Side-by-side distribution
Backend Engineer
$185,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 33.3%
- Live roles
- 2,441
Platform Engineer
$195,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 44.2%
- Live roles
- 4,052
Highest-paying jobs
Intermediate Backend Software Engineer
Senior Staff Backend Engineer ($500k - $1.5m salary)
Staff Software Engineer (Backend)
Lead 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
Platform Engineer
Senior Staff+ Software Engineer, Kubernetes Platform
Staff+ Infrastructure Engineer, Cluster Infrastructure
Software Engineer, Research Infrastructure
Senior Security Platform Engineer I
Principal .NET Software Engineer- Cloud Payments Platform
Principal .NET Software Engineer - Cloud Payments Platform
Staff+ Software Engineer, Safeguards Infrastructure
Infrastructure and Platform Development Engineer
Machine Learning Infrastructure Engineer, Safeguards Research
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 |
Speechify
Nuro
Palantir
Coinbase
Reddit
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 |
Platform Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $226,000 | 411 |
| Seattle | $212,500 | 108 |
| New York | $210,000 | 317 |
| Austin | $198,900 | 39 |
| Los Angeles | $187,500 | 32 |
| Boston | $187,500 | 64 |
| Toronto | $181,644 | 62 |
| Chicago | $178,500 | 23 |
| Denver | $175,000 | 31 |
| Atlanta | $170,000 | 11 |
Backend Engineer vs Platform Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Backend Engineer is $185,500 per year (typically $145,499–$225,000), versus $195,000 for Platform Engineer ($166,525–$230,000). That puts Platform Engineer about 5% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Backend Engineer and Platform 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.