Backend Engineer salary: $220K median
From 219 open roles that publish a yearly US-dollar range. Advertised ranges, not verified pay.
$220Kmedian advertised salary
$192K – $245Kmiddle half of roles
$221Kaverage advertised salary
219roles counted
Backend Engineer salary by level
Lead roles advertise a median of $242K, 18% more than senior roles ($205K). The level comes from the job title; titles without a level word are counted separately.
| Level | Median salary | Middle half | Roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior | $205K | $188K–$225K | 96 |
| Lead and above | $242K | $222K–$260K | 65 |
| No level in title | $221K | $155K–$246K | 58 |
Backend Engineer salary by location
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸New York | $226K | 46 |
| 🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area | $226K | 72 |
| 🇺🇸California | $226K | 76 |
| 🇺🇸United States | $220K | 202 |
Top-paying companies
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | $356K | 7 |
| Roblox | $320K | 3 |
| Harvey | $282K | 6 |
| Hims & Hers | $260K | 5 |
| $245K | 4 | |
| Patreon | $244K | 4 |
| Ramp | $242K | 12 |
| Socure | $238K | 5 |
| Sigma | $230K | 4 |
| Affirm | $225K | 16 |
| Brex | $216K | 5 |
| Plaid | $214K | 6 |
| Databricks | $205K | 10 |
| Coinbase | $202K | 7 |
| GitLab | $201K | 8 |
| Mesh | $190K | 3 |
| Grafana Labs | $188K | 4 |
| Hinge Health | $188K | 3 |
| Oscar Health | $183K | 4 |
| Customer.io | $175K | 4 |
| Whoop | $150K | 5 |
Highest-paying open Backend Engineer roles
All backend engineer jobs- Staff+ Software Engineer, BackendAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY$405K - $485KLeadLLMRails
- Backend Software Engineer, GTM InnovationOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$347K - $445K
- Backend Software Engineer, Applied FoundationsOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$266K - $445KRustGoPython
- Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Backend Platform)Perplexity · 🇺🇸San Francisco$220K - $405KRustGoPython
- Helix AI Engineer, BackendFigure · 🇺🇸San Jose, CA$200K - $400KGoPythonReact
- Staff Software Engineer, Backend PlatformPatreon · 🇺🇸San Francisco$258K - $386KLeadRustGoPython
- Principal Backend Programmer (Developer Platform)Epic Games · BLANK,BLANK,Multiple Locations$223K - $360KLeadGoPythonGCP
- Senior Engineering Manager, Backend PlatformHarvey · 🇺🇸San Francisco$272K - $355KSeniorPythonFastAPIFlask
- Senior Engineering Manager, Backend PlatformHarvey · 🇺🇸New York$272K - $355KSeniorPythonFastAPIFlask
- Senior Software Engineer - BackendCodeRabbit · 🇺🇸San Francisco$200K - $350KSeniorTypeScriptNode.jsDocker
- Principal Fullstack/Backend Software Engineer, User ConnectionsRoblox · 🇺🇸San Mateo, CA, United States$295K - $345KLeadJavaC++C#
- Principal Software Engineer, Backend - SharingRoblox · 🇺🇸San Mateo, CA, United States$295K - $345KLeadJavaC++C#
- Software Engineer, Backend, CreditRamp · 🇺🇸New York, NY (HQ)$189K - $330KPythonLLM
- Software Engineer, Backend, Developer APIRamp · 🇺🇸New York, NY (HQ)$168K - $330KPythonPostgreSQL
- Product Platform - Backend EngineerBaseten · 🇺🇸San Francisco$165K - $330KRustGoPython
- Senior Staff Software Engineer, Backend (Cards)Affirm · 🇺🇸Remote US$265K - $325KRemoteLeadJavaScriptReactKotlin
- Senior Staff Software Engineer, Backend (Compute Platform)Affirm · 🇺🇸Remote US$265K - $325KRemoteLeadGoPythonTerraform
- Senior Backend Engineer, Video Platform IntegrationPatreon · 🇺🇸San Francisco$212K - $318KSeniorGoPythonJava
- Senior/Staff Software Engineer (Back-End), InferenceCohere · 🇨🇦Canada$205K - $315KRemoteLeadRustGoPython
- Senior / Staff Software Engineer — Product (Backend-Focused)Snorkel AI · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA (Hybrid)$208K - $315KLeadRustGoPython
Questions about Backend Engineer pay
- What is the average Backend Engineer salary?
- $221K a year on average and $220K at the median, across 219 open Backend Engineer postings at tech companies that state pay (November 2026). The median is the better guide: a few very high offers pull the average up.
- What is the typical range?
- The middle half of the postings offer $192K to $245K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.
- Which companies advertise the highest Backend Engineer pay?
- OpenAI ($356K), Roblox ($320K), Harvey ($282K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).
- Where do these figures come from?
- From the pay ranges employers print in their own job postings, read from their careers pages every hour. The midpoint of each range is counted. These are advertised ranges for open roles, mostly in the United States and in US dollars, not what people are actually paid.
Writing about this? A sentence you can quote
The median advertised salary for Backend Engineer roles at tech companies is $220K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $192K to $245K. Counted from 219 open job postings that state pay, November 2026. Source: Hiring Right Now, https://jobseveryhour.com/salaries/backend-engineer/
Free to use with the link.