Even though fewer people are working from home now compared to two years ago, it’s still not a bad time to find a remote job — and some of the most in-demand roles companies are hiring for come with a six-figure paycheck.
FlexJobs, one of the most popular job boards for remote opportunities, saw a 9% increase in the number of open remote jobs on its platform between January 2022 and January 2023, Toni Frana, FlexJobs’ lead career expert, tells CNBC Make It.
Recent data from LinkedIn shows that remote work is rebounding after months of gradual decline: As of January, 50% of workers said they were mostly working onsite, while 28% said they were primarily remote, according to a survey of 5,860 professionals from Jan. 14 through Jan. 27. In November, 55% of employees were onsite and 25% were working remotely.
To examine where remote hiring is happening the most for high-paying jobs, FlexJobs identified the occupations with the highest number of remote job openings on their site between January and March 2023 that pay more than $100,000.
Here are the 10 most in-demand remote jobs companies are hiring for and how much they pay, according to data from FlexJobs and Payscale:
1. Senior product marketing manager
Average salary: $132,101
2. Senior product manager
Average salary: $129,724
3. Senior data scientist
Average salary: $129,653
4. Corporate counsel
Average salary: $126,124
5. Senior data engineer
Average salary: $125,951
6. Senior product designer
Average salary: $125,101
7. Senior software engineer
Average salary: $124,030
8. Engineering manager
Average salary: $119,135
9. Psychiatric nurse practitioner
Average salary: $115,594
10. Director of Finance
Average salary: $114,863
The top industries offering ample remote work opportunities with six-figure salaries include accounting and finance, tech, and marketing, per FlexJobs’ latest research.
These three fields have seen significant remote job growth in the last 12 months despite recent layoffs rippling across the tech and finance sectors.
“Remote opportunities are competitive, but they’re still available,” Frana says. As she sees it, the job market has “continued to shift in favor of remote work options” since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, even as more companies require employees to return to the office.
While technical skills such as coding and web design are in demand in our increasingly digital world, soft skills, such as communication and problem-solving, are just as important for remote hiring managers.
Frana has noticed that more companies are listing soft skills as requirements in their job listings — highlighting these skills at the top of your resume and in conversations with hiring managers can help you stand out from other remote job candidates.
The remote job marketplace is expanding the types of flexible jobs available, she adds, pointing to the psychiatric nurse practitioner, which ranks ninth on FlexJobs’ list, as an example.
Psychiatric nurse practitioners offer many of the same services psychiatrists do, including carrying out mental health assessments, leading psychotherapy sessions, and prescribing medication as needed.
The demand for behavioral health services continues to outpace the supply of available professionals who can provide this care.
While there has been a rise in the number of master’s-level clinicians, social workers, and psychiatric nurse practitioners, Behavioral Health Business reports, worker supply still lags behind demand.
Demand for telehealth services, in particular, is expected to continue to grow: A recent report from SNS Insider estimates that the telehealth and telemedicine market will reach close to $580 billion dollars by 2030, more than 10x its current valuation (about $87 billion in 2022).