One of Canada’s largest cities and financial capitals, Montreal offers endless opportunities for job seekers. While it’s often thought of as North America’s “European-style” big city, the cost of living and sense of community has always made it an attractive place for Canadians looking to build a career.
In recent years, Montreal has seen the cost of living start to rise. While not at the same level as Toronto or Vancouver, housing prices have done some steep climbs through 2018 and 2019. Still, the price aggregator site Expatistan puts the cost of housing 35 percent cheaper than living in Toronto. The cost for transportation comes in at 27 percent less expensive, and overall Montreal was found to have a 22 percent lower cost of living.
At the end of 2019, the Conference Board of Canada released data showing that Montreal was on track to post its third consecutive year of 3 percent or better economic growth. These numbers put it at the top of the list of GDP growth rankings for Canadian Metropolitan Economies.
While it’s true that Quebec residents pay the highest level of tax in the country, government subsidies, such as daycare programs that put childcare costs between $8.05 and $21.95 a day, help offset these higher rates for young families.
With all that’s happening in Montreal, we’ve put together a list of the city’s top-paying jobs. It may just be the right time for you to head towards la belle province.
1. Civil Engineering Project Manager/Chef de projet – Earnings Potential: $100,000+
According to the Conference Board of Canada, Montreal is going through a boom in Public Infrastructure. The build-up has led to a need for more project-focused professionals. People who know how to get these projects planned and executed.
2. Technical Lead, Quality Assurance (QA) Embedded System – Earnings Potential: $75,000+
In the last number of years, Montreal’s technology sector has been rapidly expanding. The city’s particular focus on machine learning has made it a hot spot, and its quality of life has made it a place where skilled workers want to go.
3. Software Architect – Earnings Potential: $105,000+
After Ottawa and Toronto started attracting top-notch technology start-ups to town with some success, Montreal was the next logical place to build out the sector. Close enough and yet with their own local culture and flavour.
4. Senior Director, Inside Sales (Bilingual) – Directeur principal, Ventes internes (poste bilingue) – Earnings Potential: $108,000 – $152,000
As the tech industry continues to be on the rise, inside sales positions have been increasing in value. Of course, in Montreal, this is a position that is going to skew bilingual as the opportunities will often include surrounding markets such as Quebec City.
5. Big Data Engineer – Earnings Potential: $90,000 – $140,000
Big Data workers continue to be in demand wherever there is a tech presence. These skilled operators can design collection methods and make sense of the copious amounts of valuable information gathered in millions of everyday interactions online.
6. Impact Officer – Climate Action – Arms-length Government Agency – Earnings Potential: $87,300 – $131,000
As the Government attempts to balance the economy and action on climate change, arms-length agencies with a mandate to monitor and assist will continue to provide good opportunities. Montreal, being almost a second government town to Ottawa, is a great place to find these lucrative positions.
7. Technology Business Development – Cloud & Infrastructure Associate – Earnings Potential: $95,000 – $105,000
As soon as a technology sector gets established, you can guarantee there will be a build-up in the consulting and financial services firms to support them. This position, in the financial services industry, works to build long-term business opportunities with Cloud and Digital Infrastructure companies.
8. Business Intelligence Specialist – Technology Business Management (Executive Director) – Earnings Potential: $150,000 – $185,000
While still on the side of the financial service, this position is looking to build the technology capabilities of the financial services provider. The role includes leading the team of Data Scientists and NLP, Machine Learning experts, building a portfolio, and implementing appropriate technology.
9. Senior Director Athletics – Earnings Potential: $95,000 – $128,000
Montreal has always been a great University town; this is especially true when it comes to their sports teams. And while being at the top of the program is always going to be the highest-paid option, there are other well-paid jobs at various levels throughout the school’s athletics programs.
10. Account Executive, Technology Company – Earnings Potential: $80,000 – $100,000
In the tech sector, an Account Exec position is an area where someone eager to sell can make a lot of money without a lot of experience. Many of the Account Executive openings in Montreal are looking for little more than 1-2 years of experience and a willingness to learn.
11. Director, Planning and Development, University – Earnings Potential: $107,900 – $143,900
As Montreal continues to develop, there is a push for the Universities to keep pace. In the last few years, there have been several infrastructure revitalizations going on and positions created to ensure the projects come in on time and meet the institution’s needs going forward.
12. Java Developer – Earnings Potential: $85,000 – $95,000
As technology companies seek to integrate their products into everyday business solutions, the role of a Java Developer is becoming more in-demand. These specialized programmers collaborate with web developers and software engineers to make business applications, software, and websites productive and profitable.
13. Architect – Earnings Potential: $62,000 – $106,000
As Montreal’s economy picks up, the need for additional buildings and retrofitted offices in Old Montreal increase. With a healthy portion of Montreal’s GDP coming from infrastructure development, firms are looking to bring on skilled architects at various levels.
14. Software Architect – Earnings Potential: $79,000 – $123,000
The designers of customized software solutions, software architects are finding a considerable upswing in their demand in Montreal as the city’s position as an AI hub solidifies. Opportunities are increasing as local start-ups continue to mature, and well-established tech companies, such as Gameloft, Facebook AI Research, and Google Brain, put down roots in the city.
15. Senior Data Engineer – Earnings Potential: $110,000 – $170,000
Montreal’s emergence as the city for AI development has driven the demand for people who can manage and optimize highly available data. Not only that, we’ve seen the compensation levels for these positions steadily on the rise.
16. Part-Time Data Science Student – Earnings Potential: $60,000 – $69,000
A good indication of Montreal’s positioning as a tech city is the rates at which part-time positions are available for capable student tech workers. A $60,000 part-time position tends to mean the market is generally on an upswing.
17. Artificial intelligence developer – Earnings Potential: $90,000 – $100,000
The specialization of Montreal into not just tech, but an Artificial Intelligence focused city has meant a concentration of positions that don’t exist in other tech-based economies. This singular focus helped reignite Montreal and is helping push salaries higher.
18. Scientific Programmer Analyst – Earnings Potential: $70,000 – $86,000
With the Canadian Meteorological Centre located in Dorval, on the Island of Montreal, there has been a great opportunity for meteorological science to take advantage of the growing local technology talent pool. However, the transfer of knowledge goes both ways with skilled Scientific Programmers and Analysts being sought after by start-ups as well.
19. Senior Frontend Engineer – Earnings Potential: $110,000 – $150,000
Implementing user interface in a way that people respond to has become so critical in tech development that wherever there is an increase in technology employment, Senior Front End Developers will be in demand.
20. Python Developer – Earnings Potential: $72,000 – $112,000
With a growing portion of Montreal’s start-up community focusing on machine learning, back-end Python Developers are in high demand. And, as your skills develop and you learn to play well with your front end counterparts, your salary is going to notch up pretty consistently.
If you’re currently living in Montreal or considering a move to Canada’s second-largest city with a metro population now nearing four million residents, check out the LRO Staffing job board or sign-up for our weekly Job Alerts. There you’ll find new career opportunities in Montreal and the surrounding region.
