Security Engineer vs Surgeon

Put two roles head to head — any role, in any location or worldwide-remote.

Side A

Side B

Surgeon pays about 71% more at the median.

Side-by-side distribution

Security Engineer Surgeon
$190k
$324.2k
$78.9k box = 25th–75th · whiskers = 10th–90th $582.2k

Security Engineer

$190,000

median · per year, annualized USD

Median over time ▲ +5.6%
$180,000 $190,000
$153.6k 25th
$190k Median
$235k 75th
$113.6k
$268k
Box 25th–75th · whiskers 10th–90th Full range $5k – $1,718.2k · outliers off-axis
Disclosing
47.4%
Live roles
1,974

Surgeon

$324,171

median · per year, annualized USD

Median over time ▲ +39.6%
$232,250 $324,171
$247.5k 25th
$324.2k Median
$450k 75th
$153k
$547.5k
Box 25th–75th · whiskers 10th–90th Full range $75k – $1,000k · outliers off-axis
Disclosing
20.2%
Live roles
124

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

Security Engineer salary by location

Location Median Roles
San Francisco $232,000 216
Seattle $216,000 80
New York $210,000 169
Sydney $205,000 5
Austin $188,000 23
Toronto $186,500 30
Boston $185,500 30
Atlanta $174,500 11
Denver $173,500 20
London $162,929 19

Surgeon salary by location

Location Median Roles
New York $350,000 6

Security Engineer vs Surgeon: which pays more?

The median for Security Engineer is $190,000 per year (typically $153,550–$235,000), versus $324,171 for Surgeon ($247,500–$450,000). That puts Surgeon about 71% ahead at the median.

Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Security Engineer and Surgeon 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.

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