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Professional services: jobs, pay and hiring
20,793 open postings from 442 employers. Median listed pay $132,500; 17.8% fully remote; 10.2% entry level.
This hub covers consulting, accounting and advisory firms, research and professional-services employers. Client confidentiality shapes how people in these firms describe their work, so the guides here focus on turning client work into evidence an employer can read.
What the data shows
- 20,793 open postings from 442 employers in the October 2026 snapshot, 6.2% of all postings we track.
- The median listed pay is $132,500 (middle half: $98,000 to $175,000), against $162,500 across all industries. 29.9% of postings list a pay range, against 37.8% overall.
- 17.8% of postings are fully remote (23.6% overall) and 10.2% are entry level (10.2% overall); 40.1% are senior or above.
- A typical posting has been open 30 days (29 overall), and 24.4% have been open more than 60 days.
As of the October 2026 snapshot of 335,906 open postings from 7,678 employers.
How professional services compares with all industries
| Measure | Professional services | All industries |
|---|---|---|
| Open postings | 20,793 | 335,906 |
| Employers hiring | 442 | 7,678 |
| Postings that list pay | 29.9% | 37.8% |
| Median listed pay | $132,500 | $162,500 |
| Fully remote | 17.8% | 23.6% |
| Entry level | 10.2% | 10.2% |
| Senior or above | 40.1% | 40.1% |
| Median days a posting has been open | 30 | 29 |
| Open more than 60 days | 24.4% | 23.5% |
Pay by job family
Where a job family has at least 25 postings with a listed range in this industry and across all industries, the table compares the median listed salary.
| Job family | Professional services | All industries | Postings with pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal and compliance | $160,000 | $185,000 | 316 |
| Sales | $100,000 | $141,500 | 219 |
| Software engineering | $152,000 | $187,000 | 153 |
| Engineering (other) | $110,000 | $156,500 | 124 |
| Finance and accounting | $134,000 | $155,000 | 123 |
| Software developers | $160,000 | $202,500 | 117 |
| Marketing | $127,500 | $162,500 | 115 |
| Product and design | $127,500 | $185,000 | 113 |
| Operations and logistics | $126,000 | $143,500 | 89 |
| Security and IT | $153,500 | $188,500 | 84 |
| People and recruiting | $88,500 | $146,500 | 56 |
| Data and analytics | $131,000 | $152,500 | 36 |
| Customer support and success | $78,500 | $122,500 | 29 |
Largest employers posting jobs
| Employer | Open postings | Share of the industry's postings |
|---|---|---|
| PwC | 3,883 | 18.7% |
| Accenture | 2,003 | 9.6% |
| Leidos | 2,000 | 9.6% |
| Gartner | 765 | 3.7% |
| Olsson | 414 | 2% |
| OOS Management | 392 | 1.9% |
| Accenture Federal Services | 365 | 1.8% |
| Morganmorganjobsapplynow | 361 | 1.7% |
Counts are open postings on each employer's own career page. Job marketplaces, staffing firms and recruiters are left out of this list. One large employer can shape a local market.
Where the postings are
| Metro area | Postings in this industry | Share of the industry's postings |
|---|---|---|
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | 856 | 4.1% |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 817 | 3.9% |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN | 498 | 2.4% |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 466 | 2.2% |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | 451 | 2.2% |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 430 | 2.1% |
| Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | 277 | 1.3% |
| Huntsville, AL | 268 | 1.3% |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | 260 | 1.3% |
| Kansas City, MO-KS | 215 | 1% |
A posting that lists several locations counts in each metro area, so shares can add to more than 100%.
What to check next
- Fewer postings here list pay (29.9% against 37.8%). Ask for the range in the first conversation, and see where employers must list it.
- Compared with the same job family across all industries, listed pay is below the all-industries median in every job family compared, least so for Operations and logistics ($126,000 against $143,500) and furthest below it for People and recruiting ($88,500 against $146,500, $58,500 less). Check which family your experience fits before comparing.
- A few employers post a large share of the openings (the three largest account for 37.9% of this industry's postings), so the list of employers below shapes what you see.
- Read the pay and requirements in the posting itself. Our figures describe listed postings, not offers and not every vacancy.
Next steps
- How to read a posted pay range
- What employers ask on application forms
- Paycheck calculator: what a salary is worth in another city
- Compare metro areas
- Find jobs that fit your resume in Second Summit (free during beta)
Other industries
Technology and softwareFinancial services and insuranceHealthcare and life sciences
Source: Second Summit, October 2026, from the open postings on employers' own career pages. Pay is the listed salary range, counted at its midpoint. Methodology
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