Staff Engineer salaries in San Francisco.
What Staff Engineer roles in San Francisco pay, from live listings on JobsRadar.
Compare with anotherMedian salary
$250,000
per year · annualized USD
Typical range
$224k – $300k
25th–75th percentile
Disclosing pay
82.6%
737 of 892 roles
Live roles
892
open right now
Salary trend
median · annualized USDSalary distribution
annualized USD · disclosed rolesHighest-paying jobs
Staff Research Engineer, Discovery Team
Staff Research Engineer, Multi-Agent Scaling
Staff+ Research Engineer, RL Data Platform
Staff Software Engineer, Claude Code
Staff Software Engineer, Code RL
Staff+ Software Engineer, Developer Productivity
Staff Software Engineer, Environments Infrastructure
Staff Backline Engineer – ML/AI
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Anthropic
|
$402,500 | 81 |
|
Databricks
|
$226,000 | 44 |
Perplexity
|
$312,500 | 29 |
Crusoe
|
$237,500 | 28 |
Gusto, Inc.
|
$183,500 | 22 |
Waabi
|
$210,000 | 19 |
Harvey
|
$285,500 | 18 |
Peregrine Technologies
|
$237,500 | 17 |
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How much do Staff Engineer roles in San Francisco pay?
The median salary for Staff Engineer roles in San Francisco is $250,000 per year. Most pay falls between $224,000 (25th percentile) and $300,000 (75th percentile), with the broader 10th–90th percentile band running from $195,000 to $402,500.
These figures are computed live from 892 active Staff Engineer roles in San Francisco on JobsRadar, of which 737 (82.6%) publish a salary range. Pay is normalized to annualized USD so roles can be compared on equal terms; the highest-paying roles listed above show their original posted currency. Numbers refresh every few hours as new roles are posted and older ones close.
Employers currently hiring well-paid Staff Engineer roles in San Francisco include Anthropic and Databricks.
Salary transparency varies by employer and region, so the disclosing share above reflects only roles that publish pay — not every open position. Use it as a directional benchmark rather than an exact offer.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the average Staff Engineer salary in San Francisco?
- The median is $250,000 per year, with most pay between $224,000 and $300,000 (25th–75th percentile), based on 737 live listings that disclose pay on JobsRadar.
- What is the Staff Engineer salary range in San Francisco?
- Pay ranges from about $195,000 to $402,500 per year (10th–90th percentile) around a median of $250,000. Figures are annualized USD from live listings, refreshed every few hours.