The commercial sector provides a wide range of rewarding and lucrative career paths for individuals with a customer service-related qualification. Employment in these roles is projected to increase more rapidly than in any other industry up to 2032.
These positions play a central role to the success of organizations ranging from small startups to global enterprises and demand excellent interpersonal abilities, business acumen and a solid grasp of customer service.
This article explores some of the highest-paying business careers available to those with a hospitality degree, including the expected salaries and the necessary skills required for these roles.
Career opportunities in business for hospitality graduates
A degree in hospitality opens doors to many high-paying jobs in the service sector. Let’s take a look at some of these positions available to graduates with a degree in hospitality management, along with their potential salaries.
Customer success manager
The primary goal of customer success managers is to ensure clients have a smooth and positive experience with a company’s services. This role can typically be found in SaaS (software as a service), technology and telecommunications sectors and involves actively managing client accounts, handling complaints and implementing feedback to improve service quality.
With a strong focus on customer service, responsibilities also include tracking client satisfaction metrics and suggesting improvements. Salaries typically reach up to $146,935 per year, depending on experience and company size.
Sales director
As a leading figure in the department, a sales director will create and deliver strategies to meet or exceed revenue targets in sectors such as technology, manufacturing, finance and pharmaceutical. This career path requires significant strategic planning and negotiation skills and commands an average annual salary ranging from $178,303 to $234,210.
Sales directors must have a good understanding of their market and strong relationship-building skills. Their duties also include supervising a team of sales professionals, establishing goals and developing key client relationships.
Training and development manager
In charge of designing and delivering programs to boost employee skills and performance, these managers create comprehensive learning materials and evaluate their effectiveness. With staff management experience and a good knowledge of service standards, training and development managers in the corporate, manufacturing, education and healthcare sectors can earn between $121,701 and $158,287 per year.
Additional responsibilities include running workshops, mentoring staff and assessing training outcomes to ensure alignment with company goals.
Experience designer
This position often found in the entertainment, media, retail and technology sectors requires creating exceptional customer interactions and blending creativity with user research. Key tasks involve designing physical spaces and digital interfaces to improve the customer experience.
The job demands a thorough understanding of user behavior and emerging trends for designing memorable experiences, and salaries typically range from $65,587 to $80,869 per year,
Operations analyst
Evaluating business processes to identify areas for improvement in industry sectors such as logistics, healthcare, technology or finance is the core responsibility here. In this role, you must have strong analytical skills and an understanding of hospitality operations to assess data to optimize processes and increase efficiency.
Key duties include performing cost analyses, streamlining workflows and implementing new procedures. Earnings are typically in the range of $65,412 to $85,784 per year.
Brand manager
Tasked with maintaining and improving the company’s brand image, brand managers can earn between $115,806 and $168,678 per year. Commonly found in the media, retail, technology or consumer goods industries, these managers develop marketing strategies and oversee campaign execution.
This role involves market research, coordinating with creative teams and ensuring brand consistency across all communication channels.
Customer insights analyst
In any customer-focused role, you’ll find analysts who are tasked with evaluating data to generate plans and recommendations that can lead to business improvements.
Being a customer insights analyst involves understanding customer needs and preferences, collecting and interpreting feedback and presenting results to guide strategic decisions. Salaries for this role typically are up to $75,166 per year.
Digital marketing manager
With annual salaries typically ranging from $108,968 to $142,648, this role is a rewarding one that involves optimizing the company’s online presence by creating engaging content, overseeing social media strategies and conducting email marketing campaigns.
Key tasks include analyzing digital performance metrics and adjusting strategies to improve online engagement.
E-commerce manager
Oversees the functionality and performance of online sales platforms, ensuring a seamless shopping experience for customers in sectors such as retail, consumer goods and technology. Duties include managing product listings, improving website features and analyzing sales data to drive improvements.
This role requires an understanding of revenue management and online booking systems and comes with an average base salary of $79,638 per year.
Innovation manager
With average annual salaries of $148,189, these professionals lead initiatives to introduce new products, services or processes. Innovation managers’ main focus is on research and development to stay ahead in the market and the role involves working with various departments, managing projects and promoting a culture of creativity.
If you’re inspired by one of these exciting, high-paying business careers, the right hospitality degree could enable you to improve your skills and gain the valuable hands-on experience you will need.
