Hiring a backend engineer in San Francisco? Across 341 live backend engineer postings in San Francisco, the market pays a $210K median salary (typically $175K–$233K). 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 backend engineer designs and builds the server-side services, APIs, and data systems that power the product. Hiring one in San Francisco means competing with the companies below.
What employers actually screen for, aggregated across 341 active backend engineer postings in San Francisco:
A sample of the companies with live backend engineers openings in San Francisco:
| Company | Actively hiring |
|---|---|
| Verkada | backend engineers in San Francisco |
| Lapel | backend engineers in San Francisco |
| Coupang | backend engineers in San Francisco |
| OpenAI | backend engineers in San Francisco |
| Altruist | backend engineers in San Francisco |
| Unity Technologies | backend engineers in San Francisco |
| Level Software Engineer | backend engineers in San Francisco |
| Endor Labs | backend engineers in San Francisco |
| Mintlify | backend engineers in San Francisco |
| Giga ML | backend engineers in San Francisco |
| Scale Jobs | backend engineers in San Francisco |
| David Joseph & Company | backend engineers in San Francisco |
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 backend 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 backend engineer designs and builds the server-side services, APIs, and data systems that power the product.
What salary does a backend engineer in San Francisco command in 2026?Across 341 live postings in San Francisco, a $210K median salary (typically $175K–$233K) — base only; equity is typically on top. Most postings expect 5+ years of experience.
What should you look for when hiring a backend engineer?Depth in the skills these postings require (Python, PostgreSQL, AWS, Go, Kubernetes, TypeScript, GCP, Java), plus distributed-systems and API-design experience, database fluency, and a bias for reliability. Recruiting from Scratch sends a shortlist of 3–5 genuinely qualified candidates, not resume volume.
How does Recruiting from Scratch hire backend engineers?On a contingency model — no retainer, no upfront cost, pay only on a hire — with a 29-day average time to hire (industry average 49 days), a 90-day replacement guarantee, and named hires at companies like Decagon and Mercor.
Recruiting from Scratch also publishes salary benchmarks and recruiting-firm rankings for backend engineers.
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