Side-by-side distribution
Software Engineer
$172,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 33.7%
- Live roles
- 32,536
Tech Lead
$164,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 28.2%
- Live roles
- 8,613
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Software Engineer
Senior Software Engineer (Database Reliability)
Frontend Software Engineer
Staff+ Software Engineer, Developer Productivity
Software Engineer, Research Productivity
Staff Software Engineer, Claude Code
Staff Software Engineer, Code RL
Staff Software Engineer, Environments Infrastructure
Principal Software Engineer
Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning
Highest-paying jobs
Team Lead Platform Engineering
Engineering Team Lead
RISC-V AI / HPC & Agentic Software Engineering Lead
Tech Lead, Systems & Platform Applied AI
Technical Lead Manager - Training Runtime, Data(set) Movement
Sr. Staff Engineer, RTL Physical Implementation Lead
Lead / Staff Full-Stack Software Engineer - Console Experience
Data Science Tech Lead Manager, Model Experience
Tech Lead Manager, Core Apps Data Scientist
Tech Lead, Deployment & Operations — Custom Infrastructure
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 327 |
Northrop Grumman
|
$135,858 | 268 |
Leidos
|
$151,475 | 183 |
SpaceX
|
$145,000 | 171 |
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$134,600 | 164 |
|
OpenAI
|
$355,500 | 148 |
Speechify
|
$170,000 | 144 |
Blue Origin
|
$197,582 | 142 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Northrop Grumman
|
$191,100 | 102 |
|
Leidos
|
$151,475 | 79 |
| GV GE Vernova | $123,500 | 78 |
| BO Boeing | $159,000 | 63 |
|
Anduril Industries
|
$171,500 | 49 |
|
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$162,000 | 46 |
STR
|
$199,500 | 42 |
| SA Salesforce | $242,950 | 27 |
Software Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $230,000 | 1,601 |
| New York | $212,650 | 1,393 |
| Seattle | $209,500 | 688 |
| Los Angeles | $196,000 | 257 |
| Sydney | $195,000 | 3 |
| Austin | $186,500 | 208 |
| Boston | $186,050 | 289 |
| London | $180,000 | 144 |
| Denver | $179,688 | 216 |
| Atlanta | $168,210 | 132 |
Tech Lead salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $228,225 | 178 |
| Seattle | $213,250 | 68 |
| New York | $197,971 | 215 |
| Los Angeles | $185,500 | 52 |
| Austin | $180,350 | 72 |
| Denver | $175,850 | 55 |
| Boston | $175,000 | 89 |
| Atlanta | $167,250 | 80 |
| Chicago | $161,800 | 125 |
| Berlin | $151,115 | 10 |
Software Engineer vs Tech Lead: which pays more?
The median for Software Engineer is $172,500 per year (typically $133,125–$215,000), versus $164,500 for Tech Lead ($132,500–$198,365). That puts Software Engineer about 5% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Software Engineer 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.