Retail encompasses a number of different job titles, the vast majority of which work in brick-and-mortar locations like department stores and record shops. Some retail jobs happen in non-traditional places, such as with door-to-door sales, with no physical location. Jobs in retail include car salespeople, clothing shopkeepers, grocery store clerks, booksellers, and hardware store clerks, to name just a few.

To get a job in retail, you must meet a few basic requirements. You must have strong customer service skills, good interpersonal communication, basic math and cash handling ability, and a detailed knowledge of the merchandise sold at your store. Some retail jobs do not require a high school degree, and some even employ high school students. Others, such as car sales, might require a high school diploma and some experience in sales.

High Paying Retail Jobs

List of the top 10 highest paying Retail positions in 2026, with salary ranges, according to ZipRecruiter.

Mask Designer
Salary range: $162,500 - $187,500
A mask designer creates templates for making microchip processors and electronic components. In this career, you use computer-aided drafting (CAD) tools to create a schematic. Your responsibilities include working with clients to determine what programs and functions you need for the integrated circuit (IC) board. You then draft designs for the circuit board layout. Other duties include creating custom blueprints and cell-based schematics. While most mask designers use CAD tools, including Cadence, other prefer to use more traditional tools. You may also supervise the design of integrated circuit boards and troubleshoot any potential problems.
Merchandising Director
Salary range: $95,000 - $155,000
As a merchandising director, you plan and direct strategies for delivering inventory to stores in response to local market needs and demand. You direct a team of merchandising personnel, manage products and supply lines, verify the inventory status of stores, and create consumer-focused assortments of products carefully chosen for each area. Merchandising directors use marketplace data and consumer insights to deliver products for local market needs. You work with both customers and various departments in the company to gain insights and identify market opportunities. Some large companies have regional merchandising directors with responsibilities over a given geographic area instead of the company's entire merchandising needs.
Visual Merchandising Director
Salary range: $106,000 - $143,500
A visual merchandising director oversees the design of in-store visual displays or shelving of products. Your duties in this career may see you working in a fashion boutique, department store, or another retail outlet. As a visual merchandising director, your responsibilities include coming up with display designs, overseeing the strategic placement of products, and using data and sales results to find the best methods for visually promoting products. The displays must be creative and eye-catching, but they must also have functionality so that customers can see and access products that you are selling.
Loss Control Manager
Salary range: $143,000 - $143,000
As a loss control manager, your responsibilities include finding ways to reduce risk exposure for a business. You are expected to monitor and analyze company and industry-wide trends related to claims frequency and severity to develop and implement safety policies and strategies, mitigate risk, and maintain a better-than-average loss experience. When losses occur, you coordinate visits with the manager, loss control department representatives, and other safety services. You consult with the claims department to identify risk areas that require loss control services. You also train new employees to help maintain and enforce a safe and results-oriented culture. Other duties include analyzing data, reporting safety-related information to fulfill regulatory requirements, and developing and writing materials required by the loss control department.
Ecommerce Project Manager
Salary range: $86,000 - $136,500
An E-commerce project manager oversees the business development, marketing strategies, and implementation of an E-commerce project. In this role, your duties include researching the current market environment, analyzing potential marketing and sales strategies, and planning site projects, which includes hiring and training staff and consulting with management about the needs of the clients and the company. The qualifications for this job include a bachelor’s degree in a field such as IT, computer science, or business and several years of related experience. Strong written and verbal communication and leadership skills are essential for this career.
Area Loss Prevention Manager
Salary range: $132,500 - $132,500
An area loss prevention manager is in charge of loss prevention for a large company or organization, possibly handling multiple locations. Your responsibilities in this career include working on inventory control, loss prevention programs, security improvement, building security, and the review of company assets. You analyze current systems in place, develop action plans and strategies, implement safety programs and awareness campaigns, train staff on how to handle specific situations while maintaining a safe environment, assist with an internal audit, and create and enforce company policies. Your duties also include dealing with internal and external theft.
Regional Merchandising Manager
Salary range: $60,000 - $127,500
As a regional merchandising manager, you oversee the buying process to ensure each store in your region has all of the inventory it needs to maximize product sales. In this role, you may negotiate each major purchase, help set up supply and distribution lines, and evaluate sales at each location to determine the most efficient delivery schedule. Regional merchandising managers sometimes oversee other purchasing managers. These subordinates usually have titles like district merchandising manager to distinguish them from regional managers. Regional merchandising managers occasionally travel to meet suppliers and negotiate deals and may meet with executives to give reports and help decide future sales strategies.
Director of Loss Prevention
Salary range: $98,500 - $126,500
A director of loss prevention develops and oversees security operations, primarily focusing on retail loss prevention. Responsibilities consist of developing the goals and strategies for protection of a retail location, including their merchandise and other property assets. In addition to analyzing the financial performance of the location, they may also develop a theft response policy and monitor employees to prevent internal theft. Qualifications to become a director of loss prevention vary but often include a bachelor’s degree in a business or related field as well as experience in loss prevention, typically as a manager.
Retail District Manager
Salary range: $82,500 - $113,500
As a retail district manager, your duties are to oversee the operations, store management, and training at a group of retail stores under your supervision. Your responsibilities are to perform regular store visits to ensure that managers are carrying out the company’s directives and meeting sales goals by reviewing P&L statements. When a location is having trouble, you work with the managers and sales associates to develop new goals and tactics to improve store performance. You also work closely with corporate human resources to hire new managers and train them to understand the company’s policies and goals related to sales, brand management, and knowledge of products stocked in the store.
Loss Control Consultant
Salary range: $76,500 - $113,000
Loss control consultants work with businesses to protect employers from financial loss. This could be lost through workplace accidents and financial responsibility or insurance and retail loss. Your job is to recommend strategies to prevent these risks. As a loss control consultant, your responsibilities are to evaluate a business’ safety and loss risks, implement strategies for the company and its employees to prevent safety issues, theft, and inventory loss, conduct routine risk assessments, and evaluate worker’s compensation and insurance claims. You can carry out your duties for one business with multiple locations or work with several smaller retailers.
Market Development Manager
Salary range: $75,000 - $111,500
A market development manager seeks new business opportunities and customers for their employer. As a market development manager, you may work with specific products or focus on a particular region or industry. Your job duties include researching new markets, developing relationships with companies or prospective clients, and presenting sales pitches. You may also take customers’ orders, create promotional materials, or manage stock and inventory to ensure adequate supply for fulfilling orders.
Solar Project Manager
Salary range: $47,500 - $104,000
A solar project manager oversees the installation of solar projects, from small residential and commercial roofing projects to large-scale solar power plants. Your duties and responsibilities in this career can vary slightly depending on the scale of your project plan, but many of the principles are overlapping. You need to know how to develop budgets, manage proposals and bids from contractors, negotiate prices, pull building permits, coordinate the construction schedule, and be familiar with tax incentives and rebates for which your clients may qualify.
Appraisal Manager
Salary range: $71,000 - $102,000
An appraisal manager oversees the valuation and appraising of property, such as real estate, art, equipment, and other physical assets. In this role, you typically work for a bank or an insurance company. Your duties and responsibilities include assessing the valuation of the property before being sold or after it has changed hands. You may perform cost analysis or give an estimate to make a recommendation as to whether a bank should extend credit or consider lending money in the form of a mortgage or other loan. You may assess a potential buyer’s collateral and determine if it is sufficient to mitigate any risk the lending institution may take on.
Fresh Food Manager
Salary range: $39,500 - $102,000
A fresh food manager performs a variety of duties in the deli department at a grocery store or market where food is prepared and served. These job duties include hiring and training new employees, completing daily shift tasks such as stocking inventory, providing customer service, suggesting specific items for meal preparation, and following all health and safety codes. Minimizing food spoilage, holding weekly sales meetings, and merchandising for various seasons are also important aspects of this job. The preferred qualifications for this career include culinary training or a few years of management experience as well as strong leadership and communication skills.
Review Appraiser
Salary range: $90,000 - $98,500
As a review appraiser, your duties are to analyze and evaluate residential, commercial, or other types of property appraisals. You have a variety of responsibilities, including making site visits, checking the initial appraisal reports, meeting with property owners or developers, and gathering information relevant to making a final appraisal. Appraisal reviewers are often needed when a mortgage lending company believes the buyer possesses increased financial risk and the lender seeks to only finance a given percentage of a home or commercial property’s value.
Cosmetic Consultant
Salary range: $92,500 - $97,500
As a cosmetic consultant, your job is to make recommendations to customers about makeup and beauty products. You work in a retail environment, such as a beauty supply store or a department store cosmetics counter. Your primary responsibilities are making sales and providing general customer service, but you may have additional job duties like educating customers about the application of makeup and other beauty products. You need excellent product knowledge and customer service skills to succeed in a cosmetic consultant career.
Ecommerce Manager
Salary range: $58,000 - $96,000
E-commerce managers oversee all online activities for a business, including advertising, marketing, and web maintenance. As an e-commerce manager, you are in charge of all aspects of web design and development, including marketing and sales. Other responsibilities include managing the online staff, working directly with shipping companies and suppliers, and addressing customer service issues. You need business, information technology, and marketing experience to excel in this career. Strong communication skills are also a must.
eCommerce Merchandising Manager
Salary range: $50,000 - $93,500
An eCommerce merchandising manager works to develop and improve website marketing and customer experience for a company. Your responsibilities in this career include managing internal search so customers can navigate and search quickly for products they want, researching customer desire to shape site growth, and developing marketing strategies. Your duties may also have you working on site merchandising, setting up a product photo shoot, implementing promotions, and reporting the status of projects to relevant department heads. An eCommerce merchandising manager is also in charge of overseeing and coaching staff in the marketing department.
Appraiser
Salary range: $57,000 - $92,500
An appraiser works in the real estate industry assessing the value of properties. As an appraiser, your responsibilities and duties include evaluating and documenting the condition of a property, researching the recent sale prices of similar properties in the area, and generating a report that contains the estimated value of the property, along with supporting data. Your clients are individuals or realtors who are preparing to buy or sell a property, or mortgage lenders who are assessing whether the loan requested is congruent with the property value.
District Manager
Salary range: $64,500 - $92,000
District Managers are management professionals who oversee the operation of multiple stores, restaurants, branches, or locations within a particular region. In this role, you review the productivity of each site, develop plans to increase sales or profitability, and implement your strategies within all branches within your district. You may also visit each location regularly to ensure operations run smoothly. Other responsibilities include hiring and training new staff, including branch managers, and checking that each store adheres to company policies. Many District Managers start their careers in one location and work their way up to supervisory roles before seeking manager positions.
Loss Prevention Analyst
Salary range: $73,000 - $91,000
A loss prevention analyst provides analytical services related to retail loss prevention, such as theft, employee fraud, and other issues related to property at a location. Your duties and responsibilities in this career are to help investigate and analyze data gathered from a number of places, including security cameras, filed reports, and digital information, such as that gathered by the exception reporting system installed on point of sale systems. You typically work under a loss prevention manager and provide them with reports and analyses that they can use to modify loss prevention strategies or conduct investigations.
Merchandise Planner
Salary range: $56,000 - $89,000
A merchandise planner follows trends in product inventory to ensure that retail stores have the right amount of stock. Job duties include analyzing sales data to inform merchandising decisions, collaborating with the company buyer, interpreting past sales to identify trends, determining how much of an item to have in stock, and maximizing sales. You need a mathematical mind and strong analytical skills to be successful in this career.
Regional Loss Prevention Manager
Salary range: $66,500 - $89,000
A regional loss prevention manager oversees both company security protocols to prevent theft of merchandise, as well as strategies related to inventory control for a given geographic region. You are also responsible for developing security standards to ensure customer safety while visiting retail locations. Your duties and responsibilities are to collect statistics and data from your locations and assess the performance of each store’s ability to carry out loss prevention protocols. You assist in the hiring and training of security staff and perform periodic work and performance reviews related to loss prevention.
Store Planner
Salary range: $44,000 - $84,500
A store planner helps design the layout of retail stores. As a store planner, your job duties are to familiarize yourself with the store’s current layout, foot traffic patterns, sales figures, and types of inventory. You then adjust displays, aisles, and promotional material to improve customer interaction with your products. Qualifications for this job include significant retail experience and creative problem-solving skills. You also need knowledge of current sales strategies, management’s policies, and marketing campaigns. The career requires an artistic eye for detail.
Loss Control Representative
Salary range: $78,000 - $84,500
A loss control representative works with insurance underwriting, your responsibilities being to perform company inspections and prepare reports that are used to determine the coverage eligibility for a corporate insurance policy. Your duties are to review the work environment of a business and main operations building, determine the company’s safety conditions, and determine if the company lives up to the standards required set by the insurance companies. A loss control representative also performs loss control surveys and collects data on the business’ operations to determine the potential liability an insurance company must undertake by insuring the business.

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