RTL design salary: $212K median
The median advertised RTL design salary is $212K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $172K to $242K: counted from 163 open roles that publish a yearly US-dollar range: about $102 an hour or $17,708 a month. A tenth of the postings offer $310K or more. Advertised ranges, not verified pay.
Check an offer against these figuresAll RTL design jobs
$212Kmedian advertised salary
$172K – $242Kmiddle half of roles
$221Kaverage advertised salary
163roles counted
RTL design salary by level
Lead roles advertise a median of $231K, 10% more than senior roles ($210K). The level comes from the job title; titles without a level word are counted separately.
| Level | Median salary | Middle half | Roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior | $210K | $172K–$222K | 47 |
| Lead and above | $231K | $212K–$250K | 52 |
| No level in the title | $195K | $154K–$310K | 61 |
RTL design salary by location
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area | $225K | 99 |
| 🇺🇸California | $215K | 130 |
| 🇺🇸United States | $212K | 161 |
| 🇺🇸Los Angeles, CA | $172K | 17 |
Skills that pay more for RTL design roles
| Skill | Median with it | Above the median | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compilers | $255K | +$42K | 21 |
| High-performance computing | $225K | +$12K | 23 |
| Cadence | $220K | +$8K | 33 |
Top-paying companies
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | $386K | 8 |
| River AI Inc. | $310K | 7 |
| Waymo | $280K | 3 |
| DensityAI | $259K | 6 |
| Samsung Research America | $251K | 4 |
| Cerebras | $245K | 7 |
| Astranis | $215K | 9 |
| Astera Labs | $212K | 26 |
| K2 Space | $210K | 17 |
| Celero Communications, Inc. | $200K | 5 |
| Lightmatter | $190K | 8 |
| Anduril Industries | $189K | 16 |
| SambaNova | $160K | 7 |
| SpaceX | $155K | 22 |
Highest-paying open RTL design roles
All RTL design jobs- Research Engineer, Chip Design RLAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA$500K - $850KLLMReinforcement learningASIC
- Research Engineer, AI for Chip DesignOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$380K - $500KHybridAIVerilogLLM evaluation
- Silicon EngineerAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA$320K - $485KMachine LearningAnalog designCompilers
- Physical Design EngineerOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$225K - $485KPythonBazelHigh-performance computing
- Senior Staff/Principal Software Engineer - GPU System Software, Onboard ExecutionZoox · 🇺🇸Foster City, CA$339K - $455KLead and aboveC++LinuxCUDA
- Compiler Engineer, HardwareRiver AI Inc. · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$200K - $420KC++PyTorchCUDA
- Design Verification Emulation, HardwareRiver AI Inc. · 🇺🇸Austin, TX, Palo Alto, CA$200K - $420KPythonC++CI/CD
- Principal Engineer, SoC NPU ArchitectSamsung Research America · 🇺🇸665 Clyde Avenue, Mountain View, CA, USA$242K - $377KLead and abovePythonC++Machine Learning
- Principal DFT Engineer (Silicon Engineering)SpaceX · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$220K - $355KLead and abovePythonVerilogPerl
- Principal DFT Engineer (Silicon Engineering)SpaceX · 🇺🇸Irvine, CA$210K - $340KLead and abovePythonVerilogPerl
- Principal Digital ArchitectLightmatter · 🇺🇸Boston, MA; Mountain View, CA$217K - $325KLead and abovePythonMATLABData centers
- DV Formal VerificationDensityAI · 🇺🇸Mountain View, CA$200K - $320KRTL designCadence
- Physical Design Timing EngineerDensityAI · 🇺🇸Mountain View, CA$220K - $320KCompilersRTL designCadence
- Staff ML Accelerator ArchitectWaymo · 🇺🇸Mountain View, CA, USA; New York, New York, USA$251K - $310KLead and aboveMachine LearningVerilogCompilers
- Staff SoC Design EngineerWaymo · 🇺🇸Mountain View, CA, USA$251K - $310KLead and abovePythonC++Scala
- Senior Staff Engineer, SoC NPU ArchitectSamsung Research America · 🇺🇸665 Clyde Avenue, Mountain View, CA, USA$204K - $306KLead and abovePythonC++Machine Learning
- Senior Staff Design Verification EngineerCerebras · 🇺🇸Sunnyvale, CA$250K - $300KLead and abovePython.NETVerilog
- Lead RTL Design EngineerCerebras · 🇺🇸Sunnyvale, CA$200K - $299KLead and abovePython.NETMachine Learning
- Product Technical Chip Lead, Senior DirectorAstera Labs · 🇺🇸San Jose, California, United States$260K - $295KLead and aboveFirmwareHardware interfacesASIC
- Principal ASIC Design Verification EngineerK2 Space · 🇺🇸United States - Remote$190K - $285KRemoteLead and abovePythonC++CI/CD
Questions about RTL design pay
- What is the average RTL design salary?
- $221K a year on average and $212K at the median, across 163 open RTL design 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 $172K to $242K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.
- Which companies advertise the highest RTL design pay?
- OpenAI ($386K), River AI Inc. ($310K), Waymo ($280K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).
- Is a rtl design a high-paying job?
- The median RTL design posting advertises $212K 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 rtl design?
- A tenth of the postings offer $310K a year or more; the highest open RTL design role advertises up to $850K. Pay rises with level: see the table by level.
- What is the RTL design salary per hour and per month?
- The median of $212K a year is about $102 an hour (2,080 working hours) and $17,708 a month before tax. The middle half of postings: $83 to $116 an hour.
- Which skills pay more for RTL design roles?
- Postings that ask for Compilers (+$42K, 21 postings), High-performance computing (+$12K, 23 postings), Cadence (+$8K, 33 postings) advertise more than the $212K median of all RTL design 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 RTL design roles at companies is $212K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $172K to $242K. Counted from 163 open job postings that state pay, November 2026. Source: Jobs Every Hour, https://jobseveryhour.com/salaries/rtl-design/
Free to use with the link.








