Median salary
$222,950
per year · annualized USD
Typical range
$187.5k – $275k
25th–75th percentile
Disclosing pay
45.8%
807 of 1,763 roles
Live roles
1,763
open right now
Salary trend
median · annualized USDSalary distribution
annualized USD · disclosed rolesHighest-paying jobs
Principal Software Engineer
Distinguished Engineer
Staff / Principal Data Engineer
Principal Engineer
Principal Engineer (Payments)
Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Ads Delivery
Principal Engineer, Agentic AI Systems
Principal Research Engineer, Model Training & Post-Training
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Roblox
|
$320,145 | 41 |
| AL Astera Labs | $207,500 | 22 |
Motional
|
$285,000 | 19 |
Elastic
|
$141,686 | 19 |
| SE Sezzle | $111,000 | 16 |
Snowflake
|
$321,750 | 12 |
Anduril Industries
|
$256,000 | 12 |
STR
|
$244,500 | 12 |
Principal Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $276,000 | 67 |
| New York | $262,000 | 56 |
| Boston | $255,500 | 42 |
| Austin | $232,500 | 9 |
| Seattle | $231,500 | 33 |
| Chicago | $228,075 | 16 |
| Los Angeles | $225,000 | 31 |
| Toronto | $204,126 | 18 |
| London | $191,448 | 15 |
| Denver | $190,000 | 17 |
See every Principal Engineer role
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How much do Principal Engineer roles pay?
The median salary for Principal Engineer roles is $222,950 per year. Most pay falls between $187,500 (25th percentile) and $275,000 (75th percentile), with the broader 10th–90th percentile band running from $141,752 to $321,750.
These figures are computed live from 1,763 active Principal Engineer roles on JobsRadar, of which 807 (45.8%) 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 Principal Engineer roles include Astera Institute, Pinterest, AppGate Cybersecurity, Inc. and Masabi.
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.