Side-by-side distribution
Automotive Engineer
$160,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 48.5%
- Live roles
- 388
Materials Engineer
$133,125
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 45%
- Live roles
- 291
Highest-paying jobs
Principal Software Engineer – Core OS, Vehicle Compute
Principal Software Engineer - Vehicle AI
Staff Software Engineer – Core OS, Vehicle Compute
Senior / Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Vehicle Dynamics
Chief Engineer, Space Vehicle Autonomy
Mission Software Engineer, Vehicle Software, Computer Vision
Principal Systems Engineer, Air Vehicle Software
Staff Software Engineer, Vehicle Software, C++
Principal Systems Engineer, Air Vehicle Systems
Senior Robotics Software Engineer, Vehicle Software
Highest-paying jobs
Principal Nuclear Materials Engineer
Materials Research and Development Engineer
Electro-Optics Materials and Device Engineer
Quantum Superconducting Materials Engineer
Principal TPS Materials Engineer
Staff Materials Engineer (Level 5)
Senior Data Engineer, Bioinformatics, Cheminformatics, Materials
Principal Propulsion Engineer - Materials and Processes
Senior Materials Engineer, Material Health Monitoring
Senior Electrical Engineer – Dielectric Materials Development
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Anduril Industries
|
$208,250 | 32 |
Relativity Space
|
$136,000 | 17 |
|
General Motors
|
$150,210 | 13 |
|
Northrop Grumman
|
$142,500 | 13 |
The Aerospace Corporation
|
$172,100 | 11 |
Rocket Lab Corporation
|
$127,500 | 9 |
SpaceX
|
$142,500 | 8 |
Applied Intuition
|
$185,000 | 6 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Blue Origin
|
$119,041 | 21 |
Mitsubishi Chemical Group
|
$98,800 | 8 |
|
Helion
|
$200,000 | 7 |
|
Relativity Space
|
$155,000 | 7 |
|
SpaceX
|
$115,000 | 7 |
|
Northrop Grumman
|
$145,550 | 6 |
|
Anduril Industries
|
$171,500 | 5 |
|
Penn State University
|
$170,079 | 4 |
Automotive Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | $216,500 | 8 |
| Boston | $193,000 | 7 |
| San Francisco | $167,500 | 4 |
| Austin | $167,500 | 3 |
| Los Angeles | $147,000 | 3 |
| Denver | $133,125 | 3 |
Materials Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | $167,500 | 12 |
| San Francisco | $161,000 | 3 |
| Denver | $160,199 | 7 |
| Seattle | $119,041 | 21 |
Automotive Engineer vs Materials Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Automotive Engineer is $160,000 per year (typically $130,000–$193,000), versus $133,125 for Materials Engineer ($112,750–$170,744). That puts Automotive Engineer about 20% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Automotive Engineer and Materials 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.