Side-by-side distribution
Hardware Engineer
$172,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 49.2%
- Live roles
- 500
Robotics
$197,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 46.2%
- Live roles
- 418
Highest-paying jobs
Hardware / Software CoDesign Engineer - 3P
Principal Engineer, SoC Emulation - Hardware Emulation Infrastructure
Software Engineer, Fleet Hardware Health
Software Engineer, Hardware
Hardware Tools Engineer
Software Engineer, Hardware Health
Research Engineer - Robotic Hardware, Simulation and Data
Offensive Hardware Security Engineer, Platform Security
Manufacturing Engineer - Data Center Hardware
Hardware Engineer, PCB
Highest-paying jobs
Machine Learning Engineer, Distributed Data Systems - Robotics
Software Engineer, Robotics Data
PCB Layout Engineer, Robotics
Firmware Engineer, Robotics
Electrical Engineer, Robotics
Lead Safety Engineer, Robotics
Software Engineer, Distributed Data Systems - Robotics
Inference Engineer, Robotics
Staff Robotics Engineer / Tech Lead – Whole-Body Control & Robot Learning
Software Engineer: ML Robotics Systems
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
SpaceX
|
$122,500 | 21 |
Anduril Industries
|
$170,000 | 14 |
Relativity Space
|
$185,000 | 10 |
Freeform
|
$170,000 | 10 |
|
Applied Intuition
|
$159,500 | 9 |
|
OpenAI
|
$337,500 | 8 |
Everpure
|
$219,000 | 8 |
Astranis
|
$182,500 | 6 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 47 |
|
OpenAI
|
$390,750 | 8 |
Neuralink
|
$146,875 | 8 |
| SA Skild AI | $200,000 | 7 |
Field Ai
|
$185,000 | 7 |
RoboForce
|
$212,500 | 6 |
Formic
|
$75,920 | 6 |
Agility Robotics
|
$238,000 | 5 |
Hardware Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | $362,500 | 3 |
| New York | $300,000 | 8 |
| London | $300,000 | 4 |
| Chicago | $200,000 | 6 |
| San Francisco | $195,000 | 31 |
| Boston | $170,000 | 6 |
| Los Angeles | $162,500 | 20 |
Robotics salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $235,500 | 3 |
| Boston | $222,000 | 8 |
| San Francisco | $215,500 | 36 |
| Seattle | $214,000 | 7 |
| Austin | $179,750 | 12 |
| Denver | $155,000 | 4 |
| Los Angeles | $153,750 | 10 |
Hardware Engineer vs Robotics: which pays more?
The median for Hardware Engineer is $172,500 per year (typically $135,000–$200,000), versus $197,500 for Robotics ($160,000–$222,000). That puts Robotics about 14% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Hardware Engineer and Robotics 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.