20 highest-paying jobs

Anesthesiologists take home a median $290,000 salary annually. What other great careers from Money and PayScale.com's list of Best Jobs in America offer big paychecks?

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10. Sales Director
Sales Director
Michael Mask, 39, is sales director at Protiviti in Chicago.
Best Jobs rank: 8
Median pay: $142,000
Top pay: $222,000

Sales directors are in charge of setting -- and meeting -- sales goals for their teams, generating new business and serving as mentors for new staff. In tough economic times, sales directors who bring in business are worth their weight in gold.

"As a sales director for one of the leading risk-consulting companies, I like that I'm able to talk to the world's leading companies about what keeps them up at night to see how we can help them," says Michael Mask, sales director in Chicago at Protiviti, a global business consulting and internal audit firm.

NEXT: Dentist

Last updated October 11 2010: 8:13 AM ET
Source: All pay data from PayScale.com
Note: We looked at jobs from the top 100 with the highest top pay. Median salary is for an experienced worker (at least two to seven years in field). Top pay represents the 90th percentile.
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