Side-by-side distribution
Mobile Engineer
$177,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 19.2%
- Live roles
- 814
Principal Engineer
$215,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 44.1%
- Live roles
- 1,819
Highest-paying jobs
Lead Mobile Engineer, Performance
Mobile Android Engineer
Mobile iOS Engineer
Founding Mobile Engineer (React Native)
Senior Software Engineer (Mobile)
Mobile Engineer
Software Engineer - Mobile Web
Mobile Android Engineer
Mobile iOS Engineer
Mobile Infrastructure Engineer
Highest-paying jobs
Principal Engineer - Supply Chain Planning
Principal Software Engineer
Principal Sales Systems Engineer
Staff / Principal Data Engineer
Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Ads Delivery
Principal Research Engineer, Model Training & Post-Training
Principal Engineer, Agentic AI Systems
Principal Security Engineer, Infrastructure Security
Principal Software Engineer, Infrastructure Security
Staff / Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Serving - USA
Air Apps
Konrad
SpaceX
Ableserve
Esri
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Elastic
|
$128,337 | 45 |
Roblox
|
$320,145 | 38 |
| AL Astera Labs | $210,750 | 36 |
Referral Board
|
$129,783 | 20 |
| CI Clarity Innovations | $215,000 | 16 |
Zscaler
|
$213,563 | 14 |
Anduril Industries
|
$256,000 | 13 |
Rocket Lab Corporation
|
$281,000 | 12 |
Principal Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $276,000 | 74 |
| New York | $263,250 | 50 |
| Austin | $245,250 | 12 |
| Boston | $237,500 | 43 |
| Seattle | $231,500 | 35 |
| Chicago | $230,000 | 7 |
| Los Angeles | $225,000 | 28 |
| Atlanta | $219,375 | 9 |
| Denver | $212,500 | 22 |
| London | $180,807 | 10 |
Mobile Engineer vs Principal Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Mobile Engineer is $177,500 per year (typically $121,108–$217,500), versus $215,000 for Principal Engineer ($180,625–$275,000). That puts Principal Engineer about 21% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Mobile Engineer 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.