Kernel and Operating Systems Engineer salary: $238K median
The median advertised Kernel and Operating Systems Engineer salary is $238K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $205K to $300K: counted from 58 open roles that publish a yearly US-dollar range: about $114 an hour or $19,812 a month. A tenth of the postings offer $310K or more. Advertised ranges, not verified pay.
Check an offer against these figuresAll kernel and operating systems engineer jobs
$238Kmedian advertised salary
$205K – $300Kmiddle half of roles
$244Kaverage advertised salary
58roles counted
Kernel and Operating Systems Engineer salary by location
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area | $242K | 42 |
| 🇺🇸California | $240K | 47 |
| 🇺🇸United States | $238K | 57 |
Skills that pay more for Kernel and Operating Systems Engineer roles
| Skill | Median with it | Above the median | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| vLLM | $300K | +$62K | 7 |
| JAX | $300K | +$62K | 7 |
| Compilers | $300K | +$62K | 9 |
| GPU programming | $294K | +$56K | 14 |
| LLM | $290K | +$52K | 6 |
Top-paying companies
Highest-paying open Kernel and Operating Systems Engineer roles
All kernel and operating systems engineer jobs- Member of Technical Staff, KernelsMagic.dev · 🇺🇸San Francisco$275K - $550KPythonHTMLJAX
- Software Engineer, Kernel Performance & AI ToolingOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$266K - $445KHybridAIAI agentsReinforcement learning
- Networking Operating System Firmware EngineerOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$225K - $423KHybridRustGoPython
- Kernel Engineer (Custom Silicon), HardwareRiver AI Inc. · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA; Austin, TX$200K - $420KC++CUDADeep learning
- Software Engineer, GPU KernelsRiver AI Inc. · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$200K - $420KPythonC++PyTorch
- Member of Technical Staff — Inference-Kernel, Compiler & CommunicationRadixark · 🇺🇸Palo Alto$200K - $400KPythonC++LLM
- MTS - Research (Kernels & Hardware RL)Collinear Ai · 🇺🇸Sunnyvale, California$160K - $400KPythonC++LLM
- Member of Technical Staff, Kernel EngineeringInferact · 🇺🇸San Francisco$200K - $400KPythonC++CUDA
- Member of Technical Staff, TPU Kernel EngineeringInferact · 🇺🇸San Francisco$200K - $400KMachine LearningLLMPyTorch
- Member of Technical Staff, KernelsMirendil · 🇺🇸San Francisco$300K - $400KCompilers
- Member of Technical Staff - KernelsGimlet · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA$150K - $390KCUDA
- Senior Engineering Manager - AIM VirtualizationSnowflake · 🇺🇸US-CA-Menlo Park$264K - $380KSeniorSQL
- Software Engineer - GPU KernelsBaseten · 🇺🇸San Francisco$180K - $360KHybridC++Machine LearningAWS
- Sr. Software Engineer, Kernels/CUDA (C++)xAI · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$220K - $357KSeniorC++LinuxCUDA
- Sr. Software Engineer, Linux KernelxAI · 🇺🇸Seattle, WA$180K - $330KSeniorC++LinuxC
- Senior/Staff Software Engineer - Embedded Linux Operating SystemsZoox · 🇺🇸Foster City, CA$237K - $322KLead and aboveRustPythonC++
- Member of Technical Staff, GPU KernelsSf Tensor · 🇺🇸San Francisco$285K - $315KC++CUDA
- Senior Staff Linux Kernel EngineerCrusoe · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA - US$250K - $300KLead and aboveLinuxCHigh-performance computing
- Member of Technical Staff, Local Inference & KernelsSonder · 🇺🇸New York City$250K - $300KC++CUDAmacOS
- Staff Software Engineer, SIMD KernelsD Matrix · 🇺🇸Santa Clara$190K - $300KHybridLead and abovePythonC++Machine Learning
Questions about Kernel and Operating Systems Engineer pay
- What is the average Kernel and Operating Systems Engineer salary?
- $244K a year on average and $238K at the median, across 58 open Kernel and Operating 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 $205K to $300K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.
- Which companies advertise the highest Kernel and Operating Systems Engineer pay?
- OpenAI ($308K), Inferact ($300K), D Matrix ($240K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).
- Is a kernel and operating systems engineer a high-paying job?
- The median Kernel and Operating Systems Engineer posting advertises $238K a year, more than the median of all 55,899 job postings with pay on Jobs Every Hour ($174K). That is 37% above the middle of the market.
- How much can you earn as a kernel and operating systems engineer?
- A tenth of the postings offer $310K a year or more; the highest open Kernel and Operating Systems Engineer role advertises up to $550K. Pay rises with level: see the table by level.
- What is the Kernel and Operating Systems Engineer salary per hour and per month?
- The median of $238K a year is about $114 an hour (2,080 working hours) and $19,812 a month before tax. The middle half of postings: $99 to $144 an hour.
- Which skills pay more for Kernel and Operating Systems Engineer roles?
- Postings that ask for vLLM (+$62K, 7 postings), JAX (+$62K, 7 postings), Compilers (+$62K, 9 postings) advertise more than the $238K median of all Kernel and Operating 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 Kernel and Operating Systems Engineer roles at companies is $238K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $205K to $300K. Counted from 58 open job postings that state pay, November 2026. Source: Jobs Every Hour, https://jobseveryhour.com/salaries/kernel-engineer/
Free to use with the link.