Also called: Board Member, Independent Director
A part-time overseer who sits on a company's board, hiring or firing the CEO and checking the company is well run.
Four to eight times a year you fly in for board meetings, read a 200-page packet the weekend before, and question executives about risks and results. Between meetings you might chair the audit committee or help pick a new CEO.
Public-company directors average roughly $250k-$350k a year in cash and stock for a part-time role; small private and nonprofit boards often pay little or nothing.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 25 years after high school. There's no set path; directors are usually former executives, CFOs or experts with decades of experience.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Business Administration, Finance, Law, Accounting.
Growing about average. Not tracked separately by BLS.
Low risk for 10 years. AI summarizes 200-page board packets; questioning executives and hiring or firing the CEO stays human judgment.
Classes: AP Macroeconomics, Accounting, AP Government.
Official data: O*NET occupation 11-1011.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.