5 of the Best Types of Operating Room Nurse Jobs in 2026

Discover some great types of Operating Room Nurse jobs that are hiring now.

High Paying Operating Room Nurse Jobs

• Per Diem Operating Room Nurse

  Salary range: $74,500 - $101,500

  Per diem jobs are short-term positions which are paid by the day. The most common per diem job opportunities are in the medical field, including positions in nursing, hospice, pediatrics, and midwifery. Phlebotomists, operating (OR) assistants, and pharmacists may also work on a per diem basis. Per diem employees are often contracted to work as admissions coordinators, recreation coordinators, and assistants.

• Operating Room Nurse Internship

  Salary range: $74,500 - $101,500

  In an operating room nurse internship, you are a student in a nurse training program operated through your university or a hospital’s nurse training program. In clinical internship positions, you learn the duties, responsibilities, and skills you need to assist during operating room surgeries. Operating room nurse interns learn how to assist surgeons both for emergency and scheduled procedures. Through the program, you learn how to handle and sterilize surgical instruments, set up operating rooms, monitor patient conditions during surgery, and maintain patient records.

• Full Time Operating Room Nurse

  Salary range: $74,500 - $101,500

  Full-time employment hours are generally determined by the employer. There is no single universal definition; however, various laws and policies govern different types of eligibility and statuses. For example, the Fair Labor Standards Act does not define full-time employment but does require overtime pay after 40 hours of work in a workweek for non-exempt employees. The Affordable Care Act, in determining Applicable Large Employers, defines full-time employees as those working an average of at least 30 hours per week, or 130 hours a month. The H-1B Visa Program defines full-time as 40 hours per week, normally, and in no event would less than 35 hours per week be considered to be full-time employment. In practice, full-time employment is typically between 32 and 40 hours per week.

• Senior Operating Room Nurse

  Salary range: $74,500 - $101,500

  Senior Operating Room Nurse is a more unusual job search query but still may give you interesting job results. Most salaries for Senior Operating Room Nurse jobs pay between $74,500 (25th percentile) and $101,500 (75th percentile) annually. Currently, there are not many open positions nationwide for Senior Operating Room Nurse job searches hiring now on ZipRecruiter. You can take a look at what is available and find similar job searches in this list.

• Entry Level Operating Room Nurse

  Salary range: $74,500 - $101,500

  Entry-level jobs are positions that do not require any previous experience in the role. Most entry-level jobs are aimed at high school or college graduates as a starting point for a future career goal. A college student may have majored in their ideal career field, but will still need to start in an entry-level position to train in a real-world environment. Some students move from internships into entry-level jobs, but most entry-level jobs do not expect a candidate to have any prior employment or on-site training.