Side-by-side distribution
Firmware Engineer
$191,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 54.3%
- Live roles
- 197
Rust
$190,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 25.2%
- Live roles
- 123
Highest-paying jobs
Firmware Engineer, Robotics
ASIC Firmware Engineer, Modeling
Networking Operating System Firmware Engineer
Firmware Engineer, RTOS, Consumer Devices
Staff Embedded Firmware Engineer
Firmware/ Embedded Systems Engineer
Founding Firmware Engineer
Firmware Engineer, Robotics and Surgery Engineering
Staff Embedded Software Engineer - Camera Firmware
Staff Firmware Engineer
Highest-paying jobs
Software Engineer - Platform Infrastructure (Rust, C++)
Staff Rust SDK Engineer
Founding Rust Engineer
Software Engineer 3 - Linux/Bash/Python/Rust/NoSQL/Docker/Kubernetes/Helm
Software Engineer (Backend Rust)
Senior Software Engineer (Backend Rust)
Software Engineer, Rust, Agent Runtime
Principal Rust Developer
Principal Rust Developer
New Grad Software Engineer (Backend Rust)
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 14 |
|
OpenAI
|
$345,500 | 4 |
ALSO
|
$187,500 | 4 |
CoreWeave
|
$197,500 | 3 |
Mach Industries
|
$172,500 | 3 |
ALTEN Technology USA
|
$120,000 | 3 |
42dot
|
$228,000 | 2 |
Everpure
|
$216,250 | 2 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Anduril Industries
|
$193,000 | 3 |
|
N1
|
$190,000 | 3 |
|
Zscaler
|
$221,000 | 2 |
Certik
|
$141,000 | 2 |
Blockhouse
|
$85,500 | 2 |
|
xAI
|
$310,000 | 1 |
|
Twin Labs
|
$261,899 | 1 |
|
LiveKit
|
$250,000 | 1 |
Firmware Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $210,458 | 14 |
| New York | $197,500 | 7 |
Rust salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $190,000 | 6 |
| San Francisco | $190,000 | 5 |
| Toronto | $127,500 | 3 |
Firmware Engineer vs Rust: which pays more?
The median for Firmware Engineer is $191,000 per year (typically $160,000–$215,000), versus $190,000 for Rust ($155,000–$204,500). That puts Firmware Engineer about 1% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Firmware Engineer and Rust 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.