Side-by-side distribution
Full-Stack
$160,950
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 26.7%
- Live roles
- 4,489
QA Engineer
$130,750
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 37.4%
- Live roles
- 5,094
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, Fleet Scheduling
Full-Stack Engineer, ChatGPT Education & Learning
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
Highest-paying jobs
Senior QA Engineer
Test Engineer, System-Level Test (SLT)
ATE Test Development Engineer
Staff Software Development Engineer in Test (Infrastructure)
Staff Software Development Engineer in Test (Connectors)
Staff Software Development Engineer in Test (Graph Database)
Mechanical Engineer, PCBA Test Infrastructure, Robotics
Senior Principal, Solution Test & Automation Engineer
Principal Software Test Engineer - Solution Engineering – Customer Solution Validation
Senior/Staff Design for Test Engineer
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$142,400 | 43 |
|
OpenAI
|
$355,500 | 25 |
CACI
|
$139,950 | 25 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$135,200 | 22 |
GDIT
|
$168,000 | 19 |
Affirm
|
$183,000 | 15 |
Leidos
|
$151,475 | 15 |
SpaceX
|
$142,500 | 15 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Northrop Grumman
|
$123,000 | 158 |
Anduril Industries
|
$150,000 | 147 |
|
Leidos
|
$122,275 | 89 |
Blue Origin
|
$145,228 | 80 |
|
CACI
|
$116,650 | 43 |
Air Apps
|
$59,402 | 43 |
Relativity Space
|
$155,000 | 33 |
|
SpaceX
|
$117,500 | 33 |
Full-Stack salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $210,000 | 156 |
| Seattle | $197,582 | 39 |
| New York | $195,000 | 170 |
| Boston | $171,450 | 43 |
| Los Angeles | $165,250 | 30 |
| Austin | $160,000 | 27 |
| London | $156,168 | 14 |
| Chicago | $152,350 | 23 |
| Denver | $150,000 | 18 |
| Atlanta | $148,500 | 17 |
QA Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | $167,500 | 53 |
| San Francisco | $162,500 | 60 |
| Austin | $156,000 | 18 |
| Denver | $146,614 | 30 |
| Atlanta | $146,500 | 21 |
| Seattle | $145,228 | 87 |
| New York | $145,000 | 21 |
| Boston | $136,100 | 16 |
| Chicago | $129,000 | 17 |
| Toronto | $98,510 | 31 |
Full-Stack vs QA Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Full-Stack is $160,950 per year (typically $127,288–$200,000), versus $130,750 for QA Engineer ($105,225–$161,953). That puts Full-Stack about 23% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Full-Stack and QA 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.