Side-by-side distribution
Cloud Architect
$172,925
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 25.2%
- Live roles
- 230
SRE
$177,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 39.5%
- Live roles
- 1,174
Highest-paying jobs
Staff Technical Architect, Product Management (AWS/Azure)
Salesforce Solution Architect, Service Cloud Voice
AWS Solution Architect
AWS Technical Architect
Salesforce Solution Architect, Revenue Cloud
Salesforce Solution Architect, Sales Cloud
Cloud Architect/Technical Lead
Principal Data Cloud Architect - Apps
Principal Data Cloud Architect - SI Partners
Specialist Solutions Architect - Google Cloud Platform & Infrastructure
Highest-paying jobs
Software Engineer (Site Reliability)
Site Reliability Engineer
Senior Site Reliability Engineer
Site Reliability Engineer
Senior Site Reliability Engineer
Staff Software Engineer, AI Reliability Engineering
Site Reliability Engineer
Software Engineer, Reliability
Site Reliability Engineer, Frontier Systems Infrastructure
Staff Software Engineer, AI Reliability
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| CA Caylent | $208,000 | 6 |
| NP NeuraFlash, Part of Accenture | $180,350 | 5 |
|
Snowflake
|
$204,656 | 4 |
|
Accenture Federal Services
|
$179,325 | 4 |
3Cloud
|
$158,350 | 3 |
Stafford Gray
|
$168,480 | 2 |
CHAOS Industries
|
$150,000 | 2 |
|
Veeam Software
|
$357,750 | 1 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
SpaceX
|
$137,500 | 21 |
Anduril Industries
|
$193,000 | 20 |
MongoDB
|
$187,500 | 12 |
Okta
|
$230,500 | 11 |
Air Apps
|
$71,586 | 10 |
| SE Sezzle | $87,000 | 8 |
mthree Recruiting Portal
|
$54,750 | 8 |
Vast
|
$213,876 | 7 |
SRE salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $225,250 | 60 |
| New York | $188,000 | 57 |
| Seattle | $188,000 | 16 |
| Austin | $188,000 | 11 |
| Atlanta | $187,000 | 11 |
| Boston | $180,763 | 18 |
| Chicago | $180,000 | 21 |
| Denver | $180,000 | 7 |
| Los Angeles | $177,500 | 6 |
| Toronto | $177,000 | 19 |
Cloud Architect vs SRE: which pays more?
The median for Cloud Architect is $172,925 per year (typically $140,000–$190,781), versus $177,500 for SRE ($130,000–$209,500). That puts SRE about 3% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Cloud Architect and SRE 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.