Operating systems salary: $220K median
The median advertised Operating systems salary is $220K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $180K to $261K: counted from 388 open roles that publish a yearly US-dollar range: about $106 an hour or $18,333 a month. A tenth of the postings offer $325K or more. Advertised ranges, not verified pay.
Check an offer against these figuresAll Operating systems jobs
$220Kmedian advertised salary
$180K – $261Kmiddle half of roles
$232Kaverage advertised salary
388roles counted
Operating systems salary by level
Lead roles advertise a median of $240K, 13% more than senior roles ($212K). The level comes from the job title; titles without a level word are counted separately.
| Level | Median salary | Middle half | Roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior | $212K | $185K–$232K | 138 |
| Lead and above | $240K | $218K–$288K | 91 |
| No level in the title | $205K | $155K–$285K | 154 |
Operating systems salary by location
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area | $247K | 198 |
| 🇺🇸California | $236K | 250 |
| 🇺🇸New York, NY | $236K | 50 |
| 🇺🇸United States | $220K | 375 |
| 🇺🇸Seattle, WA | $220K | 57 |
| 🇺🇸Los Angeles, CA | $156K | 24 |
Skills that pay more for Operating systems roles
| Skill | Median with it | Above the median | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| LLM | $248K | +$28K | 56 |
| CUDA | $245K | +$25K | 42 |
| Machine Learning | $242K | +$22K | 78 |
| High-performance computing | $238K | +$18K | 66 |
| Embedded Linux | $238K | +$18K | 67 |
Top-paying companies
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | $431K | 18 |
| OpenAI | $356K | 12 |
| Lambda | $330K | 11 |
| Waymo | $280K | 6 |
| Roblox | $269K | 17 |
| Zoox | $267K | 9 |
| Armada | $261K | 3 |
| xAI | $255K | 5 |
| Together AI | $245K | 6 |
| Baseten | $245K | 5 |
| Nuro | $242K | 7 |
| Crusoe | $236K | 16 |
| Latitude AI | $230K | 3 |
| Cloudflare | $225K | 4 |
| Anduril Industries | $222K | 29 |
| Elastic | $212K | 6 |
| CoreWeave | $212K | 15 |
| Databricks | $212K | 5 |
| Airwallex | $210K | 5 |
| Muon Space | $201K | 3 |
| Cylake Inc | $200K | 3 |
| Fivetran | $192K | 7 |
| Applied | $189K | 4 |
| MongoDB | $187K | 6 |
| Pure Storage | $182K | 12 |
Highest-paying open Operating systems roles
All Operating systems jobs- Engineering Manager, GPU (ML Accelerator)Anthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY | Seattle, WA$500K - $850KMachine LearningOperating systems
- Performance EngineerAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY | Seattle, WA$280K - $850KMachine LearningLLMLoad balancing
- Staff Distributed Systems EngineerFomo Labs · 🇺🇸New York City$300K - $500KLead and aboveGoTypeScriptNode.js
- Software Engineer, CI/CD & ML InfrastructureOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$318K - $485KHybridRustGoPython
- Member of Technical Staff (AI Inference Engineer)Perplexity · 🇺🇸San Francisco$220K - $485KRustPythonLLM
- Staff Software Engineer - ComputeLambda · Bellevue Office$314K - $465KHybridLead and aboveRustGoPython
- Staff Software Engineer - Managed KubernetesLambda · 🇺🇸San Francisco Office (Fremont St)$314K - $465KHybridLead and abovePythonMachine LearningLinux
- Principal Offensive Cyber Research EngineerTwenty · 🇺🇸Arlington, VA$192K - $455KLead and aboveRustPythonC++
- Principal Software Engineer, ML & Media InfraPinterest · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA; US; San Francisco, CA, US$285K - $450KLead and abovePythonJavaC++
- Research Engineer, Training & InferenceHarmonic · 🇺🇸Palo Alto$200K - $450KPythonC++LLM
- ChatGPT Performance EngineerOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$347K - $445KGoPythonOpenAI API
- Staff / Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Inference - USAInworld AI · 🇺🇸Mountain View, California, USA$270K - $430KHybridLead and aboveRustPythonC++
- Sr. Staff Software Engineer, Product ML InfrastructurePinterest · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA, US; San Francisco, CA, US$245K - $429KLead and abovePythonJavaC++
- Software Engineer, Distributed TrainingRiver AI Inc. · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$200K - $420KRustPythonC++
- Software Engineer, River APIRiver AI Inc. · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$200K - $420KRustC++PyTorch
- Engineering Manager, InfrastructureSentry · 🇺🇸San Francisco, California$220K - $400KHybridRustGoPython
- Machine Learning EngineerGoodfire · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA & New York, NY$200K - $400KPythonMachine LearningPyTorch
- Member of Technical Staff, Performance and ScaleInferact · 🇺🇸San Francisco$200K - $400KRustGoC++
- Member of Technical Staff, InferenceInferact · 🇺🇸San Francisco$200K - $400KPythonLLMPyTorch
- Systems Software EngineerSunday · 🇺🇸Redwood City, CA$200K - $400KRustC++Linux
Questions about Operating systems pay
- What is the average Operating systems salary?
- $232K a year on average and $220K at the median, across 388 open Operating systems 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 $180K to $261K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.
- Which companies advertise the highest Operating systems pay?
- Anthropic ($431K), OpenAI ($356K), Lambda ($330K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).
- Is an operating systems a high-paying job?
- The median Operating systems posting advertises $220K a year, more than the median of all 55,899 job postings with pay on Jobs Every Hour ($174K). That is 26% above the middle of the market.
- How much can you earn as an operating systems?
- A tenth of the postings offer $325K a year or more; the highest open Operating systems role advertises up to $850K. Pay rises with level: see the table by level.
- What is the Operating systems salary per hour and per month?
- The median of $220K a year is about $106 an hour (2,080 working hours) and $18,333 a month before tax. The middle half of postings: $87 to $125 an hour.
- Which skills pay more for Operating systems roles?
- Postings that ask for LLM (+$28K, 56 postings), CUDA (+$25K, 42 postings), Machine Learning (+$22K, 78 postings) advertise more than the $220K median of all Operating systems postings with pay.
- What does an entry-level operating systems make?
- 5 junior and intern Operating systems postings state pay, with a median of $138K a year ($66 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 Operating systems roles at companies is $220K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $180K to $261K. Counted from 388 open job postings that state pay, November 2026. Source: Jobs Every Hour, https://jobseveryhour.com/salaries/operating-systems/
Free to use with the link.