Side-by-side distribution
Embedded Engineer
$185,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 52.9%
- Live roles
- 450
ML Engineer
$205,841
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 42.4%
- Live roles
- 1,747
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Engineer, Embedded Linux Developer
Helix AI Engineer, Embedded Android Systems
Principal Embedded Security Engineer
Sr. Software Engineer, Embedded Agentic AI
Staff Embedded Firmware Engineer
Principal Embedded Software Engineer
Embedded Software Test Engineer, Onboard Test Automation
Embedded SW Engineer
Staff Embedded Linux Engineer
Embedded Systems Engineer-Federal
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning (Audio)
Machine Learning Engineer - Fraud Risk
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Machine Learning Engineer, Integrity
Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Ads Delivery
Machine Learning Engineer, Speech LLM Training - San Francisco
Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Ad Serving
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$199,500 | 25 |
Silvus Technologies
|
$170,000 | 10 |
SpaceX
|
$142,500 | 9 |
| AX Axon | $183,300 | 7 |
Verkada
|
$245,000 | 6 |
Applied Intuition
|
$202,000 | 6 |
TP-Link Systems Inc.
|
$140,000 | 6 |
STR
|
$130,500 | 6 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Reddit
|
$276,000 | 18 |
|
Pinterest
|
$260,867 | 18 |
Motional
|
$185,500 | 17 |
Roblox
|
$297,743 | 14 |
Airbnb
|
$274,500 | 14 |
Torc Robotics
|
$249,000 | 11 |
Nuro
|
$242,540 | 10 |
|
Applied Intuition
|
$173,500 | 10 |
Embedded Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Toronto | $200,750 | 4 |
| Seattle | $193,000 | 13 |
| Austin | $186,975 | 6 |
| Boston | $183,300 | 11 |
| San Francisco | $180,000 | 19 |
| Los Angeles | $180,000 | 15 |
| Denver | $177,500 | 3 |
| New York | $167,500 | 6 |
ML Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $240,000 | 168 |
| Austin | $230,000 | 12 |
| New York | $225,000 | 102 |
| Seattle | $212,444 | 41 |
| Los Angeles | $205,000 | 11 |
| Boston | $200,000 | 42 |
| Toronto | $195,000 | 27 |
| Paris | $185,000 | 6 |
| Denver | $175,000 | 5 |
| Atlanta | $174,825 | 8 |
Embedded Engineer vs ML Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Embedded Engineer is $185,000 per year (typically $155,000–$208,938), versus $205,841 for ML Engineer ($175,000–$250,750). That puts ML Engineer about 11% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Embedded Engineer and ML 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.