Which Companies Pay The Most In The UK?

Salary is a primary consideration when determining a career path, career change, or new opportunity. While we know from many studies that salary alone will not drive employee satisfaction or happiness, students, young workers, and seasoned professionals should be well informed on which companies and careers in the UK offer the highest-paying jobs.

Although we must recognise that pay isn’t the only consideration, our research into the UK’s highest-paying companies might help you make wiser career decisions. We start with entry-level jobs, which will interest students and young people, before moving on to the 25 highest-paying companies in the UK, where professionals with relevant experience can earn big money.

Ten Highest Paying Companies In The UK By Entry-Level Jobs

Entry-level job seekers job hunting for non-senior positions will find data collated by Glassdoor of interest. Their research shows the 10 highest paying companies in the UK for entry-level workers by median base salary. To put the wages in the list into context, the UK average salary at the start of the year was £30,992 per annum, according to our Average Salary data. 

1. Thought Machine - Average Salary £60,000

2. Meta - Average Salary £57,000

3. Macquarie Group - Average Salary £55,000

4. Goldman Sachs - Average Salary £50,000

5. Bank of America - Average Salary £50,000

6. Deutsche Bank - Average Salary £50,000

7. BlackRock - Average Salary £50,000

8. BNP Paribas - Average Salary £50,000

9. Credit Suisse - Average Salary £50,000

10. Clifford Chance - Average Salary £50,000

These jobs come from a dataset of 100k salaries identified as entry-level jobs requiring less than two years of relevant experience. Finance and tech companies dominate this list, with Thought Machine, a financial transaction processing company paying the highest median base salary, closely followed by Meta, with the second-highest average base salary.

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25 Highest Paying Companies In The UK

Job seekers with advanced expertise or young people looking for potential career opportunities in the future will want to check out the highest-paying companies in the UK by median total compensation:

1. Salesforce - Total Salary £100,000

2. Man Group - Total Salary £93,620

3. Kearney - Total Salary £90,661

4. Standard Chartered Bank - Total Salary £90,000

5. Credit Suisse - Total Salary £87,500

6. Facebook - Total Salary £86,423

7. VMware - Total Salary £85,625

8. G-Research - Total Salary £85,468

9. McKinsey & Company - Total Salary £85,160

10. RBC - Total Salary £85,000

11. Spotify - Total Salary £83,500

12. UBS - Total Salary £80,662

13. Daishi Bank - Total Salary £80,588

14. ServiceNow - Total Salary £80,104

15. Deutsche Bank - Total Salary £80,000

16. Macquarie Group - Total Salary £80,000

17. Mastercard - Total Salary £80,000

18. MS Amlin - Total Salary £78,070

19. SAP - Total Salary £77,615

20. Boston Consulting Group - Total Salary £77,000

21. Bain & Company - Total Salary £76,914

22. Moorhouse Consulting - Total Salary £76,500

23. J.P. Morgan - Total Salary £75,914

24. Revolut - Total Salary £75,829

25. BlackRock - Total Salary £75,829

This list of highest-paying companies in the UK includes eight investment banks, seven tech companies, and five consultancy businesses. Topping the list by median total compensation is Salesforce. However, if you are looking for a sure thing, the highest-paying companies by median base salary are Man Group (£85,312) and McKinsey & Company (£84,000).

With economic uncertainty turning to economic downturn, we also recently highlighted the highest-paying Recession-Proof Jobs.

Ten Highest-Paying Business Sectors

We have already highlighted finance and technology companies as recent top-payers, so which other business groups have recently posted jobs with a top salary?

1. Public Sector Salary £495,000 - View Public Sector Jobs and Public Sector Career Advice

2. Leadership Salary £154,659 - View Leadership Jobs and Leadership Career Advice

3. Banking and Insurance Salary £114,783 - View Banking and Insurance Jobs and Banking and Insurance Career Advice

4. Healthcare Salary £112,080 - View Healthcare Jobs and Healthcare Career Advice

5. Legal Salary £111,056 - View Legal Jobs and Legal Career Advice

6. Transportation and Logistics Salary £108,000 - View Transportation and Logistics Jobs and Transportation and Logistics Career Advice

7. Armed Forces Salary £100,000 - View Armed Forces Jobs and Armed Forces Career Advice

8. Information Technology Salary £91,593 - View Information Technology Jobs and Information Technology Career Advice

9. Sales Salary £88,680 - View Sales Jobs and Sales Career Advice

10. Finance Salary £87,399 - View Finance Jobs and Finance Career Advice

Highest Paying Companies FAQs

Here we answer your questions on high-paying companies in the UK.

WHICH COMPANY PAYS THE HIGHEST SALARY?

The company offering the highest salary is Salesforce. Thought Machine offered the best entry-level wage for those seeking a high-paying entry-level job.

DOES A HIGH SALARY MEAN GOOD JOB SATISFACTION?

With more than half of young people looking to change jobs, this is a valid question. Job satisfaction is not guaranteed with a high median base salary. Once a job is secured, the company's culture, senior leadership team, and flexible working options play the most important factor in job satisfaction. So, the median base salary for entry-level and senior positions is only part of the recipe when assessing career opportunities.