Side-by-side distribution
Full-Stack
$161,250
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 26.8%
- Live roles
- 4,496
Tech Lead
$164,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 27.8%
- Live roles
- 8,790
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Staff Full Stack Engineer ($500k - $1.5m salary)
Senior/Staff Full Stack Engineer, Applied AI
Principal Software Engineer, Full Stack — Codex
Fullstack Software Engineer, Agent Platform
Founding Engineer - Full Stack
Full-Stack Engineer, ChatGPT Education & Learning
Full Stack Engineer, Fleet Scheduling
Staff+ Fullstack Software Engineer, Safeguards Engineering
Staff+ Software Engineer, Full-stack
Staff+ Software Engineer, Enterprise (Full Stack)
Highest-paying jobs
Lead, Quant Engineer
Team Lead Platform Engineering
Engineering Team Lead
Technical Lead Manager - Training Runtime, Data(set) Movement
Tech Lead, Systems & Platform Applied AI
Sr. Staff Engineer, RTL Physical Implementation Lead
RISC-V AI / HPC & Agentic Software Engineering Lead
Lead / Staff Full-Stack Software Engineer - Console Experience
Tech Lead Manager, Education
Tech Lead, Deployment & Operations — Custom Infrastructure
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$142,400 | 43 |
|
OpenAI
|
$355,500 | 26 |
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
|
$191,100 | 110 |
|
Leidos
|
$140,525 | 80 |
| GV GE Vernova | $119,000 | 79 |
| BO Boeing | $156,880 | 76 |
|
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$162,000 | 49 |
STR
|
$199,500 | 44 |
Anduril Industries
|
$171,500 | 44 |
|
CACI
|
$160,950 | 25 |
Full-Stack salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $210,000 | 163 |
| Seattle | $197,541 | 38 |
| New York | $195,000 | 169 |
| Boston | $172,600 | 44 |
| Los Angeles | $165,500 | 29 |
| Austin | $165,500 | 27 |
| London | $156,168 | 14 |
| Chicago | $153,675 | 24 |
| Atlanta | $152,350 | 19 |
| Denver | $150,000 | 19 |
Tech Lead salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $226,150 | 148 |
| New York | $195,000 | 203 |
| Seattle | $194,100 | 55 |
| Singapore | $187,558 | 4 |
| Los Angeles | $182,750 | 44 |
| Austin | $182,300 | 61 |
| Boston | $179,125 | 80 |
| Denver | $175,000 | 48 |
| Atlanta | $163,500 | 56 |
| Chicago | $160,000 | 109 |
Full-Stack vs Tech Lead: which pays more?
The median for Full-Stack is $161,250 per year (typically $127,153–$200,000), versus $164,000 for Tech Lead ($132,500–$197,938). That puts Tech Lead about 2% 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.