Side-by-side distribution
Medical Affairs
$215,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 70.4%
- Live roles
- 108
Principal Engineer
$223,100
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 45.9%
- Live roles
- 1,769
Highest-paying jobs
Medical Science Liaison
Senior Director, Regional Field Medical Science Liaison (MSL) West
Senior Medical Science Liaison (MSL) - Dermatology
Director, Medical Science Liaison Texas (Houston, Austin, San Antonio)
Director, Medical Science Liaison, Oncology (Dallas, AR, LA, OK, MS)
Director, Medical Science Liaison (MI, WI, MN)
Director, Medical Science Liaison (Southern Florida, Puerto Rico)
Director, Medical Science Liaison (Northern Florida, GA, SC, AL, MS)
Director, Medical Science Liaison, (NY, Southern Connecticut)
Director, Medical Science Liaison (Northern California, Hawaii)
Highest-paying jobs
Principal Software Engineer
Distinguished Engineer
Staff / Principal Data Engineer
Principal Engineer (Payments)
Principal Engineer
Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Ads Delivery
Principal Research Engineer, Model Training & Post-Training
Principal Engineer, Agentic AI Systems
Staff / Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Serving - USA
Principal Engineer, AI Platform
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Revolution Medicines
|
$247,500 | 18 |
Oruka Therapeutics
|
$211,000 | 5 |
| AT Axsome Therapeutics | $175,000 | 5 |
Regenxbio
|
$200,000 | 4 |
| PP Praxis Precision Medicines, Inc. | $183,750 | 4 |
|
BridgeBio Pharma
|
$230,000 | 3 |
Vor Bio
|
$224,000 | 3 |
Cogent Biosciences
|
$222,500 | 3 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Roblox
|
$320,145 | 42 |
| AL Astera Labs | $207,500 | 22 |
Motional
|
$285,000 | 19 |
Elastic
|
$134,329 | 18 |
| SE Sezzle | $111,000 | 16 |
Snowflake
|
$321,750 | 12 |
Anduril Industries
|
$256,000 | 12 |
STR
|
$244,500 | 12 |
Medical Affairs salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $175,000 | 4 |
Principal Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $276,000 | 67 |
| New York | $262,000 | 56 |
| Boston | $255,500 | 42 |
| Austin | $232,500 | 9 |
| Seattle | $232,188 | 32 |
| Chicago | $228,075 | 16 |
| Los Angeles | $225,000 | 31 |
| Toronto | $210,000 | 17 |
| London | $191,448 | 15 |
| Denver | $190,000 | 17 |
Medical Affairs vs Principal Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Medical Affairs is $215,500 per year (typically $195,000–$247,500), versus $223,100 for Principal Engineer ($188,116–$276,000). That puts Principal Engineer about 4% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Medical Affairs and Principal 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.