Side-by-side distribution
Platform Engineer
$195,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 44.2%
- Live roles
- 4,052
Staff Engineer
$220,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 54.1%
- Live roles
- 4,834
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
Infrastructure and Platform Development Engineer
Machine Learning Infrastructure Engineer, Safeguards Research
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Staff Backend Engineer ($500k - $1.5m salary)
Senior Staff React Native Engineer ($500k - 1.5m salary)
Senior Staff Frontend Engineer ($500k - $1.5m salary)
Senior Staff Full Stack Engineer ($500k - $1.5m salary)
Staff Software Engineer (Backend)
Senior/Staff Backend Engineer, Applied AI
Senior/Staff Full Stack Engineer, Applied AI
Research Engineer (Senior Staff+), Safeguards Labs
Staff Research Engineer, Discovery Team
Senior Staff+ Software Engineer, Node Infra
Speechify
OpenAI
Nuro
Palantir
Coinbase
Reddit
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 110 |
Databricks
|
$226,000 | 77 |
|
Anthropic
|
$405,000 | 57 |
Crusoe
|
$231,000 | 45 |
Grafana Labs
|
$147,923 | 43 |
Archer
|
$192,500 | 37 |
Aurora Innovation
|
$231,500 | 34 |
Okta
|
$206,000 | 34 |
Platform Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $226,000 | 411 |
| Seattle | $212,500 | 108 |
| New York | $210,000 | 317 |
| Austin | $198,900 | 39 |
| Los Angeles | $187,500 | 32 |
| Boston | $187,500 | 64 |
| Toronto | $181,644 | 62 |
| Chicago | $178,500 | 23 |
| Denver | $175,000 | 31 |
| Atlanta | $170,000 | 11 |
Staff Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Dublin | $257,300 | 5 |
| Seattle | $252,500 | 152 |
| San Francisco | $244,000 | 615 |
| New York | $238,950 | 466 |
| Chicago | $230,000 | 46 |
| Austin | $228,750 | 52 |
| Los Angeles | $220,000 | 63 |
| Boston | $211,250 | 98 |
| Denver | $208,587 | 46 |
| London | $206,683 | 48 |
Platform Engineer vs Staff Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Platform Engineer is $195,000 per year (typically $166,525–$230,000), versus $220,000 for Staff Engineer ($189,700–$250,000). That puts Staff Engineer about 13% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Platform Engineer and Staff 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.