Side-by-side distribution
Chief of Staff
$197,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 39.4%
- Live roles
- 284
Penetration Tester
$184,700
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 33.8%
- Live roles
- 74
Highest-paying jobs
Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff
Sr. Staff Program Manager & Chief of Staff, Operations
Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff to the CEO
Chief of Staff (Executive Office) and VP of Strategy & Operations
Chief of Staff to the COO & GM of Marketplace
Chief of Staff Director, Product
Chief of Staff, Product
Chief of Staff, CEO
Highest-paying jobs
Offensive Security Agent Engineer
Offensive Security Engineer, Agent Products
Offensive Hardware Security Engineer, Platform Security
Member of Technical Staff (Offensive Security Engineer)
Principal Offensive Security Engineer
Senior Information Security Engineer, Offensive Security
Staff Offensive Security Engineer
Senior Information Security Engineer, Offensive Security
Senior Offensive Security Engineer
Penetration Tester
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Flex
|
$301,500 | 2 |
|
Checkr
|
$282,250 | 2 |
Sonatus
|
$244,000 | 2 |
Nuro
|
$231,520 | 2 |
EliseAI
|
$212,500 | 2 |
Coursera
|
$212,040 | 2 |
Coursera Sourcing
|
$212,040 | 2 |
CHAOS Industries
|
$198,750 | 2 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
OpenAI
|
$418,500 | 2 |
| GR GRVTY | $215,000 | 2 |
|
Robinhood
|
$191,444 | 2 |
|
Accenture Federal Services
|
$174,200 | 2 |
Fortreum
|
$160,000 | 2 |
M9 Solutions
|
$120,000 | 2 |
TP-Link Systems Inc.
|
$106,000 | 2 |
|
Anthropic
|
$362,500 | 1 |
Chief of Staff salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Austin | $300,000 | 3 |
| San Francisco | $220,000 | 19 |
| New York | $200,000 | 34 |
| Los Angeles | $192,500 | 4 |
| Toronto | $128,342 | 3 |
Penetration Tester salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | $362,500 | 5 |
| San Francisco | $337,500 | 6 |
| New York | $274,250 | 8 |
Chief of Staff vs Penetration Tester: which pays more?
The median for Chief of Staff is $197,500 per year (typically $160,625–$234,088), versus $184,700 for Penetration Tester ($145,000–$220,020). That puts Chief of Staff about 7% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Chief of Staff and Penetration Tester 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.