Side-by-side distribution
Firmware Engineer
$192,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 54.9%
- Live roles
- 204
Full-Stack
$175,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 30.4%
- Live roles
- 2,796
Highest-paying jobs
Networking Operating System Firmware Engineer
Firmware Engineer, Robotics
ASIC Firmware Engineer, Modeling
Firmware Engineer, RTOS, Consumer Devices
Senior Staff Firmware Engineer
Firmware Engineer, Robotics and Surgery Engineering
Staff Embedded Software Engineer - Camera Firmware
Founding Firmware Engineer
Firmware/ Embedded Systems Engineer
Staff Firmware Engineer
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Staff Full Stack Engineer ($500k - $1.5m salary)
Senior/Staff Full Stack Engineer, Applied AI
Senior AI Fullstack Engineer
Fullstack Software Engineer, Agent Platform
Founding Engineer - Full Stack
Staff Full Stack Engineer ($400k - $500k salary)
Full Stack Engineer, Fleet Scheduling
Full-Stack Engineer, ChatGPT Education & Learning
Staff+ Software Engineer, Full-stack
Full Stack Software Engineer, Cybersecurity Products
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 21 |
Lunar Energy
|
$195,000 | 5 |
SK hynix memory solutions America Inc.
|
$135,000 | 5 |
|
OpenAI
|
$360,750 | 4 |
Neros Technologies
|
$174,750 | 4 |
ALSO
|
$220,000 | 3 |
CoreWeave
|
$212,000 | 3 |
OnLogic
|
$110,000 | 3 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
OpenAI
|
$330,000 | 20 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$131,425 | 18 |
SpaceX
|
$142,500 | 12 |
Databricks
|
$195,500 | 11 |
|
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 9 |
Affirm
|
$194,766 | 9 |
| GR GRVTY | $200,000 | 8 |
Sift Stack, Inc.
|
$192,500 | 8 |
Firmware Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $212,000 | 5 |
| San Francisco | $207,500 | 17 |
| Seattle | $183,300 | 3 |
Full-Stack salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $215,000 | 159 |
| Seattle | $210,000 | 32 |
| New York | $200,000 | 163 |
| Boston | $195,000 | 16 |
| Denver | $188,000 | 9 |
| Chicago | $185,000 | 14 |
| Los Angeles | $175,000 | 21 |
| London | $154,508 | 12 |
| Austin | $147,500 | 10 |
| Toronto | $137,065 | 41 |
Firmware Engineer vs Full-Stack: which pays more?
The median for Firmware Engineer is $192,000 per year (typically $160,125–$220,000), versus $175,000 for Full-Stack ($140,000–$207,500). That puts Firmware Engineer about 10% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Firmware Engineer and Full-Stack 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.