High-performance computing salary: $208K median
The median advertised High-performance computing salary is $208K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $169K to $250K: counted from 660 open roles that publish a yearly US-dollar range: about $100 an hour or $17,292 a month. A tenth of the postings offer $310K or more. Advertised ranges, not verified pay.
Check an offer against these figuresAll High-performance computing jobs
$208Kmedian advertised salary
$169K – $250Kmiddle half of roles
$218Kaverage advertised salary
660roles counted
High-performance computing salary by level
Lead roles advertise a median of $235K, 13% more than senior roles ($208K). The level comes from the job title; titles without a level word are counted separately.
| Level | Median salary | Middle half | Roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior | $208K | $178K–$228K | 185 |
| Lead and above | $235K | $210K–$275K | 167 |
| No level in the title | $185K | $146K–$248K | 305 |
High-performance computing salary by location
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area | $232K | 335 |
| 🇺🇸California | $218K | 423 |
| 🇺🇸New York, NY | $212K | 74 |
| 🇺🇸Seattle, WA | $212K | 93 |
| 🇺🇸United States | $208K | 638 |
| 🇺🇸Boston, MA | $202K | 20 |
| 🇺🇸Texas | $160K | 15 |
| 🇺🇸Los Angeles, CA | $154K | 22 |
Skills that pay more for High-performance computing roles
| Skill | Median with it | Above the median | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Go | $242K | +$35K | 91 |
| Operating systems | $238K | +$30K | 66 |
| Rust | $232K | +$25K | 73 |
| Storage systems | $230K | +$23K | 92 |
| Machine Learning | $229K | +$21K | 128 |
Top-paying companies
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | $402K | 13 |
| OpenAI | $355K | 24 |
| Lambda | $312K | 38 |
| Inferact | $300K | 5 |
| Roblox | $294K | 4 |
| Far.ai | $281K | 4 |
| Zoox | $269K | 6 |
| xAI | $255K | 3 |
| Baseten | $248K | 8 |
| Cerebras | $245K | 3 |
| Together AI | $245K | 15 |
| DensityAI | $245K | 4 |
| Helion | $230K | 3 |
| Databricks | $228K | 5 |
| Galaxy | $225K | 11 |
| Muon Space | $225K | 9 |
| Nuro | $222K | 4 |
| Pure Storage | $221K | 8 |
| Qumulo | $220K | 16 |
| Sciforium | $220K | 7 |
| SambaNova | $218K | 10 |
| Astera Labs | $212K | 11 |
| CoreWeave | $212K | 59 |
| Achira | $212K | 3 |
| Crusoe | $212K | 55 |
Highest-paying open High-performance computing roles
All High-performance computing jobs- Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)Anthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY$500K - $850KRustPythonC++
- Research Engineer / Performance Engineer, RL Distributed SystemsAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY | Seattle, WA$500K - $850KRustPythonC++
- Member of Technical Staff, KernelsMagic.dev · 🇺🇸San Francisco$275K - $550KPythonHTMLJAX
- Software Engineer, Collective CommunicationOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$380K - $500KC++CUDAHigh-performance computing
- Training Performance EngineerOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$295K - $500KHybridRustPythonC++
- Global Client Director (Media, Entertainment, Gaming, & Sports)Qumulo · 🇺🇸Los Angeles (remote)$400K - $500KRemoteLead and aboveSplunkAccount-based marketingHigh-performance computing
- Member of Technical Staff (AI Inference Engineer)Perplexity · 🇺🇸San Francisco$220K - $485KRustPythonLLM
- Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, GPU Cluster Infrastructure)Perplexity · 🇺🇸San Francisco$250K - $485KRustGoC++
- Staff Software Engineer - Infrastructure StorageLambda · 🇺🇸San Francisco Office (Fremont St)$314K - $465KHybridLead and aboveRustC++Machine Learning
- Staff Software Engineer - ComputeLambda · Bellevue Office$314K - $465KHybridLead and aboveRustGoPython
- Senior Staff/Principal Software Engineer - GPU System Software, Onboard ExecutionZoox · 🇺🇸Foster City, CA$339K - $455KLead and aboveC++LinuxCUDA
- Research Engineer, Training & InferenceHarmonic · 🇺🇸Palo Alto$200K - $450KPythonC++LLM
- Distinguished Architect, AIDatadog · 🇺🇸New York, New York, USA; San Francisco, California, USA$330K - $440KLLMAIHigh-performance computing
- Software Engineer, Distributed TrainingRiver AI Inc. · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$200K - $420KRustPythonC++
- Software Engineer, River APIRiver AI Inc. · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$200K - $420KRustC++PyTorch
- Forward Deployed Engineer (Training)Baseten · 🇺🇸San Francisco$200K - $400KHybridMachine LearningLLMPyTorch
- Helix AI Engineer, Data InfrastructureFigure · 🇺🇸San Jose, CA$150K - $400KPythonPostgreSQLTerraform
- Helix AI Engineer, Training PerformanceFigure · 🇺🇸San Jose, CA$200K - $400KPythonC++PyTorch
- AI Infrastructure EngineerMercor · 🇺🇸San Francisco$200K - $400KPythonC++GCP
- Member of Technical Staff, Performance and ScaleInferact · 🇺🇸San Francisco$200K - $400KRustGoC++
Questions about High-performance computing pay
- What is the average High-performance computing salary?
- $218K a year on average and $208K at the median, across 660 open High-performance computing 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 $169K to $250K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.
- Which companies advertise the highest High-performance computing pay?
- Anthropic ($402K), OpenAI ($355K), Lambda ($312K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).
- Is a high-performance computing a high-paying job?
- The median High-performance computing posting advertises $208K a year, more than the median of all 55,899 job postings with pay on Jobs Every Hour ($174K). That is 19% above the middle of the market.
- How much can you earn as a high-performance computing?
- A tenth of the postings offer $310K a year or more; the highest open High-performance computing role advertises up to $850K. Pay rises with level: see the table by level.
- What is the High-performance computing salary per hour and per month?
- The median of $208K a year is about $100 an hour (2,080 working hours) and $17,292 a month before tax. The middle half of postings: $81 to $120 an hour.
- Which skills pay more for High-performance computing roles?
- Postings that ask for Go (+$35K, 91 postings), Operating systems (+$30K, 66 postings), Rust (+$25K, 73 postings) advertise more than the $208K median of all High-performance computing 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 High-performance computing roles at companies is $208K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $169K to $250K. Counted from 660 open job postings that state pay, November 2026. Source: Jobs Every Hour, https://jobseveryhour.com/salaries/high-performance-computing/
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