Side-by-side distribution
Platform Engineer
$195,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 44.3%
- Live roles
- 4,041
Software Engineer
$191,125
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 44.1%
- Live roles
- 15,329
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
SOC Emulation Engineer - Hardware Emulation Infrastructure
Infrastructure Engineer
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Software Engineer, Growth
Intermediate Backend Software Engineer
Lead Software Engineer (Backend)
Staff Software Engineer (Backend)
Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning (Audio)
Software Engineer - Solana
Software Engineer - Stellar
Software Engineer - EVM
Software Engineer - Compliance
Senior Staff+ Software Engineer, Node Infra
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 |
|---|---|---|
|
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 298 |
|
OpenAI
|
$309,000 | 113 |
|
Speechify
|
$170,000 | 103 |
|
Databricks
|
$214,700 | 98 |
Roblox
|
$269,270 | 83 |
Applied Intuition
|
$180,000 | 83 |
|
Palantir
|
$167,500 | 74 |
SpaceX
|
$137,500 | 66 |
Platform Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $228,725 | 414 |
| Seattle | $214,250 | 110 |
| New York | $210,000 | 320 |
| Austin | $202,500 | 39 |
| Los Angeles | $187,500 | 31 |
| Boston | $185,000 | 64 |
| Toronto | $185,000 | 61 |
| Chicago | $183,000 | 22 |
| Denver | $180,000 | 29 |
| Atlanta | $170,000 | 10 |
Software Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $225,000 | 1,399 |
| Sydney | $224,060 | 8 |
| New York | $213,000 | 1,159 |
| Seattle | $212,500 | 419 |
| Austin | $197,000 | 137 |
| Boston | $186,050 | 227 |
| Los Angeles | $182,500 | 164 |
| Bangalore | $181,219 | 4 |
| Chicago | $179,250 | 138 |
| Atlanta | $172,750 | 57 |
Platform Engineer vs Software Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Platform Engineer is $195,000 per year (typically $166,525–$230,000), versus $191,125 for Software Engineer ($152,900–$225,000). That puts Platform Engineer about 2% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Platform Engineer and Software 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.