Side-by-side distribution
Chief of Staff
$200,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 39.8%
- Live roles
- 284
Principal Engineer
$222,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 45.8%
- Live roles
- 1,772
Highest-paying jobs
Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff
Sr. Staff Program Manager & Chief of Staff, Operations
Chief of Staff to the CEO
Chief of Staff
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
Principal Software Engineer
Distinguished Engineer
Staff / Principal Data Engineer
Principal Engineer (Payments)
Principal Engineer
Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Ads Delivery
Principal Research Engineer, Model Training & Post-Training
Principal Engineer, Agentic AI Systems
Staff / Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Serving - USA
Principal Engineer, AI Platform
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 |
|---|---|---|
Roblox
|
$320,145 | 41 |
| AL Astera Labs | $207,500 | 23 |
Motional
|
$285,000 | 19 |
Elastic
|
$141,686 | 19 |
| SE Sezzle | $111,000 | 16 |
Anduril Industries
|
$256,000 | 12 |
STR
|
$244,500 | 12 |
|
CHAOS Industries
|
$207,500 | 12 |
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 |
Principal Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $276,000 | 67 |
| New York | $262,000 | 56 |
| Boston | $255,500 | 42 |
| Austin | $232,000 | 10 |
| Chicago | $228,075 | 16 |
| Los Angeles | $225,000 | 31 |
| Seattle | $225,000 | 34 |
| Toronto | $198,252 | 19 |
| Denver | $192,500 | 18 |
| London | $191,448 | 15 |
Chief of Staff vs Principal Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Chief of Staff is $200,000 per year (typically $161,250–$232,725), versus $222,500 for Principal Engineer ($187,500–$275,000). That puts Principal Engineer about 11% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Chief of Staff and Principal 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.