RF engineering salary: $172K median
The median advertised RF engineering salary is $172K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $145K to $210K: counted from 537 open roles that publish a yearly US-dollar range: about $82 an hour or $14,292 a month. A tenth of the postings offer $246K or more. Advertised ranges, not verified pay.
Check an offer against these figuresAll RF engineering jobs
$172Kmedian advertised salary
$145K – $210Kmiddle half of roles
$181Kaverage advertised salary
537roles counted
RF engineering salary by level
Lead roles advertise a median of $224K, 19% more than senior roles ($188K). The level comes from the job title; titles without a level word are counted separately.
| Level | Median salary | Middle half | Roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior | $188K | $165K–$210K | 182 |
| Lead and above | $224K | $198K–$256K | 106 |
| No level in the title | $145K | $128K–$172K | 238 |
RF engineering salary by location
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area | $215K | 99 |
| 🇺🇸California | $186K | 354 |
| 🇺🇸United States | $172K | 521 |
| 🇺🇸Los Angeles, CA | $165K | 91 |
| 🇺🇸Seattle, WA | $145K | 68 |
Skills that pay more for RF engineering roles
| Skill | Median with it | Above the median | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firmware | $188K | +$16K | 113 |
| Sensor fusion | $183K | +$12K | 132 |
| Computer Vision | $180K | +$8K | 126 |
| Security clearance | $177K | +$6K | 198 |
| FPGA | $172K | +$1K | 79 |
Top-paying companies
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | $366K | 3 |
| Sabi | $350K | 3 |
| Baseten | $248K | 3 |
| Zoox | $242K | 5 |
| Waymo | $238K | 5 |
| Samsara | $226K | 4 |
| Shield AI | $226K | 4 |
| Oura | $216K | 7 |
| Astranis | $205K | 10 |
| Reliable Robotics | $201K | 4 |
| Captivation Software | $200K | 3 |
| Skydio | $192K | 12 |
| Varda Space Industries | $191K | 4 |
| Muon Space | $191K | 12 |
| True Anomaly | $190K | 12 |
| LeoLabs, Inc. | $188K | 4 |
| Cowboyspace | $186K | 6 |
| Hinge Health | $185K | 3 |
| Whoop | $182K | 5 |
| Anduril Industries | $180K | 126 |
| Sandbar | $180K | 3 |
| K2 Space | $171K | 24 |
| Lucid Motors | $171K | 3 |
| SharkNinja | $170K | 3 |
| Loft Federal | $168K | 5 |
Highest-paying open RF engineering roles
All RF engineering jobs- Physical Design Engineer, HardwareRiver AI Inc. · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA; Austin, TX$200K - $420KPythonDeep learningSlack
- Software Engineer, Distributed TrainingRiver AI Inc. · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$200K - $420KRustPythonC++
- Security Engineer, RF and Technical Surveillance CountermeasuresAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY$320K - $405KGitData centersPRDs
- Helix AI Engineer, AndroidFigure · 🇺🇸San Jose, CA$200K - $400KReactKotlinAndroid
- Lead Electrical EngineerSabi · 🇺🇸San Francisco$300K - $400KHybridLead and aboveFirmwareHardware testingPCB design
- Lead Firmware EngineerSabi · 🇺🇸San Francisco$300K - $400KHybridLead and aboveFirmwareHardware testingTest equipment
- Firmware Engineer, RTOS, Consumer DevicesOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$347K - $385KHybridC++LinuxC
- Connectivity Software Engineer, Consumer DevicesOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$347K - $385KHybridPythonC++Linux
- Software Engineer - Inference PerformanceBaseten · 🇺🇸San Francisco$180K - $360KHybridGoPythonC++
- Senior Engineering Manager, Device SoftwareHinge Health · 🇺🇸San Francisco-HQ$240K - $360KHybridSeniorPythonTypeScriptReact
- Senior/Staff Software Engineer - Machine Learning & System OptimizationZoox · 🇺🇸Foster City, CA$254K - $350KLead and abovePythonC++Machine Learning
- Vice President, ProductionTrue Anomaly · 🇺🇸Long Beach, CA or Denver, CO$300K - $350KLead and aboveSecurity clearanceMechatronicsRF engineering
- VP of Product and Technical StrategyAnysignal · 🇺🇸Los Angeles, CA$225K - $350KLead and aboveProduct marketingRF engineering
- Head of Sensors & Radar Strategic Supply ChainAnduril Industries · 🇺🇸Costa Mesa, California, United States$260K - $345KLead and aboveComputer VisionSecurity clearanceIntellectual property
- Principal Embedded Engineer, EWAnduril Industries · 🇺🇸Costa Mesa, California, United States$260K - $345KLead and aboveRustLinuxComputer Vision
- Principal RFIC Engineer (Starshield Silicon)SpaceX · 🇺🇸Hawthorne, CA$210K - $340KLead and aboveSecurity clearanceTest equipmentRF engineering
- Principal RFIC Engineer (Starshield Silicon)SpaceX · 🇺🇸Irvine, CA$210K - $340KLead and aboveSecurity clearanceTest equipmentRF engineering
- Principal Engineer, AI/ML Architecture - 11310Coupa · 🇺🇸Foster City, CA, United States$241K - $337KLead and abovePythonMachine LearningLLM
- Director, Radar PayloadRocket Lab · 🇺🇸Long Beach, CA$198K - $330KLead and aboveTest planningOpticsRF engineering
- Director, RF PayloadsRocket Lab · 🇺🇸Long Beach, CA$198K - $330KLead and aboveTest planningOpticsRF engineering
Questions about RF engineering pay
- What is the average RF engineering salary?
- $181K a year on average and $172K at the median, across 537 open RF engineering 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 $145K to $210K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.
- Which companies advertise the highest RF engineering pay?
- OpenAI ($366K), Sabi ($350K), Baseten ($248K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).
- Is a rf engineering a high-paying job?
- The median RF engineering posting advertises $172K a year, less than the median of all 55,899 job postings with pay on Jobs Every Hour ($174K). That is 1% below the middle of the market.
- How much can you earn as a rf engineering?
- A tenth of the postings offer $246K a year or more; the highest open RF engineering role advertises up to $420K. Pay rises with level: see the table by level.
- What is the RF engineering salary per hour and per month?
- The median of $172K a year is about $82 an hour (2,080 working hours) and $14,292 a month before tax. The middle half of postings: $70 to $101 an hour.
- Which skills pay more for RF engineering roles?
- Postings that ask for Firmware (+$16K, 113 postings), Sensor fusion (+$12K, 132 postings), Computer Vision (+$8K, 126 postings) advertise more than the $172K median of all RF engineering postings with pay.
- What does an entry-level rf engineering make?
- 11 junior and intern RF engineering postings state pay, with a median of $128K a year ($61 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 RF engineering roles at companies is $172K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $145K to $210K. Counted from 537 open job postings that state pay, November 2026. Source: Jobs Every Hour, https://jobseveryhour.com/salaries/rf-engineering/
Free to use with the link.