Business Administration: Careers You Can Pursue with a Degree in Business Administration – Due to the broad nature of a master’s in business administration, there are a variety of different careers that graduates can pursue, spanning from very technical roles to more broad-based positions within a company. The comprehensive skillset that this type of education involves, including learning about topics covering accounting, business administration and analytics, finance, and marketing, means that graduates will have a competitive edge when it comes to the job market, making them stand out among their peers and more likely to land a job once they finish their degree.
Whether it’s an online MBA or in-person learning, this guide has you covered various jobs that a master’s business administration graduate can go into, stretching from creative planning solutions to more corporate-minded positions. Whether you are currently studying or are thinking about pursuing higher education, read on below for 20 different careers that a graduate can follow and their average salaries.
Public Information Officer
Average Salary: $63,500 per annum
A public information officer is responsible for being the public face of a government agency or a corporation. They are public relations specialists tasked with being the mediator between the organization and the public. They are responsible for maintaining strong media relationships, designing communication programmes, writing and editing press releases, designing release strategies and more. Their master’s in business administration, either found in person or via an online MBA, usually coincides with a degree in communications, journalism or public relations. It is also highly expected of someone with this job to have a strong and concise writing ability.
Chief Marketing Officer
Average Salary: $174,500 per annum
Working essentially as the head of marketing within an organization, it is up to the chief marketing officer to oversee a company’s marketing and advertising plans. They often work directly with a chief executive officer to make sure that the vision of the company is laid out to the public or other businesses and to create income streams for the organization through the use of market research, public relations and solid product marketing. A CMO is more and more likely to work on the product development and business level these days as well, working on every aspect of a new idea in order to have a full overview of its uses when marketing it to other businesses and the public.
Business Consultant
Average Salary: $74,500 per annum
Combining the responsibilities of a businessperson with that of a consultant, a business consultant is often drafted in to look at business operations, provide key guidance to achieve success and work on the best implementation of products. They are called upon for their wide range of experiences working within other businesses, their ability to identify and provide solutions for weaknesses that no one else in the company can see, and to find new business ideas that can transform the practices of an administration. Sometimes they are required to also have additional consulting certifications.
Chief Communications Officer
Average Salary: $127,000 per annum
A relatively new role that has entered the job landscape in the era of the start-up, a chief communications officer is responsible for shepherding and shaping a company’s core values through every aspect of the business chain. As custodians of a company’s vision, their job is to make sure that these ideas remain consistent across the entire business team and to make sure that they are effectively communicated to the public as well, like this communique from the NBA CCO. As a result of this high level of responsibility, something that can be learned via an online MBA, a CCO is usually somebody with several years of business experience.
Corporate Communications Manager
Average Salary: $65,000 per annum
Similar to a chief communications officer, although working in a lower position, a corporate communications manager works on communicating the ethos of a company both internally and externally. They have the potential to identify moments where they are promoting the company through press releases or to remind the rest of their team about the core values that compromise a company. They often refer directly to the chief communications manager, who then often has a direct line to the CEO.
Senior Marketing Strategist
Average Salary: $79,000 per annum
Working with a wide variety of clients, a senior marketing strategist’s job is to assist companies with their aims of growing the company, gaining new customers and converting them into leads. Their responsibilities include managing the marketing team, analyzing data, market research, designing and implementing promotional material, figuring out the budget for campaigns and using both physical and online tools to create campaigns. With marketing positions often easily achievable for people with just an undergraduate degree, it helps to have studied something like an online MBA to get ahead and achieve success with this role.
Business Development Executive
Average Salary: $76,000 per annum
A business development executive is tasked with growing the company through a variety of means. These include finding and keeping clients happy, encouraging clients in order to purchase extra offers, and being aware of current market demand. A BDE should be able to understand all the different services offered by a company, be able to secure new clients, constantly be a presence at networking events, and keep meaningful relationships with their clients. As a result of these various positions, BDE’s often have studied an online MBA or something similar.
Auditing Manager
Average Salary: $90,000 per annum
It is the responsibility of the auditing manager to oversee internal practices within a company. They make sure that what goes on inside an organization adheres to government standards and is in line with internal guidelines. Usually they will work with accountants or junior auditors, identifying business risks, documenting their evaluations, developing recommendations, creating educational plans and allocating resources. With increasing audit compliance across management in the USA, it is likely that demand for these types of roles, which can be learned via an online MBA, will only rise in the future.
Budget Analyst
Average Salary: $81,000 per annum
As the name suggests, a budget analyst is responsible for understanding a company’s budget! They are responsible for overseeing and analyzing proposals to review them correctly and put them into implementation, as well as looking at requests for funding and performing cost-benefit analyses. They work with project managers to develop budgets while also seeing if it will ultimately add value to a company. They are also tasked with the role of explaining changes in the budget, either positive or negative, to other members of the team, meaning that they need excellent communication skills, such as those developed with an online MBA, in order to thrive.
Creative Director
Average Salary: $125,000 per annum
A creative director is tasked with overseeing all projects that occur within a company’s creative department. Their role is to create a bridge between the more artistically minded members of the team and the business administration. They manage the creative process from initial idea to finished project, overseeing client pitches, and ensuring that any new visuals adhere to the company standard. They work closely with copywriters, photographers, web developers and designers. With many creative directors often lacking higher level business acumen, an online MBAcan help you stand out among your peers.
Customer Analytics Manager
Average Salary: $96,000 per annum
The average customer analytics manager is responsible for analyzing data that comes into a company through its customer’s engagement before developing strategies to capitalize and make use of that information. They lead a team of data analysts to implement tools that can take raw data and shape it into actionable business strategies. They need both an analytical and technical mindset, which can often be achieved by studying an online MBA, as well as great communication skills that allow them to effectively communicate those changes within a team.
Director of Marketing and Communications
Average Salary: $107,000 per annum
A director of marketing and communications is responsible for overseeing the entire marketing pipeline, from initial idea to eventual completion. They work closely with a team of marketing professionals in order to take customer insights and find a way to translate them into profitable goals, either though marketing objectives or by designing new advertising strategy. They can also be responsible for communicating a company’s vision to the public as well as other companies. As a result they are often expected to attend conferences and expos.
Financial Advisor
Average Salary: $89,000 per annum
A financial advisor, as the title suggests, is responsible for advising a company or individuals on their finances. Whether it’s taxes, estate planning, college accounts, insurance or retirement, they are expected to have a wide and deep knowledge skillset that translates to every single part of the financial chain. As a result they are expected to have a strong background in finance and accounting as well as clear communication skills.
HR Manager
Average Salary: $80,500
An HR manager is expected to lead their human resources team through every part of its processes. These include routine functions such as recruiting, interviewing and training new staff hires, overseeing daily workflow and providing clear and concise feedback on members of the team. They are also the go-to person in terms of any dispute that may occur internally within a company. This includes matters of both discipline and termination in line with a company’s internal policies. More senior HR managers may even be able to change the entire HR policy, like what is currently happening at Microsoft.
Chief Data Officer
Average Salary: $178,500
A chief data officer, beneficial to many a company, is tasked with using their leadership skills in order to help a company create a profit from the data that it receives. They oversee a whole host of different data-related responsibilities that may include data management, making sure the quality of the data is high and then creating a strategy. Straddling the worlds of data analytics and business intelligence — a skillset that can be found when studying an online MBA — they then use the data that a company has to come up with new schemes to take advantage of it.
Chief Financial Officer
Average Salary: $136,000
When working as a chief financial officer, one can expect to have a demanding yet highly rewarding role. They manage the financial actions of a company, tracking the cash flow, analyzing a company’s relative strengths and weaknesses and proposing ways for the company to improve with regards to its budget and outgoings. They are the top level financial controller, having to adhere to strict legal considerations and often tasked with overseeing any tax-related issues.
Investment Banker
Average Salary: $86,500
One of the most glamorous and exciting roles within the world of finance — glorified in the recent HBO series Industry — an investment banker is responsible for creating wealth for their clients. This can be achieved by issuing debt or selling equity, advising on investment opportunities or helping clients with topics such as mergers and acquisitions. Investment bankers are expected not only to be great with numbers, but to have an aggressive sales strategy, excellent communication and client management skills.
Tax Consultant
Average Salary: $81,500
Tax consultants are responsible for advising both people and companies on their tax affairs. They are tasked with preparing tax returns or providing the necessary information so people can do it for themselves. Adhering to strict legal requirements, they are expected to have a thorough knowledge of tax brackets on both a federal and state level, finding ways for their clients to maximize their income through the correct implementation of tax procedures. As a result they are expected to have a strong mathematical background as well as extremely solid communication skills; both of which can be learned via an online MBA.
Digital Marketing Manager
Average Salary: $72,000
Digital marketing managers work within a company to promote their marketing channels online. This can range from anything from creating newsletters to devising a social media strategy to writing blog posts to managing the overall look of the website. As a result, a digital marketing manager may be called upon to work with various different people within a corporate structure. They are expected to have a bachelor’s in either communication or marketing, as well as additional experience working for businesses, such as an online MBA. Be warned however, as this job has become more intense in the COVID-19 era.
Directors of IT
Average Salary: $106,500
Directors of IT are usually called upon to oversee the management, strategy and critical infrastructure of a company’s IT projects. They direct the effective delivery of any IT objectives, supervising a team of IT specialists who can be called upon for any problem, as well as work constantly to safeguard against hacks and attacks as well as looking to improve IT processes across the entire corporate structure.
