KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 — Technology hardware specialists are the highest paid senior managers in Malaysia, according to a recent survey that listed the best-paying jobs locally.

A study by ratings agency Nielsen — which was cited by online recruitment site JobStreet.com — found that IT hardware specialists earned the highest wages at senior manager level, taking home an average basic salary of RM18,100.

Trailing a close second are those in quality control/assurance with an average wage of RM17,768, followed by geophysicists who earn an average of RM17,500 at senior manager level.

The average earnings of IT senior managers trumped more traditional fields such as the various branches of engineering, whose earning lagged behind by nearly RM4,000 among the top-10 earning professions.

Basic salaries of senior managers averaged at RM12,800 across all industries, though it could go as low as RM5,555, said the survey.

“A recent Nielsen survey based on the jobseekers in Malaysia showed that when it came to choosing a job, salary is their most important consideration,” JobStreet said in a statement today.

The recruitment site added that the study found that the top-10 jobs from graduate to senior manager level were mostly technical or science based, with entry-level jobs typically favouring those trained in medicine, engineering, finance and IT.

A pharmaceutical degree draws the highest basic wage for fresh graduates, averaging at RM3,640 and a good RM400 higher than those doing corporate strategy, which comes second at RM3,200. The third-highest paying job is sales-financial services, offering a pay of RM3,064.

Doctors, however, top the scale at junior executive level, earning RM3,899 in basic wages and a significant hike from the RM2,719 average earned as a fresh graduate.

Process design and control junior executives come in second with an average basic salary of RM3,898 followed by corporate strategy professionals who earn RM3,800.

Geophysics majors lead the field at the senior executive level, earning a basic salary of RM7,514, followed by doctors (RM6,903) and oil and gas engineers (RM6,353).Up one rung to managerial level, doctors again earn the highest basic salary at RM9,530, followed by oil and gas engineers (RM9,462) and aviation specialists (RM9,406).