Revealed: The top 15 highest-paying careers in Australia (2024)

The highest-paid jobs in Australia might come as no surprise to some, with doctors, CEOs and legal professionals featuring prominently on the list.

But there are a few entrants that might leave you surprised.

If you're contemplating a career change, thinking about studying or looking for a job that'll earn you the big bucks, there might just be a role on this list that appeals to you.

Click through to see the top 15 highest-paid careers in Australia based on tax return data from the Australian Taxation Office and the Monarch Institute.

Earning on average between $138,000 and $142,000, enterprise and software architects have landed at 15 on the list.

Workers in this sector are normally in charge of maintaining a company's IT networks.

This may include upgrading or improving internal services, and overseeing software and hardware installations.

Earning an average salary of $149,204, information and security directors sit at 14 on the list.

Among other duties, workers in the IT security sector are often tasked with the important job of keeping a company's data safe - of particular importance given recent cyberattacks and breaches.

One of the most senior positions within a company, vice presidents can earn on average $151,358 per year.

Though there is no single path to becoming a VP, education and experience can go a long way to help an applicant's chances. 

Many may not have heard of the work quantitative analysts do within a company, but they often are tasked with making very important decisions.

"Quants" apply statistics and mathematics to "analyse financial data and risk management", which can subsequently help a company make good business decisions relating to investments and pricing.

Engineering managers, who oversee teams of engineers, are on average earning $159,940 per year.

Day-to-day duties may include budgeting, planning technical operations as well as overseeing hiring and liaising with department heads.

The most senior and influential figures within a company, chief executive officers and managing directors earn on average $164,896 per year - but often their salaries are much more.

A CEO's job may include tasks like building strategies and identifying risks to a company, as well as overseeing productivity and profitability.

Earning almost $170,000 per year on average, enterprise architecture managers oversee and direct "performance and technical aspects of the organisation's IT networks".

A completed degree in IT, computer sciences or similar is normally required to hold this role. 

Mining engineers oversee planning, production and evaluating the construction of a mine.

Earning an average of $184,507 per year, workers in this sector will usually need to spend between three to four years at university before starting out in this space and working their way up the ranks.

Legal professionals is a broad term that can refer to a number of roles within the legal system.

From lawyers, to barristers and magistrates, people in these professions earn on average $188,798 per year - but salaries can also be much higher depending on individual firms. 

Another umbrella term, medical practitioners can refer to medical professionals such as GPs, dentists, orthodontists, periodontists, gastroenterologists and obstetricians.

Like many entrants on the list, the salaries of these workers largely vary, but on average practitioners earn $222,933 per year. 

Financial dealers "analyse social trends, market conditions and government regulations" as well "interpret their client's financial circ*mstances in order to buy and sell commodities for profit".

Financial dealers earn on average $275,984 per year.

Specifically trained to diagnose, manage and treat complex and difficult to diagnose health conditions, internal medicine specialists earn on average $304,752 per year. 

Working in conjunction with GPs and other practitioners, internal medicine specialists are the third-highest paid workers in the country. 

At number two on the list - and with less than a $10,000 difference in pay from the top spot - is anaesthetists.

Responsible for handling and administering potent pharmaceutical drugs, as well as preparing patients for surgery, anaesthetists can earn an average of $386,065 per year.

Taking out the top spot on this list and earning a whopping average of $394,303 per year are surgeons.

Though there are many different types - who can earn up to $600,000 per year in some circ*mstances - surgeons have earned their top spot on the list for good reason.

To become a surgeon it will require a lot of study, hard work, and long hours in high-pressure environments.