Systems Software Engineer salary: $238K median

Lead roles advertise a median of $258K, 20% more than senior roles ($215K). The level comes from the job title; titles without a level word are counted separately.

• APerformance EngineerAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY | Seattle, WA$280K - $850KMachine LearningLLM31mo
• APerformance Engineer, Inference SystemsAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY | Seattle, WA$350K - $850KPythonSQLLLM5mo
• OTraining Performance EngineerOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$295K - $500KRustPythonC++13mo
• OTechnical Lead - Training Runtime, Data(set) MovementOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$380K - $500KLeadRustPythonC++5mo
• LStaff HPC Systems ArchitectLambda · 🇺🇸San Jose Office (First St)$314K - $465KLeadMachine LearningKubernetes2mo
• SDirector of Engineering, Platform (Runtime & Stateful Systems)Sentry · 🇺🇸San Francisco, California$300K - $450KLead3w
• LStaff HPC Network ArchitectLambda · 🇺🇸San Jose Office (First St)$284K - $420KLeadMachine Learning2mo
• RCompiler Engineer, HardwareRiver AI Inc. · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$200K - $420KC++PyTorchCUDA6mo
• RKernel Engineer (Custom Silicon), HardwareRiver AI Inc. · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA; Austin, TX$200K - $420KC++CUDA4mo
• RPrincipal Software Engineer - Creator Distributed Systems & StorageRoblox · 🇺🇸San Mateo, CA, United States$345K - $399KLeadC++C#GCP7mo
• WStaff ML Performance Engineer, Performance ArchitectureWayve · 🇺🇸Sunnyvale, California USA$370K - $395KLeadPythonMachine LearningCUDA6w
• SSoftware Engineer, Agent RuntimeSierra · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA$230K - $390KGoTypeScriptLLM3w
• FSoftware Engineer - Distributed SystemsFigma · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA • New York, NY • United States$153K - $376KRustGoPython17mo
• KPrincipal Database EngineerKraken · 🇺🇸United States$161K - $359KRemoteLeadRustGoPython3d
• KPrincipal Database EngineerKraken · 🇬🇧United Kingdom$161K - $359KRemoteLeadRustGoPython4d
• RPrincipal Software Engineer, Languages & CompilersRoblox · 🇺🇸San Mateo, CA, United States$295K - $345KLeadC++9d
• DSenior Staff Software Engineer, AI RuntimeDatabricks · 🇺🇸Mountain View, California; San Francisco, California$229K - $343KLeadAI3w
• CPrincipal Systems Software ArchitectCrusoe · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA - US$260K - $340KLeadGCPAzureLLM3mo
• XSr. Software Engineer, Linux KernelxAI · 🇺🇸Seattle, WA$180K - $330KSeniorC++Linux9d
• BSoftware Engineer - GPU Networking & Distributed SystemsBaseten · 🇺🇸San Francisco$165K - $330KRustPythonC++8mo

What is the average Systems Software Engineer salary?

$261K a year on average and $238K at the median, across 135 open Systems Software Engineer postings at tech 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 $198K to $310K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.

Which companies advertise the highest Systems Software Engineer pay?

Anthropic ($565K), OpenAI ($356K), Roblox ($320K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).

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.