R7.9 million for CEOs and between R2.1 million and R4.4 million for Executive Directors.
In a study conducted earlier in the year, recruitment specialist, Adzuna, noted growing diversity in jobs that offer R1 million-plus salaries, saying that although financial, digital and engineering positions claim the most of the R1 million+ positions advertised, directors from all sorts of industries are filling in the gaps.
Managing Directors, specifically, are fast approaching the R1 million mark, currently being offered R986,000 on average.