Compilers salary: $230K median
The median advertised Compilers salary is $230K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $205K to $290K: counted from 147 open roles that publish a yearly US-dollar range: about $111 an hour or $19,167 a month. A tenth of the postings offer $339K or more. Advertised ranges, not verified pay.
Check an offer against these figuresAll Compilers jobs
$230Kmedian advertised salary
$205K – $290Kmiddle half of roles
$247Kaverage advertised salary
147roles counted
Compilers salary by level
Lead roles advertise a median of $235K, 6% more than senior roles ($222K). The level comes from the job title; titles without a level word are counted separately.
| Level | Median salary | Middle half | Roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior | $222K | $210K–$242K | 36 |
| Lead and above | $235K | $212K–$278K | 43 |
| No level in the title | $270K | $202K–$310K | 63 |
Compilers salary by location
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area | $255K | 94 |
| 🇺🇸California | $242K | 118 |
| 🇺🇸United States | $230K | 143 |
Skills that pay more for Compilers roles
| Skill | Median with it | Above the median | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPU programming | $300K | +$70K | 22 |
| CUDA | $300K | +$70K | 35 |
| Deep learning | $280K | +$50K | 17 |
| vLLM | $270K | +$40K | 21 |
| JAX | $266K | +$36K | 24 |
Top-paying companies
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | $424K | 4 |
| OpenAI | $356K | 11 |
| River AI Inc. | $310K | 6 |
| Inferact | $300K | 6 |
| Waymo | $280K | 7 |
| Zoox | $265K | 4 |
| DensityAI | $255K | 3 |
| Figure | $250K | 3 |
| Nuro | $242K | 6 |
| SambaNova | $238K | 13 |
| Samsara | $226K | 3 |
| Anduril Industries | $222K | 13 |
| IonQ | $190K | 3 |
| Astera Labs | $180K | 7 |
| SharkNinja | $170K | 5 |
| True Anomaly | $170K | 6 |
Highest-paying open Compilers roles
All Compilers jobs- Research Engineer, Code RL (Reinforcement Learning)Anthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY$500K - $850KPythonLLMPyTorch
- Training Performance EngineerOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$295K - $500KHybridRustPythonC++
- Software Engineer, TPU CompilersOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$380K - $500KHybridMachine LearningCompilers
- Silicon EngineerAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA$320K - $485KMachine LearningAnalog designCompilers
- Member of Technical Staff (AI Inference Engineer)Perplexity · 🇺🇸San Francisco$220K - $485KRustPythonLLM
- Compiler Engineer, HardwareRiver AI Inc. · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$200K - $420KC++PyTorchCUDA
- Design Verification Engineer, HardwareRiver AI Inc. · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA; Austin, TX$200K - $420KPythonCI/CDBash
- Helix AI Engineer, Training PerformanceFigure · 🇺🇸San Jose, CA$200K - $400KPythonC++PyTorch
- Member of Technical Staff, Kernel EngineeringInferact · 🇺🇸San Francisco$200K - $400KPythonC++CUDA
- Member of Technical Staff, TPU Kernel EngineeringInferact · 🇺🇸San Francisco$200K - $400KMachine LearningLLMPyTorch
- Exceptional Software EngineerDyna Robotics · 🇺🇸Redwood City, CA$180K - $400KCompilers
- Member of Technical Staff, KernelsMirendil · 🇺🇸San Francisco$300K - $400KCompilers
- Senior Staff Technical Lead Manager, Perception OptimizationWaymo · 🇺🇸Mountain View, CA, USA; San Francisco, CA, USA$298K - $368KLead and aboveC++Machine LearningCUDA
- Senior/Staff Software Engineer, ML Inference PlatformNuro · 🇺🇸Mountain View, California (HQ)$194K - $352KLead and abovePythonC++Machine Learning
- Senior/Staff Software Engineer, ML Infrastructure, OptimizationNuro · 🇺🇸Mountain View, California (HQ)$194K - $352KLead and abovePythonC++Machine Learning
- ASIC Network ArchitectSambaNova · 🇺🇸Austin, Texas, United States; Remote - US; San Jose, Cali…$250K - $350KRemoteRustPythonC++
- Senior/Staff Software Engineer, ML Training OptimizationZoox · 🇺🇸Foster City, CA$254K - $350KLead and abovePythonC++PyTorch
- Security Engineer, Product and Device SecurityFigure · 🇺🇸San Jose, CA$150K - $350KC++CCryptography
- Principal Software Engineer, Languages & CompilersRoblox · 🇺🇸San Mateo, CA, United States$295K - $345KLead and aboveC++LuaCompilers
- Engineering Manager, ML Performance OptimizationZoox · 🇺🇸Foster City, CA$276K - $343KPyTorchCUDADistributed training
Questions about Compilers pay
- What is the average Compilers salary?
- $247K a year on average and $230K at the median, across 147 open Compilers postings at 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 $205K to $290K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.
- Which companies advertise the highest Compilers pay?
- Anthropic ($424K), OpenAI ($356K), River AI Inc. ($310K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).
- Is a compilers a high-paying job?
- The median Compilers posting advertises $230K a year, more than the median of all 55,899 job postings with pay on Jobs Every Hour ($174K). That is 32% above the middle of the market.
- How much can you earn as a compilers?
- A tenth of the postings offer $339K a year or more; the highest open Compilers role advertises up to $850K. Pay rises with level: see the table by level.
- What is the Compilers salary per hour and per month?
- The median of $230K a year is about $111 an hour (2,080 working hours) and $19,167 a month before tax. The middle half of postings: $99 to $139 an hour.
- Which skills pay more for Compilers roles?
- Postings that ask for GPU programming (+$70K, 22 postings), CUDA (+$70K, 35 postings), Deep learning (+$50K, 17 postings) advertise more than the $230K median of all Compilers postings with pay.
- What does an entry-level compilers make?
- 5 junior and intern Compilers postings state pay, with a median of $164K a year ($79 an hour).
- 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 Compilers roles at companies is $230K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $205K to $290K. Counted from 147 open job postings that state pay, November 2026. Source: Jobs Every Hour, https://jobseveryhour.com/salaries/compilers/
Free to use with the link.