The employment situation in the UK keeps showing positive developments, with the unemployment rate steadily declining since early 2021.  By mid-2024, it fell to 4%, showing a 0.2% decline compared to the beginning of the year. At the same time, the inactivity rate of younger adults between 16 and 24 years old, as well as experienced professionals aged 50-64, remains rather high, accounting for over 20% in both population groups. This implies that the most active workforce segment, aged 25-49, has the highest employment opportunities in the United  Kingdom. But what opportunities are those, exactly? 

At SignalHire, we offer access to an 800+ million database of professional contacts, searchable by industry, job title, location, and more. Our database is primarily used by recruiters and business developers, so we have access to their collective search history.  In this article, we decided to dig into factual job searches to determine top in-demand UK jobs in 2024.

Chief Executive Officer

Median salary: £92,000
Employment growth: 6-10%
Typical educational requirements: professional degree related to the organization’s work

The last few years have been characterized by a growing demand for a new generation of leaders who can ensure the smooth digital transformation of businesses as they strive to adopt agile development models caused mainly by AI integration and embrace sustainable business practices enforced by local governments. Notably, the high demand for chief executives is not exclusive to the United Kingdom. In our previous analysis of the ten most in-demand jobs in mid-2024, C-level positions ranked second worldwide. 

Vice President

Median salary: £99,000
Employment growth: n/a
Typical educational requirements: professional or postgraduate degree related to the organization’s work

Similarly, the need for new business leadership creates a high demand for Vice President positions. This trend is most transparent in the technology, finance, and marketing segments, even though other industries also experience talent shortages at the highest corporate levels. Today, VPs will primarily be tasked with company risk management, especially in cybersecurity matters, so experience in this area will be most welcome across all industries. 

Chief Operating Officer

Median salary: £93,000
Employment growth: 3-5% (projected for all C-level jobs)
Typical educational requirements: bachelor’s or higher degree in business administration or industry-related field

Another C-level position on our list of in-demand UK jobs that requires a thorough understanding of technological shifts and business efficiency, so MBAs or industry-specific degrees are most welcome. However, the main focus is on experience and strategic thinking because COOs will be expected to navigate complex, rapidly changing business landscapes. Again, the tech and finance sectors experience the highest need for chief operating officers, with logistics following closely behind due to geopolitical shifts and the need to build new supply chains.

Chief Financial Officer

Median salary: £119,000
Employment growth: 3-5% (projected for all C-level jobs)
Typical educational requirements: bachelor’s degree in accounting or other finance-related studies

Digital transformation and geopolitical shifts cause increased demand for chief financial officers. Besides fintech, this shortage is most pressing in the healthcare industry, which is currently undergoing quick transformation. Healthcare providers reconsider their patient care models in view of the latest technologies, so they require strategic financial planning and risk management from a new generation of business and finance leaders. 

Software Developer

Median salary: £41,000
Employment growth: 5.3%
Typical educational requirements: bachelor’s degree in computer science, IT, or adjacent tech field

Considering the rise of digitalization, it’s not surprising that business demand for software developers keeps growing. This profession also ranks first in our previous analysis of in-demand IT jobs in 2024, but one should note that software development is a vast concept, including coding and maintenance of mobile apps, websites, games, enterprise-level SaaS products, and more. Still, even though the actual technologies and job responsibilities can vary, experienced software developers will have plenty of career opportunities in their respective fields.

Social Media Specialist

Median salary: £28,000
Employment growth: 5-7%
Typical educational requirements: no set expectations, but a bachelor’s degree in relevant subjects like advertising or journalism is preferable

Social media plays a crucial role in business promotion, so the demand for creative jobs remains steady. Currently, companies are looking for social media experts with an understanding of short-form entertaining content, especially for TikTok and Instagram. However, other social sites that favor long-form content maintain their market positions, and many different industries seek creative professionals with proven social media experience.

Travel Manager

Median salary: £29,000
Employment growth: n/a
Typical educational requirements: no set expectations, but a bachelor’s degree in social or business studies is preferable

In 2024, the UK tourism industry continues to recover, showing a 5% increase compared to the last year. And while this figure has not yet reached pre-pandemic levels, the demand for travel managers is resurging. Besides, almost 90% of employed travel managers predict an increase in business and corporate travel, and companies are prepared to hire new staff to accommodate the needs of inbound and outbound travelers.

Social Marketing Manager 

Median salary: £33,000
Employment growth: n/a
Typical educational requirements: no set expectations, but a bachelor’s degree in relevant subjects like advertising, marketing, or media is preferable

Social media marketing spend in the UK keeps growing, which logically increases the demand for professionals who can create effective strategies and ensure steady brand promotion on popular social platforms. Once again, TikTok hits the top charts, but other entertainment platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, maintain their popularity in the United Kingdom. Similar to social media content creators, a degree isn’t obligatory to qualify for a social media marketer’s job, but proven experience is a must in today’s competitive landscape.

General Manager

Median salary: £43,000
Employment growth: n/a
Typical educational requirements: professional degree related to the organization’s work

The demand for capable managers is evident in all industry segments, with technology, retail, and hospitality experiencing most talent shortages. Again, this trend is directly related to adopting new business models, as well as the necessity to accommodate the ever-increasing consumer expectations. Notably, professional expectations from general managers are also increasing, often implying a thorough understanding of technology and sustainable business practices. 

Data Architect

Median salary: £68,000
Employment growth: 5%
Typical educational requirements: bachelor’s degree in data science, IT, or an adjacent field

Business transformation today is all about big data, so it’s no surprise data architects make it to the list of in-demand UK jobs in 2024. In the IT sector, data architects with expertise in cloud services and database management systems are among the most sought-after professionals. Considering the growing importance of data-driven business decisions, professionals with relevant skills should enjoy impressive career opportunities in different industry sectors. 

Methodology 

For this analysis, we have collected all search requests made over our database from January to September 2024. Later, we filtered out the searches by location, leaving only UK-based requests. Finally, we have calculated the number of searches for each unique position and presented them in this analysis, ranking from high to low. 

Information about median salaries, as well as supporting pictures demonstrating potential salary ranges, was taken from Glassdoor — a platform where employees and employers can anonymously share information about compensation ranges. The information presented is limited to the UK and presents the market average without industry-specific variations. 

Unfortunately, the UK does not collect official government statistics on employment growth in separate job categories, only in larger industry segments. So, we had to provide relevant information found via private reports and analyses, primarily in the IT sector. Information about typical educational requirements was collected from publicly available sources, including the National Careers Service of the gov.uk website. 

Insights for each profession discussed in this article were also taken from publicly available resources. Notably, the list of in-demand UK jobs presented in this analysis is based on our internal data. Since our database is used not only by recruiters but also by sales, marketers, and business developers, the high demand for C-level positions may not indicate that C-level jobs have the highest employment growth in the UK. It does, however, indicate a surge of interest in reaching out to chief executives for various work-related reasons, i.e., forming new partnerships. 

Still, the job insights presented here align with global trends, indicating worldwide demand for top-level management that can oversee the smooth digital transformation of businesses, regardless of their size, scale, or industry.

Conclusion 

In this article, we have presented the list of in-demand UK jobs in 2024, and even though the research is based on our internal data and might be slightly skewed to digital occupations, it aligns with the global and local employment trends. Today’s businesses are still going through digital transformation brought on by the advances in artificial intelligence and big data. This creates a high demand for the new generation of leaders, from the highest C-level execs to general managers, who can take separate teams or entire companies through this shift. Consequently, the demand for IT experts and data analysts is also high. 

At the same time, high demand for the above jobs does not mean that employment opportunities are evenly distributed across the country. Traditionally, large cities offer more career opportunities, which is why you may also be interested in reading our research on the best UK cities for work. Similarly to this analysis, the data is based on our internal database and lists the top UK cities with the highest employment growth across all industries, supported by data from official government resources and compiled earlier this year.

Author

Simone is our top-notch data analyst with an inquisitive mind and a strong desire to grow. She is passionate about conducting deep analysis to identify new trends that affect decision-making and business optimization. Being skilled in solving challenging tasks, she is also a talented interpreter of graphs and numbers into clear and engaging articles. Simone's analytics is informative, and most importantly, useful in expanding knowledge about the labor market.