Knowledge Management salaries, 2016

Every so often I have a look at Knowledge Management jobs and salaries. Here is this year's trawl.

In 2012, the median KM salary was $70,000
In 2014, it was $75,000 to $90,000

Whats the typical salary in 2016?

Payscale tells us that Knowledge Managers can expect a median salary of $74,000 within a range (including bonuses) of $45,243 - $112,953

However payscale is confused about knowledge management, as the job description below is more of an information or content manager.

A knowledge manager, a key figure within an organization, is responsible for storing, distributing, and managing information pertaining to the company and its effective operation. The main role of a knowledge manager is spread across a rather broad spectrum, but can be narrowed down to managing information assets.

Glassdoor tells us that a Knowledge Manager can earn £46,000 (national average) or £48,000 (London). These figures equate to $58,000 and $65,000.

However when you look at the jobs listed on Glassdoor, almost all of them are public sector jobs, and almost all are called "Knowledge and Information Manager". Knowing these jobs, they are generally far more often at the IM end of the spectrum and far less often at the KM end. Also the private sector will pay more.

IT Jobs tells us that a median salary is £42,500 and has decreased from the previous year ( and the year before (£60,000). It also shows the two interesting figures below.

The second graph suggests that there is more than one type of Knowledge Management job - a low-salary job around £30 - 40k, and a higher-end job, upwards of £75k.  However the IT Jobs site almost certainly focuses on the IT end of KM.

Salaryexpert tells us that the average salary of a knowledge manager in the US is  $91,094, but seems to think that a knowledge Manager's job is to "Plan, direct, or coordinate activities in such fields as electronic data processing, information systems, systems analysis, and computer programming".

Conclusions

 If anything, the average KM salary has fallen from previous years, but the definition of a "Knowledge manager" role continues to be unclear, and the salary sites linked above probably sample the low end of the salary range.  As the second graph above shows, the salary range is extremely wide, from about $30 to in excess of $100k.