Glassdoor’s top 25 jobs for pay lean toward tech

Being a “scrum master” may sound like something a rugby player does, or a job that does not sound all that inviting to many. But for people who know how to run software projects according to certain quick-changing, small-group management principles, it is one of the 25 highest-paying jobs in the United States, and there are more than 2,000 openings for it.

That is according to Glassdoor, the jobs and salary website, which released its third annual list of the bestpaying jobs in America late Tuesday. In addition to the obscure-sounding scrum master, the list includes 10 other technology-related jobs, as well as six health-care job titles and three finance-industry careers. Indeed, very few of the jobs among the top 25 are not solely related to those three industries.

“High pay continues to be tied to demand skills, higher education and working in jobs that are protected from competition or automation,” Glassdoor chief economist Andrew Chamberlain said in an emailed statement. “That is why we see several jobs within the technology and health-care industries.”

Yet while jobs from the tech industry dominate the list once again, not one tech job ended up in the top five. Instead, healthcare jobs showed up in four of the top five spots.

For the third year in a row, “physician” took the top slot, with a median base salary of $187,876. Pharmacy managers ($149,064) and pharmacists ($125,847) popped up at No. 2 and No. 5. “Medical science liaisons” ($132,842) — specialists who work for pharmaceutical or biotech companies to establish relationships with medical experts — came in at No. 4. Patent attorneys rounded out the top five, at No. 3.