Side-by-side distribution
C / C++
$193,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 31%
- Live roles
- 387
Engineering Manager
$190,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 42.2%
- Live roles
- 4,377
Highest-paying jobs
C Developer
Software Engineer - Training/Inference (C++)
Software Engineer - Network (C++)
Software Engineer - Platform Infrastructure (Rust, C++)
Software Engineer - Kernels/CUDA (C++)
Software Engineer, C++
Principal Engine Programmer - Systems (C++)
Principal Core Systems Software Engineer - Game Engine (C++)
Staff Software Engineer, Logging (C++)
Senior Software Engineer, C++ (Market Data)
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Engineering Program Manager II - New Ventures
Business Development Manager
Business Development Manager (Japanese and English bilingual)
Business Development Manager
Engineering Manager, Research Data Platform
Engineering Manager, Research Productivity
Engineering Manager, GPU (ML Accelerator)
Senior Engineering Manager
Senior Engineering Manager, Progressive Onboarding and Funnel Optimisation
Engineering Manager, Product Engineering
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$193,000 | 16 |
Applied Intuition
|
$170,500 | 14 |
|
Roblox
|
$218,940 | 9 |
Esri
|
$134,264 | 8 |
Stevens Capital Management LP
|
$225,000 | 5 |
|
xAI
|
$310,000 | 4 |
| FT Flow Traders | $233,750 | 4 |
|
Aurora Innovation
|
$222,000 | 3 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Anduril Industries
|
$193,000 | 37 |
Databricks
|
$228,138 | 36 |
Brex
|
$254,250 | 29 |
Atwell, LLC
|
$117,500 | 24 |
OpenAI
|
$339,000 | 23 |
|
Anthropic
|
$445,000 | 21 |
Harvey
|
$350,000 | 19 |
DoorDash USA
|
$239,400 | 19 |
C / C++ vs Engineering Manager: which pays more?
The median for C / C++ is $193,000 per year (typically $156,450–$222,000), versus $190,000 for Engineering Manager ($142,350–$238,511). That puts C / C++ about 2% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so C / C++ and Engineering 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.