Side-by-side distribution
Firmware Engineer
$170,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 38.4%
- Live roles
- 563
Full-Stack
$160,950
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 26.5%
- Live roles
- 4,478
Highest-paying jobs
ASIC Firmware Engineer, Modeling
Networking Operating System Firmware Engineer
Firmware Engineer, RTOS, Consumer Devices
Senior Firmware Engineer, Security
Senior Firmware Engineer- Terawave
Principal Engineer, Firmware Security
MTS Firmware Engineer
Founding Firmware Engineer
Firmware Engineer
Senior Firmware Engineer, Robotics
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Staff Full Stack Engineer ($500k - $1.5m salary)
Senior/Staff Full Stack Engineer, Applied AI
Fullstack Software Engineer, Agent Platform
Founding Engineer - Full Stack
Full-Stack Engineer, ChatGPT Education & Learning
Full Stack Engineer, Fleet Scheduling
Staff+ Fullstack Software Engineer, Safeguards Engineering
Staff+ Software Engineer, Enterprise (Full Stack)
Staff+ Software Engineer, Full-stack
Lead / Staff Full-Stack Software Engineer - Console Experience
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$193,000 | 23 |
| MT Micron Technology | $186,500 | 8 |
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
|
$125,800 | 6 |
Lunar Energy
|
$195,000 | 5 |
HP
|
$188,950 | 5 |
Leonardo
|
$84,366 | 5 |
Samsara
|
$226,200 | 4 |
ALSO
|
$223,750 | 4 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$142,400 | 44 |
|
OpenAI
|
$355,500 | 26 |
CACI
|
$143,125 | 26 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$135,200 | 23 |
GDIT
|
$168,000 | 19 |
Affirm
|
$183,000 | 15 |
Leidos
|
$151,475 | 15 |
SpaceX
|
$142,500 | 15 |
Firmware Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | $230,461 | 5 |
| Austin | $219,000 | 3 |
| San Francisco | $206,000 | 22 |
| New York | $197,500 | 5 |
| Toronto | $80,924 | 3 |
Full-Stack salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $210,000 | 153 |
| Seattle | $202,500 | 35 |
| New York | $195,000 | 168 |
| Boston | $171,450 | 39 |
| Los Angeles | $165,000 | 27 |
| London | $156,168 | 14 |
| Austin | $155,000 | 24 |
| Chicago | $150,000 | 19 |
| Denver | $150,000 | 16 |
| Atlanta | $145,450 | 14 |
Firmware Engineer vs Full-Stack: which pays more?
The median for Firmware Engineer is $170,000 per year (typically $129,000–$205,000), versus $160,950 for Full-Stack ($127,025–$200,000). That puts Firmware Engineer about 6% 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.