Side-by-side distribution
Backend Engineer
$183,150
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 32.5%
- Live roles
- 2,847
Firmware Engineer
$166,250
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 37.6%
- Live roles
- 527
Highest-paying jobs
Senior/Staff Backend Engineer, Applied AI
Senior Backend Engineer, Perpetuals
Senior Backend Engineer, Markets
Senior Backend Engineer, Exchange Infrastructure
Senior Backend Engineer, Payments
Software Engineer, Backend
Backend Engineer, Markets
Senior Backend Engineer, Trust & Safety
Senior Staff Software Engineer, API
Staff+ Software Engineer, Backend
Highest-paying jobs
Networking Operating System Firmware Engineer
ASIC Firmware Engineer, Modeling
Firmware Engineer, Robotics
Firmware Engineer, RTOS, Consumer Devices
Senior Firmware Engineer, Security
Senior Firmware Engineer- Terawave
Principal Engineer, Firmware Security
Senior Staff Firmware Engineer
Firmware Engineer, Robotics and Surgery Engineering
Founding Firmware Engineer
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Affirm
|
$183,000 | 33 |
Air Apps
|
$67,479 | 33 |
Grafana Labs
|
$137,917 | 26 |
|
OpenAI
|
$355,500 | 14 |
Databricks
|
$195,500 | 13 |
Verkada
|
$220,000 | 12 |
GitLab
|
$187,200 | 10 |
Satispay
|
$57,178 | 10 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 21 |
HP
|
$141,350 | 6 |
Lunar Energy
|
$195,000 | 5 |
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
|
$141,800 | 5 |
SK hynix memory solutions America Inc.
|
$135,000 | 5 |
|
OpenAI
|
$360,750 | 4 |
|
Blue Origin
|
$253,469 | 4 |
|
Micron Technology
|
$205,750 | 4 |
Backend Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $215,000 | 174 |
| Seattle | $210,000 | 55 |
| New York | $205,000 | 173 |
| Los Angeles | $198,500 | 17 |
| Boston | $191,500 | 14 |
| Austin | $171,450 | 15 |
| Chicago | $160,125 | 8 |
| Singapore | $156,000 | 5 |
| Denver | $150,000 | 10 |
| Atlanta | $138,919 | 4 |
Firmware Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $213,000 | 18 |
| New York | $212,000 | 5 |
| Seattle | $210,230 | 6 |
| Los Angeles | $147,500 | 4 |
Backend Engineer vs Firmware Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Backend Engineer is $183,150 per year (typically $142,400–$220,000), versus $166,250 for Firmware Engineer ($132,500–$207,250). That puts Backend Engineer about 10% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Backend Engineer 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.