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Amidst prevailing global uncertainties, it becomes imperative for Chinese workers to remain adaptable and well-prepared for the evolving job landscape. The Chinese workforce is witnessing an exciting era of emerging opportunities across various industries, according to our 2023 Page Insights Salary Guide.
To help you make informed decisions on your next job search, we have compiled a list of the highest-paying jobs in China, derived from our 2023 Page Insights Salary Guide.
While the list features senior leadership roles, it will help job seekers identify sectors that can offer competitive salary packages at any point in their careers.
As a key C-level role, the CEO is undoubtedly well-paid and consistently appears on our list every year. Our data shows CEOs with high salaries mainly come from information technology, consumer, new energy, healthcare and life sciences, and engineering and manufacturing industries.
For example, the basic annual salary for CEOs in the new energy industry can reach up to RMB 5-8 million, and CEOs in some Chinese conglomerates can earn up to RMB 15 million per year, while CEOs in other industries can also earn an annual salary of RMB 3-5 million.
Of course, there is an inverse correlation between cash salary and long-term incentives, such as stock options. CEOs mentioned here include top leaders of both privately owned or listed companies in China and MNCs.
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The General Sales Manager position brings value to an organisation by providing strategic leadership and direction to the sales team, driving revenue growth, and ensuring the achievement of sales targets.
They are responsible for developing sales strategies, building and managing the sales team, identifying new business opportunities, fostering customer relationships, and optimising the sales process.
Their specific value may vary depending on the organisational structure and goals, such as geographic/territory focus, product/service specialisation, customer/account size, or industry/vertical expertise.
Salaries are generally high in the information technology area, and the highest annual salary for a general sales manager in the IT area can reach RMB 6 million.
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Although the healthcare and life sciences industry cooled down in 2022, it still has a lot of potential. Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) are again on this top 10 list. In pharmaceutical companies, CMOs are involved in the company’s strategic planning, screening and designing indications for innovative drugs, developing medical clinical planning and a research plan on project approval for innovative drugs, and reviewing and approving reports.
In addition, they are also responsible for planning and implementing project cooperation with academic institutions, promoting the establishment and implementation of academic projects, and organising visits and exchanges with relevant experts from hospitals, seminars, training, and other academic activities with hospitals and units.
Therefore, the job requires talent with a professional medical background and a wealth of clinical experience, good communication skills, problem-solving skills, material analytical skills, and management skills. It is a very comprehensive C-level position. The demand for CMO talent in China currently exceeds the supply, and companies also offer very high salaries.
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Lawyers are traditionally high-paying jobs, and qualified lawyers with more than 15 years of professional experience in financial institutions are the highest-paid among lawyers.
Since we launched the top 10 highest-paying Jobs list, it has repeatedly ranked among the Top 10. Compared to other in-house lawyers, lawyers in financial institutions are involved in risk advisory, transactional advisory, compliance management and litigation management and need to understand market trends, regulatory policies, laws and regulations on multinational projects in relevant jurisdictions. These capabilities require long-term practice.
As China further expand its capital market, compliance work becomes more complex and challenging. Qualified lawyers with more than 15 years of professional experience in financial institutions are sought after by companies, with the highest annual salary of up to RMB 5 million.
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No longer just an administrative support function, human resources management plays a vital role in fostering organisational success, especially during economic upturn and expansion, as evidenced by the significant remuneration it commands.
HR professionals need to have strong analytical skills, help identify problems in the corporation, develop and sustain employee engagement, retain talent and plan for the workforce’s future needs.
A CHRO can earn between RMB 1.3 million to 5 million annually in industries like Industrial and Manufacturing, FMCG and Retail, Financial Services, Technology, and HLS.
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The CFO is consistently on the list of highest-paying jobs every year. As a company’s “God of Wealth”, the CFO is responsible for raising funds, managing funds, and other capital operation business.
Recently, the responsibility of the CFO has become more diverse. A CFO is also a financial expert and a business partner who can manage and be hands-on in providing strategic analysis for the business.
CFOs should be credible members of a senior management team and have the potential and qualities to be a successor as CEO. The highest-paying CFO jobs are often found in listed companies or companies with plans to go public. These CFOs are experienced in capital market operations, familiar with listing rules, and capable of communicating with investors.
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A Chief Marketing Officer works in a highly matrixed environment. It, therefore, needs a big-picture view of how various departments can work together to push out a coherent strategy for their campaigns.
Marketing teams are responsible for the company’s marketing and communications strategy to help increase brand awareness and craft a suitable brand image.
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The role of the customer relationship management (CRM) manager is to manage the relationship between brands and customers and build connections. From the long-term development strategy of a company, CRM can generate tangible value for companies.
In an economic downturn, consumers tend to be cautious and rational, and overall market behaviour tends to be conservative. Effective CRM can help enterprises reduce costs, increase efficiency, and endure challenging times. This is one of the reasons why CRM managers entered the list for the first time.
The role of an e-commerce director is to lead and optimise an e-commerce company’s online sales channels, manage the website and online store, develop and execute digital marketing strategies, set goals for the team, ensure scalable growth, and analyse data to drive business performance.
The e-commerce industry has experienced significant growth over the past decade, especially during the covid years. It continues to expand rapidly with the increasing preference for online shopping. Therefore, companies are placing greater emphasis on their e-commerce operations.
Digital Jobs Offer
Due to the popularity of digital transformation, Chief Digital Officers (CDOs) have become a strategic position in determining the success or failure of an enterprise in the future.
As a C-level executive, the chief digital officer sets and executes digital initiatives to monetise data, drive digital revenue, improve customer experiences and employee engagements, optimise operations and create new business value.
In addition to technical know-how and familiarity with advanced technologies like AI, analytics, the cloud, IoT and automation, today’s CDOs may have a business, marketing or public relations background, extensive management experience, and strong communication, collaborative and storytelling skills to drive the task of digital innovation, strategy and transformation companywide.
Note: Salaries on the list only refer to annual cash salary (unit: RMB), excluding non-cash compensation such as stocks, options, and equity. The salary data come from Michael Page’s database.
For more detailed salary data for more positions, please read our Page China Salary Guide 2023, which is a collection of salary standard data of various industries and functions in China over the past year, as well as industry insights and insights of business executives gained from conversations between Michael Page consultants and senior executives in various industries.
