Distributed Systems Engineer salary: $235K median
The median advertised Distributed Systems Engineer salary is $235K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $213K to $265K: counted from 42 open roles that publish a yearly US-dollar range: about $113 an hour or $19,562 a month. A tenth of the postings offer $372K or more. Advertised ranges, not verified pay.
Check an offer against these figuresAll distributed systems engineer jobs
$235Kmedian advertised salary
$213K – $265Kmiddle half of roles
$258Kaverage advertised salary
42roles counted
Distributed Systems Engineer salary by location
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area | $245K | 25 |
| 🇺🇸California | $245K | 27 |
| 🇺🇸United States | $238K | 35 |
Skills that pay more for Distributed Systems Engineer roles
| Skill | Median with it | Above the median | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| High-performance computing | $290K | +$55K | 5 |
| Infrastructure as code | $277K | +$42K | 8 |
| Design systems | $254K | +$20K | 5 |
| LLM | $250K | +$15K | 9 |
| Python | $248K | +$13K | 17 |
Top-paying companies
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | $402K | 3 |
| Anduril Industries | $222K | 3 |
Highest-paying open Distributed Systems Engineer roles
All distributed systems engineer jobs- Research Engineer / Performance Engineer, RL Distributed SystemsAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY | Seattle, WA$500K - $850KRustPythonC++
- Staff Distributed Systems EngineerFomo Labs · 🇺🇸New York City$300K - $500KLead and aboveGoTypeScriptNode.js
- Staff+ Software Engineer, Distributed SystemsAnthropic · 🇺🇸New York City, NY; San Francisco, CA$320K - $485KLead and aboveRustPythonLLM
- Distributed Systems EngineerMoment · 🇺🇸New York, NY$200K - $400KGoPostgreSQLKafka
- Member of Technical Staff, Distributed Systems EngineerMirendil · 🇺🇸San Francisco$300K - $400KGoAI agents
- Principal Software Engineer - Creator Distributed Systems & StorageRoblox · 🇺🇸San Mateo, CA, United States$345K - $399KLead and aboveC++C#GCP
- Member of Technical Staff - Distributed SystemsGimlet · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA$150K - $390KGoPythonC++
- Software Engineer - Distributed SystemsFigma · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA • New York, NY • United States$153K - $376KRustGoPython
- Staff Engineer, Distributed Storage & AI InfrastructureTogether AI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$250K - $330KLead and aboveRustGoPython
- Software Engineer - GPU Networking & Distributed SystemsBaseten · 🇺🇸San Francisco$165K - $330KHybridRustPythonC++
- Lead Distributed Systems EngineerCape · 🇺🇸Hybrid: New York, NY$250K - $325KHybridLead and aboveKafka
- Software Engineer, Distributed Systems - InfraGamma · 🇺🇸San Francisco$180K - $310KPythonNode.jsPostgreSQL
- Software Engineer, Distributed Systems - Trust & SafetyGamma · 🇺🇸San Francisco$180K - $310KPythonTypeScriptNode.js
- Principal Java Engineer - Distributed Systems, Serverless - ElasticsearchElastic · 🇺🇸United States$160K - $304KLead and aboveJavaElasticsearchServerless
- Principal Engineer, Distributed SystemsCoreWeave · 🇺🇸New York, NY / Sunnyvale, CA$227K - $303KLead and aboveRustGoPython
- Senior Software Engineer, Distributed SystemsLiveKit · North America$135K - $300KRemoteSeniorGoKubernetesPrometheus
- Staff Software Engineer, Distributed SystemsLiveKit · North America$135K - $300KRemoteLead and aboveGoKubernetesPrometheus
- Member of Technical Staff - Distributed SystemsSail · 🇺🇸San Francisco$200K - $300KLLM
- Principal Software Engineer: Distributed Systems (Config, Test, & Deployment)Cloudflare · Hybrid$230K - $288KHybridLead and aboveLLMKubernetesDNS
- Staff Software Engineer, Distributed SystemsAmbience Healthcare · 🇺🇸San Francisco$226K - $283KLead and aboveGoPythonTypeScript
Questions about Distributed Systems Engineer pay
- What is the average Distributed Systems Engineer salary?
- $258K a year on average and $235K at the median, across 42 open Distributed Systems Engineer 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 $213K to $265K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.
- Which companies advertise the highest Distributed Systems Engineer pay?
- Anthropic ($402K), Anduril Industries ($222K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).
- Is a distributed systems engineer a high-paying job?
- The median Distributed Systems Engineer posting advertises $235K a year, more than the median of all 55,899 job postings with pay on Jobs Every Hour ($174K). That is 35% above the middle of the market.
- How much can you earn as a distributed systems engineer?
- A tenth of the postings offer $372K a year or more; the highest open Distributed Systems Engineer role advertises up to $850K. Pay rises with level: see the table by level.
- What is the Distributed Systems Engineer salary per hour and per month?
- The median of $235K a year is about $113 an hour (2,080 working hours) and $19,562 a month before tax. The middle half of postings: $102 to $127 an hour.
- Which skills pay more for Distributed Systems Engineer roles?
- Postings that ask for High-performance computing (+$55K, 5 postings), Infrastructure as code (+$42K, 8 postings), Design systems (+$20K, 5 postings) advertise more than the $235K median of all Distributed Systems Engineer postings with pay.
- 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 Distributed Systems Engineer roles at companies is $235K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $213K to $265K. Counted from 42 open job postings that state pay, November 2026. Source: Jobs Every Hour, https://jobseveryhour.com/salaries/distributed-systems-engineer/
Free to use with the link.