Side-by-side distribution
Penetration Tester
$184,700
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 31.5%
- Live roles
- 73
Rust
$190,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 25.2%
- Live roles
- 123
Highest-paying jobs
Offensive Security Engineer, Agent Products
Offensive Hardware Security Engineer, Platform Security
Member of Technical Staff (Offensive Security Engineer)
Principal Offensive Security Engineer
Senior Information Security Engineer, Offensive Security
Staff Offensive Security Engineer
Senior Information Security Engineer, Offensive Security
Penetration Tester
WebApp Offensive Security Software Engineer
Offensive Security Engineer
Highest-paying jobs
Software Engineer - Platform Infrastructure (Rust, C++)
Staff Rust SDK Engineer
Founding Rust Engineer
Software Engineer 3 - Linux/Bash/Python/Rust/NoSQL/Docker/Kubernetes/Helm
Software Engineer (Backend Rust)
Senior Software Engineer (Backend Rust)
Software Engineer, Rust, Agent Runtime
Principal Rust Developer
Principal Rust Developer
New Grad Software Engineer (Backend Rust)
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| GR GRVTY | $215,000 | 2 |
|
Robinhood
|
$191,444 | 2 |
|
Accenture Federal Services
|
$174,200 | 2 |
M9 Solutions
|
$120,000 | 2 |
TP-Link Systems Inc.
|
$106,000 | 2 |
|
OpenAI
|
$418,500 | 1 |
|
Anthropic
|
$362,500 | 1 |
|
Perplexity
|
$312,500 | 1 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$193,000 | 3 |
|
N1
|
$190,000 | 3 |
|
Zscaler
|
$221,000 | 2 |
Certik
|
$141,000 | 2 |
Blockhouse
|
$85,500 | 2 |
|
xAI
|
$310,000 | 1 |
|
Twin Labs
|
$261,899 | 1 |
|
LiveKit
|
$250,000 | 1 |
Penetration Tester salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | $362,500 | 3 |
| San Francisco | $312,500 | 5 |
| New York | $236,000 | 7 |
Rust salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $190,000 | 6 |
| San Francisco | $190,000 | 5 |
| Toronto | $127,500 | 3 |
Penetration Tester vs Rust: which pays more?
The median for Penetration Tester is $184,700 per year (typically $136,250–$218,250), versus $190,000 for Rust ($155,000–$204,500). That puts Rust about 3% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Penetration Tester and Rust 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.