Side-by-side distribution
Platform Engineer
$195,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 44.3%
- Live roles
- 4,041
Security Engineer
$190,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 47.5%
- Live roles
- 1,984
Highest-paying jobs
Platform Engineer
Senior Staff+ Software Engineer, Kubernetes Platform
Staff+ Infrastructure Engineer, Cluster Infrastructure
Software Engineer, Research Infrastructure
Senior Security Platform Engineer I
Principal .NET Software Engineer - Cloud Payments Platform
Principal .NET Software Engineer- Cloud Payments Platform
Staff+ Software Engineer, Safeguards Infrastructure
Software Engineer, Platform
SOC Emulation Engineer - Hardware Emulation Infrastructure
Highest-paying jobs
Cyber Security Engineer (5462)
Security Engineer
Senior Security Platform Engineer I
Senior AI Security Engineer II
Lead Security Engineer
Principal Security Engineer, Infrastructure Security
Principal Software Engineer, Infrastructure Security
Offensive Security Engineer, Agent Products
Staff+ Application Security Engineer
Staff+ Application Security Engineer - M&A
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Speechify
|
$170,000 | 103 |
|
OpenAI
|
$308,250 | 28 |
Nuro
|
$200,450 | 24 |
Palantir
|
$167,500 | 24 |
Databricks
|
$225,000 | 21 |
Coinbase
|
$202,483 | 20 |
Reddit
|
$244,500 | 18 |
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 18 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Aurora Innovation
|
$222,000 | 28 |
|
Anduril Industries
|
$202,000 | 20 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$151,800 | 18 |
SpaceX
|
$142,500 | 16 |
Mozilla
|
$86,043 | 16 |
|
Palantir
|
$170,000 | 14 |
|
OpenAI
|
$339,000 | 13 |
|
Anthropic
|
$362,500 | 12 |
Platform Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $227,250 | 414 |
| Seattle | $214,250 | 110 |
| New York | $210,000 | 320 |
| Austin | $202,000 | 41 |
| Los Angeles | $187,500 | 31 |
| Boston | $185,000 | 64 |
| Toronto | $185,000 | 61 |
| Chicago | $183,000 | 22 |
| Denver | $177,500 | 30 |
| Atlanta | $170,000 | 10 |
Platform Engineer vs Security Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Platform Engineer is $195,000 per year (typically $166,525–$230,000), versus $190,000 for Security Engineer ($153,138–$233,100). That puts Platform Engineer about 3% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Platform Engineer and Security 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.