Side-by-side distribution
Full-Stack
$162,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 27%
- Live roles
- 4,739
Tech Lead
$163,550
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 26.4%
- Live roles
- 9,204
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Staff Full Stack Engineer ($500k - $1.5m salary)
Senior/Staff Full Stack Engineer, Applied AI
Senior AI Fullstack Engineer
Founding Engineer - Full Stack
Fullstack Software Engineer, Agent Platform
Staff Full Stack Engineer ($400k - $500k salary)
Full-Stack Engineer, ChatGPT Education & Learning
Full Stack Engineer, Fleet Scheduling
Staff+ Software Engineer, Full-stack
Full Stack Software Engineer, Cybersecurity Products
Highest-paying jobs
Pre-training Distributed Systems Tech Lead / Manager
Engineering Team Lead
Cloud Engineering Team Lead
Lead Software Engineer
AI Solutions Engineering Delivery Lead
Lead Mobile Engineer, Performance
Lead Software Engineer, Payment Platform
Technical Lead Manager - Training Runtime, Data(set) Movement
RISC-V AI / HPC & Agentic Software Engineering Lead
Web Platform Lead Engineer
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$142,400 | 48 |
CACI
|
$146,300 | 33 |
|
OpenAI
|
$330,000 | 20 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$131,425 | 18 |
Leidos
|
$151,475 | 17 |
GDIT
|
$163,500 | 16 |
| GU Guidehouse | $122,500 | 16 |
SpaceX
|
$142,500 | 13 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Northrop Grumman
|
$191,100 | 100 |
| GV GE Vernova | $122,200 | 80 |
| BO Boeing | $161,000 | 77 |
|
Leidos
|
$151,475 | 70 |
|
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$162,000 | 48 |
Anduril Industries
|
$170,000 | 42 |
STR
|
$195,000 | 33 |
| SA Salesforce | $246,800 | 26 |
Full-Stack salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $215,000 | 173 |
| Seattle | $202,500 | 47 |
| New York | $194,975 | 182 |
| Boston | $186,250 | 26 |
| Los Angeles | $175,000 | 22 |
| London | $149,458 | 14 |
| Denver | $146,294 | 16 |
| Austin | $145,000 | 21 |
| Chicago | $142,950 | 29 |
| Atlanta | $141,545 | 14 |
Tech Lead salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $232,425 | 174 |
| Seattle | $219,831 | 86 |
| Austin | $204,400 | 70 |
| New York | $202,500 | 217 |
| Los Angeles | $193,300 | 44 |
| Boston | $180,200 | 81 |
| Atlanta | $179,900 | 61 |
| Chicago | $162,325 | 98 |
| Denver | $162,000 | 49 |
| Berlin | $148,465 | 9 |
Full-Stack vs Tech Lead: which pays more?
The median for Full-Stack is $162,500 per year (typically $125,000–$200,000), versus $163,550 for Tech Lead ($131,200–$200,000). That puts Tech Lead about 1% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Full-Stack and Tech Lead 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.