Top 5 Paying MBA Careers: Marketing
MBA graduates in marketing can experience exponential career growth. According to Payscale, graduates in marketing often earn a starting salary of $55,700, which may double to $116,000 by mid-career. As the job is links to sales success, bonuses can also be lucrative.
Those who relish the thrill to sell might be curious about what positions can maximize their salaries. The benefits of these positions can vary by location, experience, and company.
Companies Recruiting Marketing MBA Graduates
The firm you work for can affect how much you make in your position. Often, firms that focus more on large-scale public marketing will offer higher salaries than companies that rely on word of mouth and more grassroots campaigns. Here are the top five companies in terms of average salary for those with Marketing MBAs.
- Oracle: $142,456
- Capgemini: $137,344
- Honeywell: $136,000
- Cisco: $135,000
- Coca-Cola: $131,000
Experience Levels
As one expects, one’s salary increases with one’s experience at a firm. According to Payscale, this is a breakdown of average salary based on experience:
- 0–1 year: $50,565
- 1–4 years: $61,764
- 5–9 years: $82,376
- 10–19 years: $108,742
- 20-Plus years: $130,513
Locations
Along with the firm and experience, the other major determinant of a salary is the location. As high-powered marketing jobs tend to revolve around cities, here are the top five cities with regard to average salary for MBA graduates with marketing concentrations.
- San Francisco, California: $132,151
- New York, New York: $111,437
- Seattle, Washington: $106,871
- Boston, Massachusetts: $104,887
- Los Angeles, California: $101,032
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Commonly, you may find that the most lucrative MBA-related roles are located in San Francisco, CA.
Top 5 Paid Marketing Careers
While there are many options in the marketing and sales world for MBA graduates, we have outlined the highest-paying positions. To maximize salary, consider the variables discussed above when deciding on a position.
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Product Management Director ($102,000–$199,000)
As a product management director, the primary responsibility will is overseeing the entire life of a product’s development, focusing on the quality of the finished product and the efficiency of the production process. Other responsibilities include managing budgets, expenditures, research, and development.
Common tasks include:
- Overseeing the creation of strategic plans
- Creating returns-on-investment and profit-loss projections
- Evaluating financial aspects of product development
The average salary of a product management director is $140,603. In addition, MBA graduates can earn an average of $18,175 in bonuses, $19,000 in compensation, and $9,799 in profit sharing. The salary of this job can rise based on where you are looking for a position. Look in the following cities, where you have the potential to earn more than the average.
- San Francisco, California: 19 percent more
- Boston, Massachusetts: 7 percent more
- Seattle, Washington: 4 percent more
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Senior Product Manager ($91,000–$171,000)
As a senior product manager, your primary aim is to provide both foresight and oversight. You will provide foresight into customer and market demands in the effort to maximize product. You will oversee the steps of getting a product from idea to production. Other responsibilities include ensuring the best practices are used, goals are met, and projects are conducted efficiently.
Common tasks include:
- Transforming business strategies into doable, defined product plans
- Leading market research
- Defining and documenting product requirements for execution and sales
The average salary of a senior product manager is $122,214. MBA graduates can earn an average of $12,758 in bonuses, $7,742 in commission, and $6,338 in profit sharing. The following three companies offer the highest average salaries for this position:
- Dolby Laboratories: $166,000
- Cisco: $150,000
- IBM: $140,000
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Senior Product Marketing Manager ($91,000–$170,000)
In the position of senior product marketing manager, your primary responsibility is to manage the advertising and life cycle for product offerings in your organization. You will increase customer engagement and work on organizational tasks such as researching materials and costs and engaging in analysis.
Common tasks include:
- Creating effective marketing strategies that increase sales and brand loyalty
- Developing long-term marketing plans
- Developing pricing strategies
The average salary of a senior product marketing manager is $122,243. MBA graduates can earn an average of $11,998 in bonuses, $15,484 in commission, and $5,176 in profit sharing. Those who are interested in this position should look into opportunities located in the following three cities because the average salaries are markedly higher than the national average.
- San Jose, California: 22 percent more
- San Francisco, California: 16 percent more
- Seattle, Washington: 5 percent more
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Business Development Director ($61,000–$193,000)
As a business development director, you will be responsible to a company’s owner, board of directors, and shareholders. In the position, one of your tasks will be to develop strategies to optimize the company’s operations. This can include making changes in many departments from legal to IT.
Common tasks include:
- Coordinating sales and marketing plans to meet the company’s growth objectives
- Managing the sales process
- Researching new clients
The average salary of a business development director is $103,841. MBA graduates can earn an average of $19,459 in bonuses, $23,774 in commission, and $7,274 in profit sharing. To maximize salary, you should look at positions located in the following three cities, as their average salary for this position is higher than the national average.
- San Francisco, California: 36 percent more
- Washington, District of Columbia: 19 percent more
- Houston, Texas: 19 percent more
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Senior Marketing Manager ($69,000–$153,000)
As a senior marketing manager, your primary responsibilities will involve overseeing marketing planning, product development, and brand management. They often are responsible for researching target markets, planning display marketing, and providing feedback into product development, among other tasks.
Common tasks include:
- Creating marketing programs and campaigns for the organization’s products and services
- Managing marketing staff
- Analyzing the results of all marketing programs and recommending changes to approach based on performance
The average salary of a senior marketing manager is $98,379. MBA graduates can earn an average of $10,285 in bonuses, $7,000 in commission, and $6,030 in profit sharing. The following three companies offer extremely salaries for these positions.
About the Author
Jonathan Pfeffer
Jonathan Pfeffer joined the Clear Admit and MetroMBA teams in 2015 after spending several years as an arts/culture writer, editor, and radio producer. In addition to his role as contributing writer at MetroMBA and contributing editor at Clear Admit, he is co-founder and lead producer of the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast. He holds a BA in Film/Video, Ethnomusicology, and Media Studies from Oberlin College.
