What are some senior leadership roles I could pursue after graduation with my 12 years of experience and an MBA from the UK, and what are the typical salary ranges for these positions?

Twelve years of experience plus an MBA should position you as an experienced leadership candidate, not as an MBA graduate starting over, and the roles worth targeting look quite different once you frame your search that way.

Why Your Prior Function Determines the Right Title

An MBA on its own doesn't hand you a Director or VP title; employers weigh what you were doing before and during the MBA most heavily. Twelve years in technology points toward Technology Director or Digital Transformation Director roles. Twelve years in finance points toward Finance Director or FP&A Director roles. Twelve years in operations points toward Operations Director or COO track roles, and twelve years in consulting or strategy points toward Strategy Director or Transformation Director positions.

Realistic Salary Bands by Role

Positioning Yourself as a Leader, Not a Graduate

The strongest post MBA narrative for your profile is domain expertise plus an MBA plus expanded strategic responsibility, rather than simply presenting yourself as an MBA graduate. That means targeting Director, Head of Function, Senior Director, VP and business unit leadership roles directly, rather than routing yourself through conventional graduate leadership programs designed for candidates with two or three years of experience.

My Advice

In my experience, candidates with your level of experience undersell themselves by applying to MBA graduate schemes out of habit. Lead with your pre MBA track record and quantify what you owned, whether that's a budget, a team size, or a transformation outcome, since that single change in framing shifts which roles and salary bands recruiters actually consider you for.