Hiring a security engineer in San Francisco? Across 276 live security engineer postings in San Francisco, the market pays a $212K median salary (typically $184K–$265K). 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 security engineer protects the product and infrastructure through threat modeling, secure architecture, detection, and response. Hiring one in San Francisco means competing with the companies below.
What employers actually screen for, aggregated across 276 active security engineer postings in San Francisco:
A sample of the companies with live security engineers openings in San Francisco:
| Company | Actively hiring |
|---|---|
| Anthropic | security engineers in San Francisco |
| xAI | security engineers in San Francisco |
| CoreWeave | security engineers in San Francisco |
| Tesla | security engineers in San Francisco |
| Robinhood | security engineers in San Francisco |
| Applied Digital | security engineers in San Francisco |
| OpenAI | security engineers in San Francisco |
| security engineers in San Francisco | |
| Assort Health | security engineers in San Francisco |
| Serval | security engineers in San Francisco |
| Astranis | security engineers in San Francisco |
| Roblox | security 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 security 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 security engineer protects the product and infrastructure through threat modeling, secure architecture, detection, and response.
What salary does a security engineer in San Francisco command in 2026?Across 276 live postings in San Francisco, a $212K median salary (typically $184K–$265K) — base only; equity is typically on top. Most postings expect 5+ years of experience.
What should you look for when hiring a security engineer?Depth in the skills these postings require (Python, AWS, GCP, Go, Kubernetes, CI/CD, Azure, Terraform), plus application- and infrastructure-security depth, threat-modeling skill, and a builder's mindset. Recruiting from Scratch sends a shortlist of 3–5 genuinely qualified candidates, not resume volume.
How does Recruiting from Scratch hire security 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 security engineers.
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