Side-by-side distribution
Full-Stack
$175,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 30.6%
- Live roles
- 2,765
QA Automation
$139,313
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 23.5%
- Live roles
- 507
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Staff Full Stack Engineer ($500k - $1.5m salary)
Senior/Staff Full Stack Engineer, Applied AI
Forward Deployed Engineer, Full-Stack
Fullstack Engineer, RL Environments
Staff Software Engineer, Fullstack
Staff Full Stack Engineer ($300k - $500k salary)
Fullstack Engineer, Assesment
Staff+ Software Engineer, Full-stack
Software Engineer, Full Stack, Tinker
Software Engineer, Full Stack
Highest-paying jobs
Automation Tester
Senior Associate - Test Automation & Tools Development Engineer
Staff Software Development Engineer in Test (Staff SDET)
Embedded Software Test Engineer, Onboard Test Automation
Principal Software Engineer in Test (SDET)
Senior Software Development Engineer in Test
Senior Software Development Engineer In Test, ML/AI
Senior Software Development Engineer in Test
Sr. Software Development Engineer in Test, AI/ML
Sr Software Development Engineer in Test, ML
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
OpenAI
|
$307,500 | 17 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$157,275 | 14 |
| TP Third-Party Job Posts | $155,000 | 14 |
Databricks
|
$208,913 | 10 |
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 9 |
Silver.dev
|
$96,000 | 7 |
| GR GRVTY | $200,000 | 6 |
Benchling
|
$189,028 | 6 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
PlayStation Global
|
$209,700 | 14 |
Air Apps
|
$61,692 | 11 |
|
Anduril Industries
|
$167,250 | 6 |
Dialpad
|
$104,717 | 5 |
Brain Corp
|
$113,292 | 4 |
|
Accenture Federal Services
|
$132,200 | 3 |
Onebrief
|
$163,750 | 2 |
Standard Bots
|
$135,000 | 2 |
Full-Stack salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $210,000 | 174 |
| Seattle | $210,000 | 36 |
| New York | $203,500 | 181 |
| Austin | $180,900 | 12 |
| Denver | $176,900 | 3 |
| Boston | $173,475 | 32 |
| Los Angeles | $168,450 | 20 |
| Chicago | $165,000 | 19 |
| Atlanta | $152,500 | 7 |
| London | $129,451 | 18 |
QA Automation salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | $166,250 | 6 |
| Los Angeles | $162,500 | 4 |
| San Francisco | $150,000 | 7 |
| New York | $134,500 | 5 |
| Toronto | $106,250 | 6 |
| Dublin | $99,648 | 3 |
Full-Stack vs QA Automation: which pays more?
The median for Full-Stack is $175,000 per year (typically $140,000–$210,000), versus $139,313 for QA Automation ($104,929–$175,600). That puts Full-Stack about 26% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Full-Stack and QA Automation 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.