A recruiter looking for an MLOps profile or a cybersecurity architect in 2026 already notices the gap: generic salary grids are no longer sufficient to attract these candidates. By 2028, this phenomenon will intensify. The highest-paying jobs will not necessarily be new roles, but rather specialized positions within existing functions, driven by the scarcity of skills and the pressure of artificial intelligence on organizations.
Salary in 2028: the scarcity of skills outweighs job titles
We tend to think in terms of job titles when discussing salaries. A doctor earns more than a technician, a financial director more than an accountant. This pattern remains true in broad strokes, but it masks a structural change.
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Salary increase budgets in French companies are tightening significantly. The median envelope has only increased by 2% in 2026, compared to 4% in 2024, according to data reported by BFM Économie. Increases are becoming highly individualized, targeting rare profiles. A generalist software engineer will see their salary trajectory flatten, while a peer mastering applied generative AI or offensive cybersecurity will continue to secure increases well above the median.
Specifically, as detailed by the outlook according to Maestro Business, the hierarchy of salaries is reshaping less by function than by level of specialization within each function. A data scientist capable of deploying models in production (MLOps) is not on the same scale as a data scientist limited to exploratory analysis, even if their job description bears the same name.
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Cybersecurity and applied AI: the two fields where salaries are still rising
When looking at where individual increases remain significant despite the compression of overall budgets, two fields consistently stand out.
Offensive cybersecurity and digital risk governance
The demand for cybersecurity analysts and Digital Trust Officers far exceeds the supply of trained candidates. Companies experiencing incidents are investing heavily in these profiles. The Dares/France Stratégie report on jobs in 2030 confirms that job creation favors graduates from higher education, and cybersecurity concentrates an increasing share of these qualified creations.
What drives salaries up here is not the title “cybersecurity analyst,” but the ability to conduct penetration tests, manage incident responses, or audit complex cloud architectures. Senior profiles with these operational skills negotiate packages well above standard grids.
AI engineering and MLOps in companies
Generative AI has created a surge in demand. Companies want to integrate these technologies, but most data teams still do not know how to industrialize a model. Engineers capable of turning an AI prototype into reliable production are in high demand in the market. Their compensation reflects this scarcity, not the theoretical complexity of their work.
Health sector and medical supervision: an underestimated salary tension
There is a lot of talk about tech, but less about the health sector. The aging population in France is generating massive needs for qualified health professionals. Advanced practice nurses, medical service managers, and specialized medical assistants are among the profiles seeing salary increases.
The Dares report anticipates an average of several hundred thousand positions to be filled each year by 2030, and care professions are among those that combine retirements and net creations. The candidate deficit in healthcare is driving salaries up, particularly in private establishments and territorial coordination structures.
Feedback varies on this point depending on regions and specialties, but the general trend is clear: intermediate medical profiles (between nursing assistants and doctors) are gaining value in the market.
Skilled manual jobs and sustainable development: surprising salaries
Another angle that classic projections overlook: some skilled manual jobs are showing constant salary increases. The energy transition and building renovation are creating strong demand for specific technical skills.
- Technicians in thermal and energy equipment, capable of installing and certifying systems compliant with new standards, are seeing their negotiating power increase due to the shortage of qualified labor.
- Sustainability specialists in companies (carbon footprint, CSR compliance, environmental audit) are occupying increasingly strategic positions, with salaries that follow suit.
- Experienced site managers and foremen, particularly in low-carbon construction, benefit from a tight market where companies are bidding against each other to retain their field managers.
These jobs do not always appear in the rankings of “highest-paying jobs” because they are still associated with rigid grids. In practice, bonuses, overtime, and individual negotiation change the game.
How to position yourself for the highest-paying jobs by 2028
Waiting until 2028 to react would be too late. Long training programs in cybersecurity, AI engineering, or advanced health practice take two to three years. Here are concrete criteria to evaluate when guiding a career choice or transition:
- Favor operational specialization over a generalist degree. The market rewards the ability to produce, not the title.
- Target sectors where retirements and net creations are accumulating: health, digital, sustainable construction.
- Develop cross-functional skills in applied AI, regardless of the sector. Mastering AI in your job is worth more than being an AI specialist without a job.
- Monitor annual salary surveys (Mercer, LHH, Robert Walters) to identify functions where the gap between median and top quartile is widening.
The highest-paying jobs in 2028 will not have exotic names. They will mostly be known roles (engineer, analyst, health executive, site manager), performed by professionals who have managed to specialize where demand structurally exceeds supply. The compression of salary increase budgets makes this positioning all the more crucial: without scarcity, there is no salary leverage.