Median salary
$192,000
per year · annualized USD
Typical range
$142.5k – $246.8k
25th–75th percentile
Disclosing pay
83.3%
792 of 951 roles
Live roles
951
open right now
Salary trend
median · annualized USDSalary distribution
annualized USD · disclosed rolesHighest-paying jobs
Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Ads Delivery
Principal Research Engineer, Model Training & Post-Training
Principal Network Engineer
Principal Engineer, Agentic AI Systems
Principal Software Engineer
Principal Security Engineer, Infrastructure Security
Principal Software Engineer, Infrastructure Security
Principal Software Engineer, Enterprise Technology Vertical
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Northrop Grumman
|
$142,500 | 308 |
| AL Astera Labs | $212,500 | 33 |
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
|
$260,500 | 28 |
Cadence Design Systems
|
$220,000 | 22 |
Blue Origin
|
$276,927 | 15 |
Cisco
|
$306,600 | 12 |
Micron Technology
|
$239,250 | 12 |
Bloom Energy
|
$190,000 | 11 |
See every Principal Engineer role
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How much do Principal Engineer roles in California pay?
The median salary for Principal Engineer roles in California is $192,000 per year. Most pay falls between $142,500 (25th percentile) and $246,813 (75th percentile), with the broader 10th–90th percentile band running from $126,360 to $305,400.
These figures are computed live from 951 active Principal Engineer roles in California on JobsRadar, of which 792 (83.3%) publish a salary range. Pay is normalized to annualized USD so roles can be compared on equal terms; the highest-paying roles listed above show their original posted currency. Numbers refresh every few hours as new roles are posted and older ones close.
Employers currently hiring well-paid Principal Engineer roles in California include Pinterest, Inflection AI, Lambda and OpenAI.
Salary transparency varies by employer and region, so the disclosing share above reflects only roles that publish pay — not every open position. Use it as a directional benchmark rather than an exact offer.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the average Principal Engineer salary in California?
- The median is $192,000 per year, with most pay between $142,500 and $246,813 (25th–75th percentile), based on 792 live listings that disclose pay on JobsRadar.
- What is the Principal Engineer salary range in California?
- Pay ranges from about $126,360 to $305,400 per year (10th–90th percentile) around a median of $192,000. Figures are annualized USD from live listings, refreshed every few hours.