Computerworld featured the results of a study by Mondo, a company that recruits and places technology workers. Mondo recorded salaries earned by 4,000 of their placements in 2014 to determine top paying IT jobs. Below we listed the jobs they found to have the highest paying IT salaries. We examined the Hiring Scale scores for each job listed to see how their hiring difficulty compared to pay. Does a higher salary mean that the job is likely to be harder-to-fill?

Top Paying IT Jobs

Source: WANTED Analytics

The WANTED Analytics Hiring Scale examines supply, demand, the location, local and national unemployment rates, as well as other factors to determine the difficulty-to-fill. Hiring Scale scores range from 1 to 99, with 99 meaning hardest-to-recruit. It may be expected that most of the high paying positions listed above are C-level, VP, or Director jobs. However, it's surprising that the Hiring Scale scores for some of these top level jobs aren't higher, which would indicate more challenging recruiting conditions. Each of the high paying IT jobs score a 52 or above on our Hiring Scale. Of these jobs, Chief Security Officer was the least difficult-to-fill. This is partially due to there being a larger supply of Chief Security Officers. According to our Demand Pressure, there are about 25 qualified candidates in the US workforce per Chief Security Officer job opening, which is a larger candidate supply when compared to some of the other jobs listed. IS Security Manager had fewer candidates per job opening, 15 candidates per ad, which meant that this job is likely to be harder-to-recruit. IS Security Managers scored the highest on our Hiring Scale with a 90.

Source: WANTED Analytics

Although, IS Security Manager was the hardest-to-fill of these jobs, the reported pay range was lower than some of the other jobs listed. For instance, the study lists Chief Security Officers as earning between $135,000 and $200,000, while IS Security Manager placements were paid around $120,000 to $160,000. This demonstrates that pay for C-level jobs is likely to be higher despite having a larger candidate supply. 

Compensation for these positions is likely to vary depending on where the job is listed. How can you find out what the pay is in your market? WANTED Analytics shows median advertised salaries for each job. This is the pre-negotiated amount employers in your area advertise to attract candidates. This may not be the compensation that's agreed upon between employer and employee, but it provides insight into the pay being advertised in your market. Throughout the US, the IS Security Manager median advertised salary is $98,650. In Washington, DC, the median advertised salary is $114,150, the highest in the US. If you are recruiting IS Security Managers in the Washington, DC, area and your salary is lower than the median advertised salary you may need to increase your offered pay to be competitive in the local market. Also, consider if your salary would be a draw to candidates in other markets. If so, be sure to include the salary in your job ad to attract more candidates that are looking to move. 

Source: WANTED Analytics

What do you think of this list? Are there other IT jobs that should be up there?