Side-by-side distribution
Full-Stack
$175,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 30.6%
- Live roles
- 2,765
QA Engineer
$136,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 35.8%
- Live roles
- 2,129
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
Senior QA Engineer
Senior Quality Assurance Engineer
Senior Associate - Test Automation & Tools Development Engineer
Senior/Staff Design for Test Engineer
Principal Electrical Engineer, Integration & Test
Staff Software Development Engineer in Test (Staff SDET)
Embedded Software Test Engineer, Onboard Test Automation
Principal Software Engineer in Test (SDET)
Manufacturing Software Test Engineer
Software Engineer, Manufacturing Test Systems
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 |
|---|---|---|
|
Anduril Industries
|
$164,500 | 101 |
Air Apps
|
$61,692 | 43 |
Relativity Space
|
$153,375 | 30 |
SpaceX
|
$108,750 | 18 |
|
PlayStation Global
|
$209,700 | 15 |
Rocket Lab Corporation
|
$117,500 | 15 |
Vast
|
$166,656 | 11 |
Archer
|
$162,000 | 11 |
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 Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Bangalore | $194,838 | 3 |
| Seattle | $162,500 | 9 |
| San Francisco | $161,000 | 39 |
| Austin | $155,000 | 7 |
| Atlanta | $152,750 | 10 |
| Los Angeles | $152,500 | 25 |
| Boston | $136,400 | 12 |
| New York | $134,750 | 12 |
| Denver | $115,000 | 4 |
| Toronto | $106,250 | 20 |
Full-Stack vs QA Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Full-Stack is $175,000 per year (typically $140,000–$210,000), versus $136,000 for QA Engineer ($107,500–$170,000). That puts Full-Stack about 29% 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.