Side-by-side distribution
Backend Engineer
$185,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 33.3%
- Live roles
- 2,441
Engineering Manager
$190,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 42.6%
- Live roles
- 4,368
Highest-paying jobs
Intermediate Backend Software Engineer
Senior Staff Backend Engineer ($500k - $1.5m salary)
Lead Software Engineer (Backend)
Staff Software Engineer (Backend)
Senior/Staff Backend Engineer, Applied AI
Backend Engineer, AI
Backend Engineer
Senior Backend Engineer
Senior Backend Engineer (Java)
Senior Backend Engineer (Java)
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Engineering Program Manager II - New Ventures
Business Development Manager
Business Development Manager (Japanese and English bilingual)
Business Development Manager
Engineering Manager, GPU (ML Accelerator)
Engineering Manager, Research Data Platform
Engineering Manager, Research Productivity
Senior Engineering Manager
Senior Engineering Manager - Agentic Process & Self-Service
Senior Engineering Manager, Progressive Onboarding and Funnel Optimisation
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Air Apps
|
$68,094 | 33 |
Affirm
|
$183,000 | 20 |
Databricks
|
$205,100 | 16 |
Grafana Labs
|
$192,485 | 11 |
OpenAI
|
$309,000 | 9 |
Teleport
|
$261,440 | 9 |
Verkada
|
$215,000 | 9 |
Whoop
|
$150,000 | 9 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$193,000 | 37 |
|
Databricks
|
$226,881 | 36 |
Brex
|
$254,250 | 29 |
Atwell, LLC
|
$117,500 | 24 |
|
OpenAI
|
$339,000 | 22 |
|
Anthropic
|
$445,000 | 21 |
Harvey
|
$350,000 | 20 |
DoorDash USA
|
$239,400 | 19 |
Backend Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $220,000 | 165 |
| New York | $207,500 | 163 |
| Seattle | $205,500 | 38 |
| Denver | $195,875 | 4 |
| Austin | $189,750 | 6 |
| Los Angeles | $185,000 | 13 |
| Boston | $178,750 | 20 |
| Chicago | $175,000 | 5 |
| Singapore | $151,034 | 3 |
| Toronto | $147,978 | 39 |
Backend Engineer vs Engineering Manager: which pays more?
The median for Backend Engineer is $185,500 per year (typically $145,499–$225,000), versus $190,000 for Engineering Manager ($141,791–$238,500). That puts Engineering Manager about 2% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Backend Engineer and Engineering Manager 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.