Simulation Engineer salary: $207K median
The median advertised Simulation Engineer salary is $207K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $172K to $238K: counted from 146 open roles that publish a yearly US-dollar range: about $100 an hour or $17,250 a month. A tenth of the postings offer $269K or more. Advertised ranges, not verified pay.
Check an offer against these figuresAll simulation engineer jobs
$207Kmedian advertised salary
$172K – $238Kmiddle half of roles
$205Kaverage advertised salary
146roles counted
Simulation Engineer salary by level
Lead roles advertise a median of $242K, 15% 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 | $188K–$222K | 39 |
| Lead and above | $242K | $208K–$270K | 43 |
| No level in the title | $177K | $142K–$216K | 64 |
Simulation Engineer salary by location
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area | $232K | 51 |
| 🇺🇸California | $210K | 114 |
| 🇺🇸United States | $210K | 139 |
| 🇺🇸Los Angeles, CA | $165K | 22 |
Skills that pay more for Simulation Engineer roles
| Skill | Median with it | Above the median | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI | $256K | +$49K | 14 |
| PyTorch | $251K | +$44K | 14 |
| Machine Learning | $236K | +$29K | 29 |
| Mechatronics | $227K | +$20K | 14 |
| AWS | $220K | +$13K | 14 |
Top-paying companies
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| Waymo | $270K | 11 |
| Zoox | $248K | 5 |
| DoorDash USA | $246K | 3 |
| Reliable Robotics | $240K | 3 |
| Agility Robotics | $232K | 3 |
| Sandboxaq | $226K | 3 |
| Code Metal | $225K | 8 |
| Muon Space | $213K | 4 |
| Applied | $212K | 5 |
| Anduril Industries | $206K | 20 |
| True Anomaly | $205K | 5 |
| Freeform | $188K | 3 |
| CHAOS Industries | $165K | 3 |
| Voyager Technologies, Inc. | $150K | 3 |
| SpaceX | $142K | 13 |
Highest-paying open Simulation Engineer roles
All simulation engineer jobs- Research Engineer - Robotic Hardware, Simulation and DataApplied · 🇺🇸Sunnyvale$126K - $423KPythonMachine LearningPyTorch
- MTS - Research (Robotics Simulation Data)Collinear Ai · 🇺🇸Sunnyvale, California$160K - $400KPythonC++CUDA
- Senior Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Perception, Simulation RealismWaymo · 🇺🇸Mountain View, California, United States; San Francisco…$298K - $368KLead and abovePythonC++Machine Learning
- Software Engineer, SimulationDoppel · 🇺🇸San Francisco, New York$135K - $350KHybrid
- Senior / Staff Machine Learning Engineer - 3D Sensor SimulationZoox · 🇺🇸Foster City, CA$242K - $348KLead and abovePythonMachine LearningPyTorch
- Principal Software Engineer, Spacecraft SimulationTrue Anomaly · 🇺🇸Denver, CO; Long Beach, CA$210K - $325KLead and abovePythonC++Docker
- Software Engineer, Missile Defense Simulation (II - Principal)True Anomaly · 🇺🇸Denver, CO; Long Beach, CA$90K - $325KLead and abovePythonC++CI/CD
- Senior/Staff Machine Learning Engineer, 3D SimulationZoox · 🇺🇸Foster City, CA$225K - $320KLead and abovePythonC++Machine Learning
- Staff Machine Learning Engineer, SimulationWaymo · 🇺🇸Mountain View, CA, USA; New York, NY, USA$251K - $310KLead and abovePythonC++Machine Learning
- Software Engineer, SimulationWayve · 🇺🇸Sunnyvale, California USA$209K - $310KHybridPythonC++PyTorch
- Director of Product Management, Financial Simulation and ModelingSandboxaq · 🇺🇸United States$163K - $306KRemoteLead and aboveLLMAI agentsQuantitative analysis
- Research Scientist, Soft Matter SimulationsLila Sciences · 🇺🇸Cambridge, MA USA; San Francisco, CA USA$176K - $304KRustPythonC++
- Simulation Engineer - Physics Modeling1X · 🇺🇸San Carlos, CA$200K - $300KPythonC++JAX
- Software Engineer, Simulation & EvaluationSaildrone · 🇺🇸Alameda, California, United States$144K - $300KPythonC++Linux
- Founding MTS – SimulationsSolvea · 🇺🇸San Francisco$150K - $300K
- Director, Model & SimulationValar Atomics · 🇺🇸Torrance, California, United States$225K - $300KLead and abovePythonHigh-performance computingAviation
- Sr. Simulation Software EngineerReliable Robotics · 🇺🇸Mountain View, CA$215K - $300KSeniorPythonC++Hardware testing
- Sr. Evaluation, Validation & Simulation Engineer42dot · 🇺🇸Sunnyvale, United States$210K - $300KSenior
- Simulation EngineerSkild AI · San Mateo$100K - $300KPythonC++Machine Learning
- Principal Simulation EngineerFreeform · 🇺🇸Los Angeles, CA (On-site)$225K - $300KLead and aboveC++CUDA
Questions about Simulation Engineer pay
- What is the average Simulation Engineer salary?
- $205K a year on average and $207K at the median, across 146 open Simulation 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 $172K to $238K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.
- Which companies advertise the highest Simulation Engineer pay?
- Waymo ($270K), Zoox ($248K), DoorDash USA ($246K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).
- Is a simulation engineer a high-paying job?
- The median Simulation Engineer posting advertises $207K a year, more than the median of all 55,899 job postings with pay on Jobs Every Hour ($174K). That is 19% above the middle of the market.
- How much can you earn as a simulation engineer?
- A tenth of the postings offer $269K a year or more; the highest open Simulation Engineer role advertises up to $423K. Pay rises with level: see the table by level.
- What is the Simulation Engineer salary per hour and per month?
- The median of $207K a year is about $100 an hour (2,080 working hours) and $17,250 a month before tax. The middle half of postings: $82 to $114 an hour.
- Which skills pay more for Simulation Engineer roles?
- Postings that ask for AI (+$49K, 14 postings), PyTorch (+$44K, 14 postings), Machine Learning (+$29K, 29 postings) advertise more than the $207K median of all Simulation 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 Simulation Engineer roles at companies is $207K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $172K to $238K. Counted from 146 open job postings that state pay, November 2026. Source: Jobs Every Hour, https://jobseveryhour.com/salaries/simulation-engineer/
Free to use with the link.