Side-by-side distribution
Robotics
$200,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 43.8%
- Live roles
- 381
Tech Lead
$185,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 34.3%
- Live roles
- 2,594
Highest-paying jobs
Lead Safety Engineer, Robotics
Machine Learning Engineer, Distributed Data Systems - Robotics
Firmware Engineer, Robotics
Software Engineer, Distributed Data Systems - Robotics
Inference Engineer, Robotics
Electrical 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 Business Development Lead - Retail Tech & Software Services
Lead Software Engineer (Backend)
Customer Engineering Lead
Technical Lead, Safety Research
Lead Security Engineer
Data Engineering Lead
Staff Engineer, Emulation Technical Lead
RISC-V AI / HPC & Agentic Software Engineering Lead
Technical Lead Manager, Data Engineering, Trust & Safety
Lead Machine Learning Inference Engineer, Advertising
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
|
$170,000 | 33 |
STR
|
$198,250 | 26 |
Motional
|
$237,500 | 21 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$197,750 | 21 |
Fluidstack
|
$275,000 | 19 |
Scout Motors
|
$176,250 | 16 |
Relativity Space
|
$170,000 | 15 |
|
OpenAI
|
$338,750 | 14 |
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 |
Tech Lead salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Austin | $266,500 | 24 |
| San Francisco | $238,500 | 141 |
| Seattle | $234,225 | 34 |
| New York | $222,000 | 100 |
| Boston | $212,500 | 51 |
| Atlanta | $190,000 | 13 |
| Denver | $183,500 | 15 |
| Los Angeles | $175,000 | 19 |
| Toronto | $167,673 | 24 |
| Chicago | $166,000 | 26 |
Robotics vs Tech Lead: which pays more?
The median for Robotics is $200,000 per year (typically $170,250–$222,000), versus $185,000 for Tech Lead ($152,500–$223,683). That puts Robotics about 8% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Robotics and Tech Lead 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.