Side-by-side distribution
C / C++
$193,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 31%
- Live roles
- 387
Platform Engineer
$195,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 44.3%
- Live roles
- 4,041
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
Platform Engineer
Senior Staff+ Software Engineer, Kubernetes Platform
Staff+ Infrastructure Engineer, Cluster Infrastructure
Software Engineer, Research Infrastructure
Senior Security Platform Engineer I
Principal .NET Software Engineer- Cloud Payments Platform
Principal .NET Software Engineer - Cloud Payments Platform
Staff+ Software Engineer, Safeguards Infrastructure
SOC Emulation Engineer - Hardware Emulation Infrastructure
Infrastructure Engineer
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 |
|---|---|---|
Speechify
|
$170,000 | 103 |
OpenAI
|
$309,000 | 29 |
Nuro
|
$200,450 | 24 |
Palantir
|
$167,500 | 24 |
Databricks
|
$225,000 | 21 |
Coinbase
|
$202,483 | 20 |
Reddit
|
$244,500 | 18 |
|
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 18 |
Platform Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $229,225 | 416 |
| Seattle | $216,000 | 111 |
| New York | $210,000 | 322 |
| Austin | $202,500 | 40 |
| Los Angeles | $187,500 | 31 |
| Toronto | $185,125 | 60 |
| Boston | $185,000 | 64 |
| Chicago | $183,000 | 22 |
| Denver | $180,000 | 29 |
| Atlanta | $170,000 | 10 |
C / C++ vs Platform Engineer: which pays more?
The median for C / C++ is $193,000 per year (typically $156,450–$222,000), versus $195,000 for Platform Engineer ($166,525–$230,000). That puts Platform Engineer about 1% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so C / C++ and Platform 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.