Side-by-side distribution
Robotics
$200,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 43.8%
- Live roles
- 381
Software Engineer
$191,125
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 44.1%
- Live roles
- 15,329
Highest-paying jobs
Lead Safety Engineer, Robotics
Machine Learning Engineer, Distributed Data Systems - Robotics
Firmware Engineer, Robotics
Software Engineer, Distributed Data Systems - Robotics
Electrical Engineer, Robotics
Inference Engineer, Robotics
Staff Robotics Engineer / Tech Lead – Whole-Body Control & Robot Learning
Software Engineer: Robotics Controls
Software Engineer: ML Robotics Systems
Staff Robotics Software Engineer, Air Vehicle Autonomy
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Software Engineer, Growth
Intermediate Backend Software Engineer
Staff Software Engineer (Backend)
Lead 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 |
|---|---|---|
|
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 53 |
Field Ai
|
$185,000 | 9 |
|
OpenAI
|
$370,000 | 7 |
| SA Skild AI | $200,000 | 7 |
Neuralink
|
$155,750 | 6 |
DoorDash USA
|
$207,500 | 5 |
Intrinsic
|
$174,050 | 5 |
Agility Robotics
|
$215,750 | 4 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 298 |
|
OpenAI
|
$309,000 | 112 |
Speechify
|
$170,000 | 103 |
Databricks
|
$214,700 | 98 |
Roblox
|
$269,270 | 84 |
Applied Intuition
|
$180,000 | 83 |
Palantir
|
$167,500 | 74 |
SpaceX
|
$137,500 | 66 |
Robotics salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Boston | $222,000 | 13 |
| New York | $214,750 | 4 |
| Seattle | $214,750 | 6 |
| Austin | $212,000 | 9 |
| San Francisco | $206,000 | 36 |
| Denver | $150,000 | 3 |
| Los Angeles | $131,250 | 6 |
Software Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $225,000 | 1,403 |
| Sydney | $224,060 | 8 |
| New York | $213,000 | 1,158 |
| Seattle | $212,500 | 420 |
| Austin | $195,750 | 136 |
| Boston | $186,050 | 229 |
| Los Angeles | $182,500 | 164 |
| Bangalore | $181,219 | 4 |
| Chicago | $180,000 | 137 |
| Atlanta | $175,000 | 57 |
Robotics vs Software Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Robotics is $200,000 per year (typically $170,250–$222,000), versus $191,125 for Software Engineer ($152,900–$225,000). That puts Robotics about 5% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Robotics 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.