Side-by-side distribution
Embedded Engineer
$183,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 48.5%
- Live roles
- 470
Software Engineer
$191,562
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 44.2%
- Live roles
- 15,578
Highest-paying jobs
Principal Engineer, Embedded Vehicle Software
Principal Embedded Software Engineer
Staff Embedded Security Engineer
Embedded SW Engineer
Firmware/ Embedded Systems Engineer
Senior Embedded Linux Engineer - Connectivity
Embedded Software Engineer - Access Control
Embedded Systems Engineer, Autonomous Vehicles - Federal
Senior Embedded Systems Engineer
Embedded Security Engineer
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning (Audio)
Software Engineer, ML Networking
Senior Software Engineer
Lead Software Engineer
Staff Software Engineer, Node Infra
Staff Software Engineer, Kubernetes Platform
Staff Software Engineer, Claude Code
Staff+ Software Engineer, Developer Productivity
Staff Software Engineer, Code RL
Staff Software Engineer, Environments Infrastructure
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$201,250 | 22 |
SpaceX
|
$145,000 | 13 |
Silvus Technologies
|
$170,000 | 9 |
|
Verkada
|
$232,500 | 8 |
Applied Intuition
|
$196,000 | 7 |
TP-Link Systems Inc.
|
$152,500 | 6 |
Latitude AI
|
$200,000 | 5 |
| AX Axon | $183,300 | 5 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Anduril Industries
|
$221,000 | 292 |
OpenAI
|
$350,000 | 140 |
|
SpaceX
|
$142,500 | 123 |
Speechify
|
$170,000 | 102 |
Elastic
|
$109,437 | 100 |
Roblox
|
$267,950 | 99 |
Palantir
|
$167,500 | 98 |
Databricks
|
$214,700 | 95 |
Embedded Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | $200,275 | 12 |
| San Francisco | $195,000 | 21 |
| New York | $181,900 | 6 |
| Los Angeles | $181,500 | 16 |
| Austin | $179,475 | 6 |
| Boston | $178,750 | 4 |
| Denver | $157,500 | 4 |
Software Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney | $431,406 | 5 |
| San Francisco | $226,619 | 1,438 |
| New York | $215,000 | 1,239 |
| Seattle | $209,500 | 381 |
| London | $205,105 | 115 |
| Austin | $188,000 | 107 |
| Boston | $187,250 | 190 |
| Los Angeles | $183,150 | 165 |
| Denver | $177,500 | 103 |
| Chicago | $175,000 | 131 |
Embedded Engineer vs Software Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Embedded Engineer is $183,000 per year (typically $152,900–$207,075), versus $191,562 for Software Engineer ($150,500–$226,000). That puts Software Engineer about 5% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Embedded Engineer and Software 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.