Side-by-side distribution
Application Security
$190,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 55.1%
- Live roles
- 316
Firmware Engineer
$191,250
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 53.6%
- Live roles
- 194
Highest-paying jobs
Staff+ Application Security Engineer - M&A
Staff+ Application Security Engineer
Senior Security Engineer, Product AppSec
Product & Application Security Engineer
Principal Software Engineer II - Product Security
Security Engineer, Application Security
Principal Security Software Engineer, Application Security
Senior Configuration Engineer, Product AppSec
Security Engineer, Product
Security Engineer, Application Security
Highest-paying jobs
Networking Operating System Firmware Engineer
Firmware Engineer, Robotics
ASIC Firmware Engineer, Modeling
Firmware Engineer, RTOS, Consumer Devices
Staff Embedded Firmware Engineer
Firmware Engineer, Robotics and Surgery Engineering
Founding Firmware Engineer
Firmware/ Embedded Systems Engineer
Staff Embedded Software Engineer - Camera Firmware
Staff Firmware Engineer
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Anduril Industries
|
$204,500 | 8 |
Mozilla
|
$85,751 | 5 |
|
Veeam Software
|
$315,000 | 4 |
Compass
|
$222,050 | 4 |
Harvey
|
$275,000 | 3 |
Brex
|
$216,000 | 3 |
Airwallex
|
$205,000 | 3 |
SpaceX
|
$202,500 | 3 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 14 |
|
OpenAI
|
$345,500 | 4 |
ALSO
|
$187,500 | 4 |
CoreWeave
|
$197,500 | 3 |
Mach Industries
|
$172,500 | 3 |
ALTEN Technology USA
|
$120,000 | 3 |
42dot
|
$228,000 | 2 |
Everpure
|
$216,250 | 2 |
Application Security salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $222,050 | 25 |
| San Francisco | $219,000 | 41 |
| Chicago | $213,750 | 7 |
| Boston | $209,775 | 4 |
| Seattle | $201,250 | 12 |
| Denver | $190,000 | 4 |
| Austin | $187,500 | 5 |
| Toronto | $174,644 | 6 |
| Los Angeles | $150,000 | 5 |
| London | $131,502 | 3 |
Firmware Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $210,458 | 14 |
| New York | $197,500 | 7 |
Application Security vs Firmware Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Application Security is $190,000 per year (typically $160,000–$235,000), versus $191,250 for Firmware Engineer ($160,000–$214,625). That puts Firmware Engineer about 1% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Application Security and Firmware Engineer are compared on equal terms regardless of the currency each role was originally posted in. Only roles that publish a salary range feed the medians; numbers refresh every few hours as new roles post and older ones close, so this comparison reflects the market right now rather than a fixed survey. Use it as a directional benchmark when weighing one path against the other.