NZ's highest paying non-office jobs

• The average salaries for some of NZ’s best paid non-office jobs
• How your salary compares to roles in your sector
• How to ask for a payrise using this data as your secret weapon

Office life sure isn’t for everyone.

If you’re one of those people who couldn’t think of anything worse than a desk job, then this article is for you. We’ve dug down into the data from employers’ listings on Trade Me Jobs, and pulled out examples of some of the most high paying non-office jobs currently listed on site.

Whether you want to know if you’re being paid fairly, relative to other professionals in your field, or you’re looking for a new role with a higher salary, we’ll show you where you’re at, and where you could go. You’ll also find some handy tips for how to ask for a payrise.

You’ll find a diverse range of surveying roles on Trade Me Jobs, listed by employers all around Aotearoa New Zealand, many of them commanding impressive salaries.

To work as a surveyor in NZ, you’ll typically need at least a tertiary qualification in a field such as engineering, or similar. You’ll also need to be very familiar with model software such as Civil3D and GNSS.

Of course, the more experience you gain over the years, the greater salary you can expect. However, in order to really progress in this field, you’ll need more than just the technical skills (as important as these are). You’ll also need to be able to work with stakeholders at each stage of the process and to liaise with both clients and colleagues in order to deliver consistently high standards. These strong soft skills are highly valued by employers in this field, and can be a good way to stand out from the crowd.

If you’re looking for a non-office based role that can allow you to earn well, you could do a lot worse than jobs in the electrical engineering industry. Of course, this is a very wide field, with a diverse range of skill levels and salary points, but there are certainly opportunities to earn big.

Due to the shortage of electrical engineers in NZ (the role is currently on Immigration New Zealand’s Long Term Skills Shortage list), business owners in this sector are willing to offer a range of great perks in order to attract professionals with these skills. We’ve even seen one recent listing where the employer includes a $16,000 sign-on bonus (see what we mean about the potential to earn big?). Other perks we’ve seen include additional annual leave, mentoring opportunities, and company tablets and phones.

Supervisors and forepersons are integral to construction and roading projects running smoothly and delivering best-in-class results, so it shouldn’t come as a shock that employers in this sector are willing to pay well to attract the right talent.

Typically, these roles will require you to combine people skills with the technical trades competencies you learnt earlier in your career. If you’re a natural leader, love teaching others and have the ability to think on your feet in fast-moving construction and roading projects, then this could well be the niche for you.

While some employers will require certifications, from the Licensed Building Practitioners (LBP) for instance, it’s also possible to find supervisory and foreperson jobs without these qualifications.

Want to earn well while making a tangible contribution to your local community? What better way than working in the nursing and midwifery sector?

You’ll find a wide range of rewarding nursing and midwifery roles across Aotearoa New Zealand on Trade Me Jobs, from registered nurses to clinical nurse specialists and core midwifery positions. Of course, many of these include sub-specialisations that allow you to follow what truly interests you, for example working with people suffering with addiction issues or in aged care.

There are a variety of interesting water and waste engineering roles currently listed on Trade Me Jobs, across both the public and private sectors.

If you have the skills to build, install and maintain water and waste plants, as well as the associated equipment, you shouldn’t struggle to find high paying jobs in Aotearoa New Zealand.

From food process engineering to marine engineering, there’s a huge diversity of maintenance engineer roles on Trade Me Jobs, many of which come with highly desirable salaries. The exact skills, experience and qualifications will largely depend on the sector, job entry level and employer. Some employers will seek applicants with specific trade credentials, such as qualifications in mechanical diagnostics, while others will be content with more generalised experience within the sector and provide substantial on-the-job training to get you up to speed.

Diesel mechanic roles are still in high demand in Aoteraoa New Zealand, and, at the time of writing, there were 175 jobs listed with salary offers of $80k or more. These listings include a range of roles, including a variety of light and heavy diesel mechanics to workshop service managers to bus and coach mechanics.

This means you have a wide variety of employers to choose from, in nearly every corner of the country represented, from Invercargill to Whangārei.

Looking to leave dry land behind but hold onto a decent salary? Keen for a bit of adventure in your work life? The fishing industry offers all of this in spades. Well paid fishing jobs can be found in many of NZ’s ports, including Tauranga, New Plymouth, Nelson and Invercargill,

As well as crew jobs aboard fishing vessels, from time to time you’ll also see a variety of other competitively paid positions in this category, such as factory supervisors, marine engineers and council ecology roles.

Licensed plumbers can certainly earn well in Aotearoa New Zealand at the moment, and there’s plenty of demand for these professionals on Trade Me Jobs.

As with many of the roles on this list, employers are going above and beyond in their recruitment advertising to attract the best talent. As well as the high salaries attached to f these roles, it’s very normal to see additional perks included in job adverts, including paid days off for your birthday, company vehicles and phones, employer paid fishing trips and gym memberships.