Remote work isn’t just a fad or trend—it’s a new approach to work, and thankfully, it’s here to stay.

Workers have had a taste of the freedom and flexibility that comes with remote work, and they want it permanently, regardless of return to office mandates. More and more people are becoming disheartened by the grinding of the corporate machine, resulting in a growing pursuit of location-independent jobs.

Progressive employers are offering remote jobs where good and meaningful work can be done successfully from anywhere in the world. They realize that productivity isn’t synonymous with being physically present. And as the world continues to move online, remote job opportunities are becoming easier to find.

But, in our experience, finding a remote job that allows you to travel on your terms, maintain your high-level career, and match and exceed your current salary is more challenging than it seems. We recommend deciding on a remote job you’re passionate about—with a salary to match—before scouring the job board for available remote positions.

To help steer you in the right direction, we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 best-paying remote jobs we regularly see in the remote work space currently available on the market. In this post, we’ve included a rough salary range estimate for the remote opportunities in industries we’ve considered fruitful, as well as the pros and cons that may come along with working these roles remotely.

What are the Highest-Paying Remote Jobs?

In our experience of sharing high-paying remote jobs with current and aspiring digital nomads, we’ve noticed a few patterns and can confidently share our take on the best roles with the highest payouts. The roles featured on the list below are some of the best-paying remote jobs of 2024.

Project Manager

Project managers are in charge of planning timelines, delegating assignments, ensuring projects are executed correctly, and often managing several individuals at a time. If you’re a job seeker with excellent organizational skills and can lead a team to success, then project management might be right up your alley.

In our opinion, there are two factors that can affect your salary as a project manager: your level of experience and the niche that you work in. The good news is that if you have any kind of managerial skill, it’s not hard to transition into the role of a project manager.

Project management is a great remote role for digital nomads, as, with the introduction of online project management systems and communication tools into the workplace, any and every task you’ll execute will be virtual. Calls can be done from anywhere, as long as you can manage a time zone that aligns with your team members and clients (if required). With all of the tools required for project management being based online, your physical location shouldn’t be an issue.

Hot tip: If you want to maximize your earnings, working in software development as a Project Manager will elevate your earning potential in this career path.

Pros:

• Dynamic job with cross-collaboration across teams and plenty of varying projects to keep work interesting
• Beyond planning and organizing, Project Managers will develop and use soft skills (such as clear and effective communication, motivating others, time management, relationship-building, conflict management and resolution, to name a few)—a lesser exercised but extremely valuable layer to add to internal dynamics

Cons:

• A high-pressure, high-responsibility work environment, where, when managing several employees in various teams, disputes may arise.
• Potential for numerous daily video calls, requiring a quiet work environment with strong internet.

Average annual salary: $90,001 – $146,502

Data Scientist

Data Scientists are experts at collecting, analyzing, and understanding data. This helps improve the decision-making power of a business by putting complex data at the forefront of its business, marketing, and expansion strategies.

Being a data scientist means you need to be a strong mathematician and have a good understanding of programming, enabling you to visualize data sets accurately.

A generally high-paying career in itself, if you want to focus on the highest-paying data scientist positions, we suggest finding a job in the healthcare, financial services, technology, and government-related industries sectors.

In terms of working remotely, data scientists generally have remote access to large datasets with which they work extremely independently. In our experience, data scientists require minimal internet and few calls.

Pros:

• Prestigious work, helping create more intelligent and innovative solutions for companies, products, and their clients
• Versatile applications of work, with job opportunities spanning numerous industries

Cons:

• Potential threat of data privacy impeding work, either in access to data or misuse of data
• Access to data can be challenging while working remotely due to corporate security standards, sometimes requiring a VPN
  

Average annual salary: $113,943 – $170,000

Software Engineer

Software engineers use various programming languages to develop applications, games, operating systems, and middleware. They may be responsible for designing and developing new software systems, testing or optimizing existing software, providing recommendations for improvements, pushing software updates, and various other tasks.

We have noticed that, while all software engineer positions are well-paid, these job titles tend to come out on top: front-end developers, back-end developers, full-stack engineers, and DevOps engineers.

Software engineering is one of the most remote-friendly careers you’ll find. Software engineering lends itself very well to remote work due to the independent nature of the work, minimal calls required, and low internet requirements. It’s one of the most common digital nomad jobs you’ll find in the wild.

Pros:

• Tons of demand for software engineering skill sets
• Flexible schedules and working hours—ideal for remote work environments
• Minimal calls and internet requirements

Cons:

• Often long working hours, especially around deadlines

Average annual salary: $110,587 – $171,695

Cloud Engineer

Cloud engineers are responsible for developing and maintaining cloud infrastructure and helping businesses operate more securely and efficiently. Once the cloud infrastructure has been set up, cloud engineers troubleshoot errors and fix integration issues as they arise.

Roles for cloud engineer come in many different forms, including cloud developer, cloud architect, cloud security engineer, and cloud administrator. All cloud engineering jobs pay well, but if you want the highest-paying positions, then developers and architects who are responsible for setting up infrastructure tend to earn the most.

Cloud engineers are perfectly suited to digital nomads. Since They can access, build, and modify cloud computing resources from anywhere, working remotely presents a great opportunity for those seeking a lifestyle beyond the office with a better work-life balance.

Pros:

• High demand for cloud engineers, with more companies shifting infrastructure to cloud-based systems
  Continuous learning opportunities as technologies evolve

Cons:

• High level of responsibility, taking care of engineering, programming, troubleshooting, and often working in leadership positions

Average annual salary: $111,500 – $170,000

Product Manager

Product managers bridge the gap between customer and internal teams or stakeholders. Product managers gather feedback and insights from customers, taking their needs, wants, pain points and product requests into account to either add additional features to an existing product or create an entirely new product. They then communicate with internal teams to push a feature or product to market.

Product managers need good organizational skills as well as industry-specific technical knowledge to help plan and implement new products or product features. In our experience, we’ve seen that product managers tend to earn the most in the healthcare, technology, and finance industries.

Another great role suited for digital nomads on the go, product managers have access to a plethora of online tools which allow them to work remotely. With these tools, they have the ability to coordinate with cross-functional teams remotely, allowing them to easily oversee the development and launch of innovative products.

Pros:

• Product managers can expect steady career growth, advancing from junior to senior and later director roles, possibly even VP, depending on the nature of the company
• Strong focus on high-level decision-making and setting the tactical needs of a product

Cons:

• Carry a high level of responsibility and are often held accountable when things go wrong
• Managing the expectations of several stakeholders—across internal teams, top-level management, and clients—can lead to a stressful work environment

Average annual salary: $123,585 – $350,000

Web Developer

Website developers are responsible for building visually appealing and fully functional websites. Along with the design and development of an online presence, they also work on maintaining a website and may periodically make changes to the visuals or functionality as necessary.

Being a web developer is a broad role that can include several responsibilities, including developing the website itself, setting up hosting, ensuring the website’s security, and working with design, content, SEO, or social teams to create a visually appealing website that performs well, is marketed appropriately, and converts visitors into clients.

Another perfect fit for remote work is that web developers can contribute to the design, development, and maintenance of web-based projects from anywhere in the world. Provided time zones align with teams and clients, if required, it’s easy for a web developer to switch to a remote workspace. Online collaboration tools make this transition a smooth one.

Pros:

• Great variety of projects to work on, even more so if working for an agency with a roster of clients
• Interesting cross-departmental task load, which brings together creativity, strategy, user experience design, sales psychology, and technical development

Cons:

• Constant need to keep learning and evolving skill sets based on new web technologies, processes, and policies releasing frequently
• Work is extremely autonomous, which can lead to isolation and moments of having little to no interaction with others—can be made more difficult if working remotely without community close by

Average annual salary: $55,990 – $108,550

Graphic Designer

Graphic designers create visually appealing designs and concepts. They can be responsible for everything, including logos, brand identities, magazine covers, posters, billboards, logos, marketing materials, social media graphics, and packaging.

We’ve noticed in our digital nomad community that the highest-paying graphic design job titles include graphic engineer, graphics artist, Mac artist, brand designer, UI designer, and marketing designer. Once you have built up a portfolio of stunning designs, landing a remote position in the industry isn’t difficult.

With access to collaborative digital tools, cloud storage facilities, and the ability to communicate effectively with clients and team members remotely, graphic designers can deliver high-quality designs while enjoying the benefits of a remote work environment.

Pros:

• Extremely creative work where end products are rewarded and admired
• Ability to work on several projects simultaneously, often with different brand identities or strategies—even more so if working with multiple clients in an agency setting

Cons:

• Extremely highly competitive industry with countless others ready to work for a lower salary
• Creative work can sometimes receive difficult criticism from managers or clients

Average annual salary: $38,557 – $106,994

App Developer

App developers need to be highly skilled in many different areas and are often referred to as full-stack developers. They’re responsible for building out the back end of an app and ensuring it is fully functional across multiple devices. Along with this, they may also need to be proficient designers to conceptualize the front-end interface that users will interact with, or, work alongside UX and UI designers.

In addition to creating an app, app developers are also responsible for its ongoing maintenance. They may need to add additional functionality, troubleshoot issues, and implement upgrades.

Another great job that aligns with the digital nomad lifestyle, app developers, with easy access to all the collaborative digital tools they need, have the ability to code remotely and autonomously. With this, app developers can efficiently bring their ideas to life while enjoying the benefits of a remote work environment.

Pros:

• High demand for app developers, so finding a remote job shouldn’t be a problem
• Potential to grow one’s skill set and experience by taking on more complex projects and challenges

Cons:

• The need to always keep learning, evolving, and bettering one’s skills to maintain a competitive advantage in the marketplace

Average annual salary: $90,000 – $155,643

Marketing Manager

Marketing managers are responsible for all marketing material within an organization. The scale of this position will depend on the size of the company or the volume of clients if working in an agency setting. Marketing managers will plan an overarching marketing strategy, which could include various implementations within a marketing mix, including social media, email marketing, website content, video content, and likely much more.

In larger companies, the marketing manager oversees a team, delegating the implementation of the marketing strategy to other people and supervising the marketing output. In smaller teams, the marketing manager may have to work on the implementation of the marketing strategy themselves.

In our experience, marketing managers have little problem finding a remote job. With access to virtual collaboration tools, communication software, and digital marketing platforms, marketing managers can efficiently lead teams, analyze data, and drive results all while working remotely.

Pros:

• Lots of creativity and innovative thinking is involved
• Plenty of variety at work, with no two campaigns or executions being the same, even more so if working with several clients in an agency

Cons:

• High-pressure work environment, often with a lot of accountability, stress and often long work hours, even in a remote setting
• If marketing campaigns require events or experiences, in-person attendance may be complex to navigate if working remotely

Average annual salary: $104,384 – $136,377

Financial Manager

Financial managers advise companies to ensure they’re making the most beneficial, strategic financial decisions that’ll bring long-term success. They are responsible for financial reports and projections, making investment decisions, and long-term goal planning.

The job scope of the financial manager can cover everything from basic accounting to major financial decisions.

While not always the most obvious choice for a remote position, financial management can, in fact, be done remotely. With remote financial tools, collaborative platforms, and data protection software and protocols, financial managers can efficiently analyze data, make informed decisions, and provide valuable insights to stakeholders from anywhere in the world.

Pros:

• Plenty of career opportunities, as all businesses require financial management
• Many avenues to explore, such as personal or corporate finance
• Often, those in the financial space are given opportunities to study further (most of the time, this is sponsored by the company itself), where studying can also be done remotely

Cons:

• Often, a high-stress work environment, whether remote or not
• Some companies may have strict data and information privacy policies, which could impact remote work opportunities

Average annual salary: $104,150 – $203,720

Where to Find the Highest Paying Remote Jobs

If you’re craving more freedom and flexibility in your life, but you’re also set on advancing your career, then landing a remote job is the perfect solution. You get to work from wherever you like, cross hot destinations off your travel bucket list while still climbing the career ladder.

But let’s not forget the Benjamins. If you want to keep your bank account happy and still hit your financial goals while living the remote life experience, it’s crucial to pick the right remote job that not only fits your career goals but also comes with a sweet salary package.