Median salary
$219,500
per year · annualized USD
Typical range
$171k – $271.1k
25th–75th percentile
Disclosing pay
20.5%
638 of 3,116 roles
Live roles
3,116
open right now
Salary distribution
annualized USD · disclosed rolesHighest-paying live roles
Principal Software Engineer
Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Ads Delivery
Principal Software Engineer - Data Hub
Principal Software Engineer - Data Hub
Principal Engineer, Compute Platform
Principal Engineer, Online Systems
Offensive Security Engineer, Agent Products
Principal Software Engineer, B2B Engineering
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Roblox
|
$320,145 | 37 |
Anduril Industries
|
$256,000 | 26 |
Woolpert
|
$113,850 | 26 |
Apex Companies
|
$142,500 | 24 |
Zscaler
|
$220,188 | 22 |
Snowflake
|
$321,750 | 18 |
| LS Lila Sciences | $237,000 | 13 |
Motional
|
$285,000 | 12 |
Principal Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $265,000 | 71 |
| Boston | $256,000 | 39 |
| Seattle | $235,000 | 28 |
| New York | $230,000 | 45 |
| Los Angeles | $230,000 | 13 |
| Paris | $226,979 | 3 |
| London | $209,077 | 10 |
| Atlanta | $186,500 | 9 |
| Chicago | $185,600 | 23 |
| Denver | $185,300 | 14 |
See every Principal Engineer role
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How much do Principal Engineer roles pay?
The median salary for Principal Engineer roles is $219,500 per year. Most pay falls between $171,000 (25th percentile) and $271,125 (75th percentile), with the broader 10th–90th percentile band running from $134,009 to $320,145.
These figures are computed live from 3,116 active Principal Engineer roles on JobsRadar, of which 638 (20.5%) 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, HubSpot and OpenAI.
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.