US startups from Series A to Series E post a median senior software engineer base range of $170K–$220K, with a typical midpoint of $195K. Series A and Series B pay the most at a $200K midpoint. New York and San Francisco both sit at $210K, and remote roles at $185K. Senior engineers who booked a call with us asked for a median of $200K. Moving up to staff adds about $35K: the typical staff midpoint is $230K.
This report is built from 469 senior software engineering postings with pay at Series A to Series F startups (last 90 days, October 2026), compared with what 341 senior engineers told us they want when they booked a call with Recruiting from Scratch.
Median posted base range, open US roles first seen in the last 90 days.
| Stage | Median posted range | Typical midpoint | Paid postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| All Series A–F | $170K – $220K | $195K | 469 |
| Series A | $160K – $220K | $200K | 138 |
| Series B | $180K – $220K | $200K | 139 |
| Series C | $165K – $220K | $190K | 88 |
| Series D | $165K – $215K | $195K | 56 |
| Series E | $160K – $225K | $195K | 32 |
Series F has fewer than 20 paid postings and is not shown.
| Location | Median posted range | Typical midpoint | Paid postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | $180K – $230K | $210K | 91 |
| San Francisco Bay Area | $180K – $250K | $210K | 107 |
| Remote | $160K – $205K | $185K | 140 |
| Other US cities | $160K – $210K | $185K | 131 |
San Francisco has the same midpoint as New York but a higher ceiling.
| Specialty | Median posted range | Typical midpoint | Paid postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI / machine learning | $180K – $230K | $200K | 62 |
| Backend | $180K – $225K | $200K | 33 |
| Frontend and mobile | $170K – $220K | $200K | 25 |
| Full-stack and product | $165K – $225K | $195K | 57 |
| General software | $165K – $220K | $195K | 154 |
| Data | $175K – $210K | $190K | 22 |
| Infrastructure, platform and security | $165K – $220K | $185K | 116 |
At the senior level, specialty moves pay by about $15K at most. AI, backend and frontend roles sit at the top, and infrastructure roles at the bottom.
Across 341 senior engineers who booked a call with us in the last six months, the median target was $200K, and the middle half asked for $175K–$250K. That is close to the posted midpoint of $195K, so most senior candidates expect the middle of a typical band.
Across 549 senior software engineering job descriptions at Series A to Series E startups (last 30 days):
We hired six engineers for Mercor in a single month, and we've placed senior full-stack engineers at Cinder. We work on contingency and send a shortlist of 3–5 vetted candidates. For the level above, see our staff engineer salary report, and for customer-facing engineers see our forward deployed engineer salary report.
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A median posted base range of $170K–$220K across 469 US Series A to Series F postings with pay (October 2026). The typical midpoint is $195K.
No. Series A and Series B have the highest typical midpoint at $200K, and Series C to E sit at $190K–$195K. City moves pay more than stage does.
New York and San Francisco both have a typical midpoint of $210K. Remote roles sit at $185K.
About $35K at the midpoint: $230K for staff against $195K for senior.
A median of $200K, the midpoint of the range stated by 341 senior engineers when booking a call with Recruiting from Scratch.
Postings: open US roles first seen in the last 90 days with senior software engineering titles (staff, principal and management titles excluded), at companies whose last round was Series A to Series F (since 2022), with a known total raised that fits the stage and 3,000 or fewer employees. Titles must name software work, so hardware and other non-software engineering roles are excluded. Duplicate multi-city posts count once, at most two postings per company are included, and ranges stated as total compensation are excluded. Segments with fewer than 20 paid postings are not shown. Amounts are rounded to $5K. Posted ranges are base salary. Job description percentages use senior postings from the last 30 days.
Candidate asks: the midpoint of the range stated by 341 unique senior engineer candidates when booking a call in the last six months, counted once per person. Answers stated as total compensation are excluded. Asks may include additional compensation such as equity or bonus.
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