Side-by-side distribution
Backend Engineer
$185,375
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 33%
- Live roles
- 2,443
Technical Product Manager
$190,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 53.6%
- Live roles
- 1,029
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
Technical Program Manager
Technical Program Manager
Director, RISC-V Software TPM & Ops
Staff Technical Program Manager, Physical Design
Technical Program Manager, Architecture
Technical Program Manager, Product Software
Technical Program Manager, Strategic Initiatives
Technical Program Manager, Hardware Chips Development
Technical Program Manager, Applied API & Product
Technical Program Manager, API Platform
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Air Apps
|
$68,094 | 33 |
Affirm
|
$183,000 | 20 |
Databricks
|
$205,100 | 16 |
Grafana Labs
|
$192,485 | 15 |
|
OpenAI
|
$309,000 | 9 |
Teleport
|
$261,440 | 9 |
Verkada
|
$215,000 | 9 |
Whoop
|
$150,000 | 9 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$193,000 | 62 |
|
Anthropic
|
$345,000 | 14 |
Aurora Innovation
|
$221,500 | 14 |
|
OpenAI
|
$271,000 | 12 |
Fluidstack
|
$213,000 | 12 |
CoreWeave
|
$207,000 | 9 |
Scout Motors
|
$155,000 | 9 |
| SA Scale AI | $209,150 | 8 |
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 | $184,075 | 12 |
| Boston | $178,750 | 20 |
| Chicago | $175,000 | 5 |
| Singapore | $151,034 | 3 |
| Toronto | $145,000 | 37 |
Technical Product Manager salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $214,450 | 127 |
| London | $209,051 | 5 |
| Austin | $208,000 | 16 |
| New York | $203,000 | 86 |
| Seattle | $203,000 | 51 |
| Denver | $173,568 | 10 |
| Boston | $172,500 | 27 |
| Los Angeles | $164,500 | 10 |
| Chicago | $147,500 | 3 |
| Toronto | $130,000 | 13 |
Backend Engineer vs Technical Product Manager: which pays more?
The median for Backend Engineer is $185,375 per year (typically $145,499–$225,000), versus $190,000 for Technical Product Manager ($155,000–$220,000). That puts Technical Product Manager about 2% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Backend Engineer and Technical Product Manager 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.