Side-by-side distribution
Backend Engineer
$185,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 34.1%
- Live roles
- 2,598
Staff Engineer
$210,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 50.6%
- Live roles
- 7,602
Highest-paying jobs
Senior/Staff Backend Engineer, Applied AI
Expert Backend Engineer
Senior Backend Engineer, Perpetuals
Software Engineer, Backend
Senior Staff Software Engineer, API
Staff/Principal Backend Software Engineer
Staff/Principal Backend Software Engineer
Software Engineer, API Safety
Software Engineer, API Multicloud
Backend Software Engineer, Cooperative AI (Evals)
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Staff React Native Engineer ($500k - 1.5m salary)
Senior Staff Full Stack Engineer ($500k - $1.5m salary)
Senior/Staff Backend Engineer, Applied AI
Senior/Staff Full Stack Engineer, Applied AI
Staff Research Engineer, Multi-Agent Scaling
Staff Research Engineer, Discovery Team
Staff+ Research Engineer, RL Data Platform
Staff Software Engineer, Node Infra
Staff Software Engineer, Kubernetes Platform
Staff Infrastructure Engineer, Cluster Infrastructure
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Affirm
|
$170,500 | 54 |
Air Apps
|
$65,555 | 33 |
|
OpenAI
|
$355,500 | 18 |
Databricks
|
$195,500 | 14 |
Grafana Labs
|
$148,144 | 12 |
Verkada
|
$225,000 | 11 |
| KA Kalepa | $219,000 | 11 |
Robinhood
|
$180,500 | 9 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Northrop Grumman
|
$210,150 | 258 |
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 130 |
|
Anthropic
|
$402,500 | 95 |
|
Databricks
|
$226,000 | 73 |
Crusoe
|
$235,000 | 51 |
GEICO
|
$182,500 | 47 |
| AD Analog Devices | $168,305 | 46 |
General Motors
|
$236,000 | 36 |
Backend Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $215,250 | 148 |
| New York | $205,000 | 175 |
| Seattle | $200,000 | 52 |
| Los Angeles | $196,000 | 17 |
| Boston | $191,500 | 19 |
| Denver | $167,950 | 11 |
| Austin | $160,000 | 13 |
| Chicago | $150,350 | 10 |
| Singapore | $143,718 | 6 |
| Toronto | $139,976 | 42 |
Staff Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| London | $267,000 | 45 |
| Seattle | $256,000 | 250 |
| New York | $250,000 | 537 |
| San Francisco | $250,000 | 738 |
| Berlin | $227,311 | 11 |
| Los Angeles | $223,000 | 93 |
| Boston | $219,375 | 95 |
| Denver | $206,675 | 76 |
| Austin | $205,587 | 102 |
| Toronto | $200,500 | 165 |
Backend Engineer vs Staff Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Backend Engineer is $185,000 per year (typically $140,451–$220,000), versus $210,000 for Staff Engineer ($177,500–$245,000). That puts Staff Engineer about 14% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Backend Engineer and Staff 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.