# Staff software engineer salary: $213,790–$285,000 a year

Every number below comes from 1,079 tracked live postings whose title matches "staff software engineer". No surveys, no self-reports. Listed salaries only, in US dollars.

Measured November 2026 · n=594 US postings with salary.

## Findings

- The median staff software engineer posting offers $213,790–$285,000 a year (n=594).
- 38% of the 1,079 live postings matching "staff software engineer" are remote.
- Builds AI (AI Level 4) staff software engineers list $220,000–$302,500, vs $217,000–$275,000 at Little AI (AI Level 1).

## Median salary by seniority (USD / year)

| Segment | US postings with salary | Median min–max / year |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mid-level | 1 | $192,000–$260,000 |
| Senior | 291 | $207,600–$272,600 |
| Lead | 302 | $218,025–$292,000 |

## Remote vs on-site (USD / year)

| Segment | US postings with salary | Median min–max / year |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Remote | 235 | $218,025–$284,000 |
| On-site / hybrid | 359 | $208,000–$288,400 |

## Companies hiring staff software engineers

- [Databricks](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/databricks) (93)
- [Commonwealth Bank of Australia](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/commonwealth-bank-of-australia) (43)
- [Okta](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/okta) (42)
- [Affirm](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/affirm) (34)
- [Harvey](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/harvey) (31)
- [Capital One](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/capital-one) (29)
- [Anduril Industries](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/anduril-industries) (24)
- [Gusto](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/gusto) (22)

## Method

US-dollar postings whose title contains "staff software engineer", with both salary bounds listed. This page exists because 594 such postings clear the 50-posting floor Level requires before publishing a dedicated salary page. Below that, the median moves too much between ingestion cycles to be a citable number.

Sample: postings at tech companies tracked by Level. Not the whole labor market. Do not cite as a national average.

Refreshed automatically; this edition is measured November 2026. Small-n slices move a lot. Read the n column first.

## Staff software engineer salary questions, answered from the data

**What is the median staff software engineer salary?**

Across 594 live US postings for staff software engineers with a listed USD salary, measured November 2026, the median offer is $213,790–$285,000 a year. This is the tracked catalog, not the whole labor market.

**How many staff software engineers jobs are remote?**

38% of the 594 live postings are marked remote by the employer, measured November 2026.

**Does the AI level of the job change the pay?**

In this sample, 174 postings build AI and 673 involve little AI. See the level breakdown below for the median at each level. Measured November 2026.

Source: https://jobsbylevel.com/salaries/role/staff-software-engineer

## Cite this page

Level. https://jobsbylevel.com/salaries/role/staff-software-engineer. Measured November 2026.

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