Side-by-side distribution
DevOps
$190,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 36.3%
- Live roles
- 3,678
Penetration Tester
$180,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 32.9%
- Live roles
- 70
Highest-paying jobs
Platform Engineer
Senior Staff+ Software Engineer, Kubernetes Platform
Senior Security Platform Engineer I
Agent Platform Engineer
Software Engineer, Platform
Infrastructure and Platform Engineer, Metal
Infrastructure and Platform Development Engineer
Principal Engineer, AI Platform
Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Inference & Training Platform)
Senior Staff+ Software Engineer, Kubernetes Platform
Highest-paying jobs
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
Penetration Tester
WebApp Offensive Security Software Engineer
Offensive Security Engineer
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Accenture Federal Services
|
$151,800 | 27 |
Air Apps
|
$65,184 | 22 |
Captivation Software
|
$200,000 | 21 |
Reddit
|
$244,500 | 18 |
Coinbase
|
$219,873 | 14 |
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 13 |
Airwallex
|
$162,878 | 13 |
Whoop
|
$161,250 | 12 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| GR GRVTY | $215,000 | 2 |
|
Robinhood
|
$191,444 | 2 |
|
Accenture Federal Services
|
$174,200 | 2 |
M9 Solutions
|
$120,000 | 2 |
TP-Link Systems Inc.
|
$106,000 | 2 |
|
OpenAI
|
$418,500 | 1 |
|
Anthropic
|
$362,500 | 1 |
|
Perplexity
|
$312,500 | 1 |
DevOps salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $225,500 | 243 |
| Seattle | $211,250 | 60 |
| New York | $210,000 | 206 |
| Los Angeles | $200,650 | 18 |
| Chicago | $195,000 | 31 |
| Austin | $193,250 | 27 |
| Denver | $185,000 | 27 |
| Boston | $182,500 | 59 |
| Toronto | $165,000 | 50 |
| Atlanta | $161,500 | 10 |
Penetration Tester salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | $362,500 | 3 |
| San Francisco | $312,500 | 5 |
| New York | $236,000 | 7 |
DevOps vs Penetration Tester: which pays more?
The median for DevOps is $190,000 per year (typically $150,078–$225,000), versus $180,000 for Penetration Tester ($136,250–$218,250). That puts DevOps about 6% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so DevOps 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.