Side-by-side distribution
Firmware Engineer
$191,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 54.3%
- Live roles
- 197
Staff Engineer
$220,063
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 54.2%
- Live roles
- 4,821
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
Senior Staff Backend Engineer ($500k - $1.5m salary)
Senior Staff React Native Engineer ($500k - 1.5m salary)
Senior Staff Frontend Engineer ($500k - $1.5m salary)
Senior Staff Full Stack Engineer ($500k - $1.5m salary)
Staff Software Engineer (Backend)
Senior/Staff Backend Engineer, Applied AI
Senior/Staff Full Stack Engineer, Applied AI
Research Engineer (Senior Staff+), Safeguards Labs
Staff Research Engineer, Discovery Team
Senior Staff+ Software Engineer, Node Infra
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
|
$222,000 | 111 |
Databricks
|
$226,000 | 77 |
|
Anthropic
|
$405,000 | 57 |
Crusoe
|
$231,000 | 45 |
Grafana Labs
|
$147,923 | 45 |
Aurora Innovation
|
$231,500 | 40 |
Archer
|
$192,500 | 37 |
Okta
|
$206,000 | 34 |
Firmware Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $210,458 | 14 |
| New York | $197,500 | 7 |
Staff Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Dublin | $257,300 | 5 |
| Seattle | $250,000 | 154 |
| San Francisco | $245,000 | 625 |
| New York | $239,700 | 466 |
| Austin | $228,750 | 52 |
| Chicago | $227,250 | 44 |
| Los Angeles | $221,000 | 64 |
| Denver | $210,500 | 47 |
| Boston | $210,000 | 97 |
| London | $206,683 | 47 |
Firmware Engineer vs Staff Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Firmware Engineer is $191,000 per year (typically $160,000–$215,000), versus $220,063 for Staff Engineer ($188,813–$250,000). That puts Staff Engineer about 15% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Firmware Engineer and Staff 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.