Side-by-side distribution
Medical Affairs
$215,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 70.4%
- Live roles
- 108
Tech Lead
$185,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 34.5%
- Live roles
- 2,598
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
Senior Business Development Lead - Retail Tech & Software Services
Lead Software Engineer (Backend)
Customer Engineering Lead
Evals Infrastructure Tech Lead / Manager
Software Engineering Team Lead
Technical Lead, Safety Research
Lead Security Engineer
Data Engineering Lead
RISC-V AI / HPC & Agentic Software Engineering Lead
Staff Engineer, Emulation Technical Lead
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
|
$170,000 | 33 |
STR
|
$197,000 | 27 |
Motional
|
$237,500 | 21 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$197,750 | 21 |
Fluidstack
|
$275,000 | 19 |
Scout Motors
|
$176,250 | 17 |
|
OpenAI
|
$338,750 | 14 |
Relativity Space
|
$165,000 | 13 |
Medical Affairs salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $175,000 | 4 |
Tech Lead salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Austin | $266,500 | 24 |
| San Francisco | $237,500 | 141 |
| Seattle | $234,225 | 34 |
| New York | $224,000 | 99 |
| Boston | $219,000 | 51 |
| Denver | $183,500 | 15 |
| Atlanta | $183,188 | 14 |
| Los Angeles | $175,000 | 19 |
| Toronto | $167,673 | 26 |
| Chicago | $166,000 | 30 |
Medical Affairs vs Tech Lead: which pays more?
The median for Medical Affairs is $215,500 per year (typically $195,000–$247,500), versus $185,000 for Tech Lead ($152,500–$224,000). That puts Medical Affairs about 16% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Medical Affairs 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.