Side-by-side distribution
Firmware Engineer
$170,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 38.3%
- Live roles
- 564
Software Engineer
$174,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 33.3%
- Live roles
- 32,661
Highest-paying jobs
ASIC Firmware Engineer, Modeling
Networking Operating System Firmware Engineer
Firmware Engineer, RTOS, Consumer Devices
Senior Firmware Engineer- Terawave
Senior Firmware Engineer, Security
Principal Engineer, Firmware Security
MTS Firmware Engineer
Founding Firmware Engineer
Senior Embedded Engineer - Camera Firmware
Senior Firmware Engineer, Robotics
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning (Audio)
Senior Software Engineer
Software Engineer - AI
Senior Software Engineer - Database team
Staff Software Engineer, Kubernetes Platform
Staff Software Engineer, Node Infra
Software Engineer, Research Productivity
Staff Software Engineer, Code RL
Staff+ Software Engineer, Developer Productivity
Staff Software Engineer, Claude Code
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$193,000 | 25 |
| 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 |
|---|---|---|
|
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 352 |
Northrop Grumman
|
$129,500 | 273 |
Leidos
|
$151,475 | 176 |
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$142,400 | 169 |
SpaceX
|
$142,500 | 167 |
|
OpenAI
|
$355,500 | 149 |
|
Blue Origin
|
$197,582 | 138 |
CACI
|
$139,950 | 132 |
Firmware Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | $230,461 | 5 |
| Austin | $219,000 | 3 |
| San Francisco | $207,000 | 20 |
| New York | $197,500 | 5 |
| Toronto | $80,924 | 3 |
Software Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $226,300 | 1,572 |
| New York | $212,500 | 1,398 |
| Seattle | $207,300 | 681 |
| Sydney | $195,000 | 3 |
| Los Angeles | $190,000 | 239 |
| Austin | $186,650 | 198 |
| Boston | $186,050 | 283 |
| Denver | $180,000 | 211 |
| London | $178,829 | 127 |
| Atlanta | $167,500 | 125 |
Firmware Engineer vs Software Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Firmware Engineer is $170,000 per year (typically $130,000–$205,500), versus $174,500 for Software Engineer ($133,500–$216,000). That puts Software Engineer about 3% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Firmware 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.