Side-by-side distribution
Cloud Architect
$175,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 30.1%
- Live roles
- 559
SRE
$155,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 37%
- Live roles
- 2,082
Highest-paying jobs
Principal Technical Architect, Product Management (AWS/Azure)
Cloud Architect
Senior Solutions Architect, Contact Center, AWS Connect
Technical Cloud Architect (Virtualization & Cloud Infrastructure)
Salesforce Data Cloud & AI Architect Senior Manager
Principal, Cloud Platform Architect
Staff Cloud and AI Solutions Architect
Principal Cloud Architect
AI Value Architect - Private Cloud AI
Senior Cloud Security Architect
Highest-paying jobs
Staff Software Engineer, AI Reliability Engineering
Staff Security Reliability Engineer
Staff+ Site Reliability Engineer, Safeguards ML Infra
Staff Software Engineer, AI Reliability
Forward Deployed Site Reliability Engineer - TS/SCI (CI Poly)
Forward Deployed Site Reliability Engineer - TS/SCI (Full Scope Poly)
Data Center Engineer, Reliability & Infrastructure Management – Compute Supply
Member of Technical Staff, Production Site Reliability Engineer
Software Engineer, Site Reliability (SRE)
Principal Site Reliability Engineer, Platform Engineering: Dedicated
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$142,400 | 26 |
|
Accenture
|
$180,350 | 10 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$157,750 | 8 |
| NP NeuraFlash, Part of Accenture | $180,350 | 5 |
Provectus
|
$250,000 | 4 |
GDIT
|
$171,033 | 4 |
McKesson
|
$142,450 | 4 |
| CA Caylent | $208,000 | 3 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
SpaceX
|
$145,000 | 45 |
Anduril Industries
|
$193,000 | 19 |
| SE Sezzle | $87,000 | 15 |
Okta
|
$206,500 | 14 |
Northrop Grumman
|
$121,700 | 12 |
Air Apps
|
$68,929 | 11 |
Vast
|
$166,000 | 10 |
Cisco
|
$206,450 | 9 |
Cloud Architect salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $187,525 | 16 |
| San Francisco | $180,350 | 10 |
| Los Angeles | $180,350 | 8 |
| Seattle | $180,350 | 10 |
| Austin | $180,350 | 9 |
| Chicago | $180,350 | 14 |
| Boston | $180,350 | 10 |
| Denver | $180,350 | 7 |
| Atlanta | $180,350 | 12 |
| London | $174,844 | 3 |
SRE salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $211,878 | 86 |
| New York | $190,000 | 71 |
| Los Angeles | $189,081 | 22 |
| Seattle | $188,081 | 22 |
| Austin | $187,000 | 21 |
| Chicago | $180,000 | 37 |
| Denver | $168,850 | 12 |
| Boston | $165,500 | 21 |
| Atlanta | $151,000 | 7 |
| Dublin | $133,309 | 7 |
Cloud Architect vs SRE: which pays more?
The median for Cloud Architect is $175,000 per year (typically $147,500–$194,700), versus $155,000 for SRE ($120,000–$195,800). That puts Cloud Architect about 13% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Cloud Architect and SRE 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.