Side-by-side distribution
Backend Engineer
$185,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 33.3%
- Live roles
- 2,441
Privacy Officer
$233,079
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 40.8%
- Live roles
- 49
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
Associate General Counsel, Product and Privacy
Director, Corporate Counsel - Privacy
Senior Privacy & AI Counsel, San Francisco, CA (Hybrid) (963-SLS)
Associate General Counsel, Privacy & Compliance
Senior Counsel, Privacy and Compliance
Associate General Counsel, Product & Privacy
Product & Privacy Counsel
Senior Product & Privacy Counsel
Senior Privacy Counsel
Privacy Counsel
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 |
|---|---|---|
| SA Scale AI | $297,900 | 1 |
|
Okta
|
$285,000 | 1 |
|
Recursion
|
$280,830 | 1 |
|
Solutuslegal
|
$270,000 | 1 |
|
Neuralink
|
$253,000 | 1 |
|
Nova Credit
|
$252,350 | 1 |
|
Verkada
|
$245,000 | 1 |
|
Nextdoor
|
$240,000 | 1 |
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 |
Privacy Officer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $252,350 | 5 |
| San Francisco | $233,650 | 9 |
Backend Engineer vs Privacy Officer: which pays more?
The median for Backend Engineer is $185,500 per year (typically $145,499–$225,000), versus $233,079 for Privacy Officer ($202,565–$252,513). That puts Privacy Officer about 26% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Backend Engineer and Privacy Officer 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.