Penetration testing salary: $213K median
The median advertised Penetration testing salary is $213K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $170K to $264K: counted from 243 open roles that publish a yearly US-dollar range: about $102 an hour or $17,750 a month. A tenth of the postings offer $312K or more. Advertised ranges, not verified pay.
Check an offer against these figuresAll Penetration testing jobs
$213Kmedian advertised salary
$170K – $264Kmiddle half of roles
$221Kaverage advertised salary
243roles counted
Penetration testing salary by level
Lead roles advertise a median of $260K, 38% more than senior roles ($189K). The level comes from the job title; titles without a level word are counted separately.
| Level | Median salary | Middle half | Roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior | $189K | $168K–$218K | 59 |
| Lead and above | $260K | $220K–$288K | 67 |
| No level in the title | $196K | $160K–$262K | 115 |
Penetration testing salary by location
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸New York, NY | $264K | 40 |
| 🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area | $259K | 73 |
| 🇺🇸California | $245K | 93 |
| 🇺🇸Seattle, WA | $221K | 28 |
| 🇺🇸Washington, DC | $218K | 21 |
| 🇺🇸United States | $217K | 218 |
Skills that pay more for Penetration testing roles
| Skill | Median with it | Above the median | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI agents | $268K | +$54K | 37 |
| TypeScript | $233K | +$20K | 24 |
| Threat modeling | $226K | +$14K | 97 |
| LLM | $225K | +$12K | 63 |
| SAST/DAST | $218K | +$5K | 39 |
Top-paying companies
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | $382K | 14 |
| OpenAI | $321K | 12 |
| Glean | $300K | 3 |
| Far.ai | $288K | 4 |
| Twenty | $275K | 6 |
| Ripple | $262K | 3 |
| Crusoe | $252K | 4 |
| Plaid | $226K | 3 |
| Chainguard | $218K | 5 |
| SpaceX | $218K | 7 |
| HackerOne | $214K | 8 |
| Anduril Industries | $213K | 9 |
| CoreWeave | $204K | 3 |
| Artemis | $200K | 3 |
| Smartsheet | $170K | 3 |
| Rocket Lab | $165K | 3 |
| Realitydefender | $165K | 3 |
| Dark Wolf Solutions | $159K | 6 |
| True Anomaly | $145K | 3 |
| 10a Labs | $137K | 8 |
Highest-paying open Penetration testing roles
All Penetration testing jobs- Research Engineer / Scientist, AlignmentAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA$350K - $500KPythonMachine LearningLLM
- CISOGlean · 🇺🇸Mountain View, CA$424K - $489KLLMZendeskAI agents
- Staff+ Application Security EngineerAnthropic · 🇺🇸Remote-Friendly (Travel-Required) | San Francisco, CA | S…$320K - $485KRemoteLead and aboveRustGoPython
- Research Lead - Pre-training SafetyFar.ai · Berkeley Office$290K - $450KRemoteLead and above.NETMachine LearningLLM evaluation
- Security Engineer, Application SecurityOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$266K - $445KHybridPythonJavaC++
- Security Engineer, Application SecurityOpenAI · 🇺🇸Seattle$266K - $445KPythonJavaC++
- Member of Technical Staff (Offensive Security Engineer)Perplexity · 🇺🇸San Francisco$220K - $405KHybridGoPythonGCP
- Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Cybersecurity Products)Perplexity · 🇺🇸San Francisco$220K - $405KRustGoPython
- Research Engineer, SafetyDecagon · 🇺🇸San Francisco$200K - $400KPythonAI agentsReinforcement learning
- Senior Research Engineer, SafetyDecagon · 🇺🇸San Francisco$200K - $400KSeniorPythonAI agentsReinforcement learning
- VP, SecurityEngine · 🇺🇸Remote - US$298K - $400KRemoteLead and aboveLLMAWSApplication security
- Staff Product Manager, Autonomous CyberTwenty · 🇺🇸Arlington, VA$161K - $389KLead and aboveSecurity clearancePenetration testing
- Staff Product Manager, Data & Platform InfrastructureTwenty · 🇺🇸New York, NY$184K - $389KLead and aboveSecurity clearanceAI agentsData quality
- Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Global Commercial and PrivacyHackerOne · 🇺🇸Washington DC$300K - $385KRemoteLead and abovePenetration testingDeelLaw degree
- Principal Security Software Engineer, Application SecurityRoblox · 🇺🇸San Mateo, CA, United States$326K - $385KLead and aboveGoPythonC#
- Security EngineerFigma · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA • New York, NY • United States$153K - $376KIncident responseIAMApplication security
- Staff/Senior Staff Software Engineer - Product SecurityZoox · 🇺🇸Foster City, CA$292K - $375KLead and aboveAWSInfrastructure as codeApplication security
- Software Engineer, Security, ProductRamp · 🇺🇸New York, NY (HQ)$258K - $355KHybridPythonElixirAWS
- Member of Technical Staff - Security Eng.PrimeIntellect · 🇺🇸United States$250K - $355KRemoteLinuxKubernetesLangChain
- Security Engineer, Application SecurityFigure · 🇺🇸San Jose, CA$150K - $350KRustGoPython
Questions about Penetration testing pay
- What is the average Penetration testing salary?
- $221K a year on average and $213K at the median, across 243 open Penetration testing 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 $170K to $264K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.
- Which companies advertise the highest Penetration testing pay?
- Anthropic ($382K), OpenAI ($321K), Glean ($300K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).
- Is a penetration testing a high-paying job?
- The median Penetration testing posting advertises $213K a year, more than the median of all 55,899 job postings with pay on Jobs Every Hour ($174K). That is 22% above the middle of the market.
- How much can you earn as a penetration testing?
- A tenth of the postings offer $312K a year or more; the highest open Penetration testing role advertises up to $500K. Pay rises with level: see the table by level.
- What is the Penetration testing salary per hour and per month?
- The median of $213K a year is about $102 an hour (2,080 working hours) and $17,750 a month before tax. The middle half of postings: $81 to $127 an hour.
- Which skills pay more for Penetration testing roles?
- Postings that ask for AI agents (+$54K, 37 postings), TypeScript (+$20K, 24 postings), Threat modeling (+$14K, 97 postings) advertise more than the $213K median of all Penetration testing 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 Penetration testing roles at companies is $213K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $170K to $264K. Counted from 243 open job postings that state pay, November 2026. Source: Jobs Every Hour, https://jobseveryhour.com/salaries/penetration-testing/
Free to use with the link.