Hiring a software engineer in the US? Across 3,986 live software engineer postings in the US, the market pays a $184K median salary (typically $155K–$218K). Recruiting from Scratch is the contingency technical recruiting firm for these hires — a 29-day average time to hire, 300+ placements, and a 2M+ candidate network.
A software engineer designs, builds, tests, and ships software across the stack as part of a product team. Hiring one in the US means competing with the companies below.
What employers actually screen for, aggregated across 3,986 active software engineer postings in the US:
| Percentile | Base salary |
|---|---|
| 25th | $155K |
| Median | $184K |
| 75th | $218K |
Based on 1,443 software engineer postings in the US that disclose pay. Base only — equity is typically on top.
Across the 1,929 software engineer postings in the US that spell out responsibilities:
The companies with the most live software engineer openings in the US, with what each pays and screens for (medians shown only where at least 3 postings disclose pay):
| Company | Open software engineer roles | Median pay (disclosed) | Top skills |
|---|---|---|---|
| 115 | $214K | Python, GCP, Java | |
| Motorola Solutions | 82 | $140K | Python, CI/CD, Java |
| Palo Alto Networks | 81 | $192K | Python, AWS, GCP |
| Nvidia | 80 | $152K | Python, PyTorch, Kubernetes |
| General Motors | 77 | $198K | Python, Java, CI/CD |
| PNC Financial Services Group, INC | 68 | $126K | CI/CD, Spring, Kafka |
| Roblox | 59 | $269K | Go, Python, Java |
| Axon | 40 | $183K | Go, Java, Scala |
| JPMorganChase | 37 | — | CI/CD, Java, Spring |
| Rippling | 35 | $248K | Python, Django, React |
Where the software engineer demand sits across funding stages, across the 150 companies with the most live openings in the US:
| Stage | Companies hiring | Open roles | Median pay (disclosed) | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seed | 2 | 18 | — | Speechify, Jobgether |
| Series A | 3 | 20 | $170K | Tutor Intelligence, Scale AI, Traba |
| Series B | 10 | 107 | $187K | JPMorganChase, Klarity, GDIT |
| Series C | 2 | 11 | — | NexHealth, Esyasoft |
| Series D+ | 36 | 393 | $219K | Rippling, Bosch Group, Riot Games |
| Public | 74 | 1387 | $184K | Google, Motorola Solutions, Palo Alto Networks |
A further 23 of those companies have no funding stage on file and are not shown above.
Recruiting from Scratch is a contingency technical recruiting firm — no retainer and no upfront cost, so you pay only when you make a hire. The process: align on the role and must-haves → a curated shortlist of 3–5 genuinely qualified software engineers (not resume volume) → a 29-day average time to hire versus the 49-day industry average → a 90-day replacement guarantee. Backed by 300+ placements, a 2M+ candidate network, and named hires at companies like Decagon and Mercor.
A software engineer designs, builds, tests, and ships software across the stack as part of a product team.
What salary does a software engineer in the US command in 2026?Across 3,986 live postings in the US, a $184K median salary (typically $155K–$218K) — base only; equity is typically on top. Most postings expect 5+ years of experience.
What should you look for when hiring a software engineer?Depth in the skills these postings require (Python, Java, AWS, CI/CD, React, TypeScript, Go, JavaScript), plus solid engineering fundamentals, clean code, and the ability to own features from design to production. Recruiting from Scratch sends a shortlist of 3–5 genuinely qualified candidates, not resume volume.
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