Side-by-side distribution
Backend Engineer
$187,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 34.4%
- Live roles
- 2,364
Staff Engineer
$222,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 53.4%
- Live roles
- 5,036
Highest-paying jobs
Senior/Staff Backend Engineer, Applied AI
Software Engineer, Backend
Senior Backend Engineer, Markets
Senior Backend Engineer, Perpetuals
Senior Backend Engineer, Trust & Safety
Senior Backend Engineer, Exchange Infrastructure
Backend Engineer, Markets
Senior Backend Engineer, Payments
Staff+ Software Engineer, Backend
Senior Staff Software Engineer, API
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Staff Full Stack Engineer ($500k - $1.5m salary)
Senior Staff React Native Engineer ($500k - 1.5m salary)
Senior/Staff Full Stack Engineer, Applied AI
Senior/Staff Backend Engineer, Applied AI
Staff Research Engineer, Discovery Team
Staff+ Research Engineer, RL Data Platform
Staff Infrastructure Engineer, Cluster Infrastructure
Staff Software Engineer, Kubernetes Platform
Staff Software Engineer, Node Infra
Staff Software Engineer, Claude Code
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Affirm
|
$158,000 | 33 |
Air Apps
|
$67,479 | 33 |
Grafana Labs
|
$137,917 | 26 |
OpenAI
|
$339,000 | 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 | 106 |
|
Anthropic
|
$425,000 | 80 |
|
Databricks
|
$226,000 | 76 |
Crusoe
|
$232,500 | 49 |
|
Grafana Labs
|
$147,975 | 39 |
Harvey
|
$275,000 | 35 |
Okta
|
$175,200 | 34 |
Relativity Space
|
$205,000 | 33 |
Backend Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $215,000 | 161 |
| Seattle | $214,700 | 49 |
| New York | $205,129 | 166 |
| Los Angeles | $198,500 | 13 |
| Boston | $195,750 | 12 |
| Denver | $193,171 | 6 |
| Austin | $185,000 | 5 |
| Chicago | $165,000 | 3 |
| Singapore | $156,000 | 5 |
| Toronto | $143,419 | 28 |
Staff Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | $262,500 | 173 |
| London | $257,000 | 50 |
| New York | $250,000 | 493 |
| San Francisco | $249,500 | 647 |
| Austin | $229,000 | 47 |
| Chicago | $227,500 | 45 |
| Los Angeles | $223,000 | 59 |
| Boston | $219,375 | 84 |
| Denver | $212,500 | 57 |
| Toronto | $198,500 | 130 |
Backend Engineer vs Staff Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Backend Engineer is $187,500 per year (typically $146,042–$225,000), versus $222,000 for Staff Engineer ($189,950–$257,913). That puts Staff Engineer about 18% 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.