22 jobs that pay more than R1 million a year in South Africa

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

The group’s data combines user-reported data with 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 other hand, cleaning and housekeeping workers are paid the lowest 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:

Job	Sector	Monthly	Annual
Chief Investment Officer	Executive and Management	R140 400	R1 684 800
Legal Services Director	Legal	R129 333	R1 552 000
IT Director	Information Technology	R124 375	R1 492 500
Financial Systems Manager	Information Technology	R120 000	R1 440 000
Surgeon – Neurology	Health and Medical	R120 000	R1 440 000
Senior Sales Executive	Sales Retail and Wholesale	R119 000	R1 428 000
Assistant to CEO	Executive and Management	R117 019	R1 404 229
Corporate Director	Executive and Management	R115 000	R1 380 000
Market Segmentation Director	Marketing	R108 333	R1 300 000
Top R&D Executive	Business Planning	R108 333	R1 300 000
Director	Executive and Management	R103 125	R1 237 500
Program Director	Information Technology	R100 000	R1 200 000
Finance Executive	Accounting and Finance	R97 500	R1 170 000
Executive Human Capital Management	Human Resources	R95 500	R1 146 000
Managing Director	Executive and Management	R94 712	R1 136 545
Chief Executive Officer	Executive and Management	R90 140	R1 081 683
Project Director	Engineering	R90 000	R1 080 000
Demand Planning Manager	Purchasing and Inventory	R90 000	R1 080 000
Physician – Anesthesiology	Health and Medical	R88 528	R1 062 336
Senior Electrical Engineer	Engineering	R88 000	R1 056 000
Chief Financial Officer	Executive and Management	R87 677	R1 052 000
Inventory Manager	Sales Retail and Wholesale	R85 000	R1 020 000

CEOs and other directors at listed companies

A recent report released by PwC highlighted the average salaries earned by the top executives at listed companies.

The executives' salaries at small and medium-sized companies are more in line with widely published salary data. PwC estimates that CEOs earn between R1.3 million and R2.5 million, and Executive Directors earn R1 million and R2.1 million.

At big companies, these averages increase to R3.3 million and R7.9 million for CEOs and 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 offering R1 million-plus salaries. Although financial, digital, and engineering positions claim the majority 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.