Side-by-side distribution
Medical Affairs
$215,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 70.4%
- Live roles
- 108
Staff Engineer
$220,300
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 54.1%
- Live roles
- 4,830
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
Staff, Hardware Electrical Engineer
Senior Staff Full Stack Engineer ($500k - $1.5m salary)
Senior Staff React Native Engineer ($500k - 1.5m salary)
Senior Staff Frontend Engineer ($500k - $1.5m salary)
Senior Staff Backend Engineer ($500k - $1.5m salary)
Staff Software Engineer (Backend)
Senior/Staff Full Stack Engineer, Applied AI
Senior/Staff Backend Engineer, Applied AI
Research Engineer (Senior Staff+), Safeguards Labs
Staff Research Engineer, Discovery Team
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 |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 109 |
Databricks
|
$226,000 | 77 |
|
Anthropic
|
$425,000 | 60 |
Grafana Labs
|
$147,822 | 48 |
Crusoe
|
$231,000 | 46 |
Archer
|
$192,500 | 37 |
Aurora Innovation
|
$231,500 | 34 |
Okta
|
$206,000 | 34 |
Medical Affairs salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $175,000 | 4 |
Staff Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | $250,000 | 153 |
| San Francisco | $245,000 | 613 |
| New York | $240,000 | 464 |
| Dublin | $238,416 | 4 |
| Austin | $230,750 | 54 |
| Chicago | $230,000 | 46 |
| Los Angeles | $220,000 | 62 |
| Boston | $212,500 | 97 |
| Denver | $210,500 | 45 |
| London | $208,297 | 48 |
Medical Affairs vs Staff Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Medical Affairs is $215,500 per year (typically $195,000–$247,500), versus $220,300 for Staff Engineer ($190,000–$250,000). That puts Staff Engineer about 2% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Medical Affairs and Staff 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.