The 25 best jobs in America for getting ahead

• The technology, finance and health care industries offer the best career advancement opportunities, according to a new report by Glassdoor.
• The job-search site's top job for getting ahead in 2019 was tax manager, with companies across industry seeking such expertise.
• But the tech sector offered the most for career growth, dominating about half the list with jobs like Salesforce developer.  

Dream of having a career, and not just a job? When it comes to opportunities for advancement in terms of pay and responsibility, some industries are better than others, concludes Glassdoor in a report on the top 25 jobs in America.

The best field for strivers: technology. But the highest-rated individual job by far for climbing up the ladder is tax manager, which pays nearly double what the average American worker earns and is in demand across a range of industries, the employment site found.

Median starting salary for tax managers is about $112,000. In addition to preparing state and federal tax documents, tax managers also work with companies to identify and solve tax problems. Other jobs in the finance sector with clear paths for advancement include audit manager and accounting manager.

Amanda Stansell, senior economic research analyst at Glassdoor, explained that the rising use of technology in the finance industry is creating a need for tax managers with both the communication and tech skills to help companies make informed financial decisions.   

It's the first time Glassdoor sought to gauge the potential for career advancement, which the company said is the third-most important factor in employee satisfaction, according to a review of worker data on its platform.

Tech and health care

The tech sector offered the most ample opportunities for career growth, underlining the focus among employers on using big data and using software. No. 2 on Glassdoor's list: Developing applications on business software platform Salesforce, which has a median salary of $82,000 and which is the only job on the list attached to a specific company. Other tech jobs that made the list include product designer (No. 3), data scientist (No. 7) and java developer (No. 9).

Plenty of career opportunities may also be found in the growing health care sector, including dentists, physician assistants and nursing managers. The highest-paid job on Glassdoor's list — strategy manager, with a base salary of about $142,000 a year. This position entails working with senior executives to analyze a business and develop long-term strategies.

The top 25 jobs for career advancement, along with the median starting salary, according to Glassdoor:

1. Tax manager ($112,021)
2. Salesforce developer ($81,721)
3. Product designer ($102,054)
4. Strategy manager ($142,328)
5. HR manager ($84,700)
6. Audit manager ($102,521)
7. Data scientist ($110,160)
8. Business development manager ($80,341)
9. Java developer ($82,087)
10. Marketing manager ($83,513)
11. Product marketing manager ($121,780)
12. Mobile developer ($94,555)
13. Devops engineer ($107,619)
14. Communications manager ($80,188)
15. Accounting manager ($86,562)
16. Data engineer ($101,527)
17. Scrum master ($97,771)
18. Dentist: ($140,298)
19. Physician assistant ($107,356)
20. Product manager ($117,113)
21. Compliance manager ($96,580)
22. Nursing manager ($85,181)
23. Solutions architect ($130,595)
24. Quality assurance manager ($91,660)
25. Software development engineer ($117,250)

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