Senior SRE

💰 $173K–$218K salary range

Median: $195K  ·  Based on 114 public job postings  ·  Updated October 16, 2026

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Individuals in this critical role at high-growth companies are responsible for architecting and maintaining the reliability, scalability, and performance of foundational AI models and their supporting infrastructure. These professionals are crucial for ensuring seamless deployment, efficient operation, and robust monitoring of complex machine learning systems at scale. Compensation for this specialized function typically ranges from $191K to $237K, with a median salary of $225K, based on an analysis of 41 recent job postings. Top earners consistently demonstrate advanced expertise in MLOps platform administration, sophisticated GPU resource orchestration using Kubernetes, and deep proficiency in optimizing model serving performance for large-scale AI applications. Their contributions are vital for delivering high-performing and reliable intelligent systems.

📊 Salary breakdown

Senior SRE salary by location

• All locations: $195K median ($173K–$218K typical range)
• San Francisco: $230K median, $224K–$260K range (+18% vs. national)
• New York: $209K median, $190K–$212K range (+7% vs. national)
• Austin: $188K median, $187K–$188K range (-4% vs. national)
• Los Angeles: $203K median, $192K–$206K range (+4% vs. national)

Highest paying companies

San Francisco

• Lambda: $298K median

Austin

• MongoDB 🍃: $188K median

Based on companies with 3+ active postings. Median of publicly advertised salary range.

What's typically included

• Health insurance: 74% of postings
• Equity (RSU/options): 79% of postings
• Flexible PTO: 55% of postings
• Parental leave: 41% of postings
• Learning/education budget: 11% of postings
• Visa sponsorship: 4% of postings

Typical experience required: 6–8 years.

Security salaries by seniority

• Security Engineer: $148K
• Security Engineering Manager: $160K
• Security Lead: $168K
• Senior Security Engineer: $170K
• Senior SRE: $195K
• Staff Security Engineer: $219K
• Head of Security / CISO: $230K

What does a Senior SRE do?

Senior SREs are security engineers and analysts who protect infrastructure, data, and applications. This benchmark reflects Senior-level base compensation at high-growth and AI-native companies.

Government wage data

For corroboration, U.S. Department of Labor certified wage filings (FY2026) show a median of $174K for Senior SRE roles, ranging $150K–$198K, across 207 filings. This is reported separately from — never blended with — the job-posting median above.

Common questions

What is the average Senior SRE salary at an AI startup?
The median pay is $195K, with a typical range of $173K–$218K, based on 114 public job postings collected in 2025–2026.

Where does this salary data come from?
It is aggregated from public job postings on company career pages — no private placement or client data. We require a minimum of 15 postings per role.

Methodology

Figures are the midpoint of each posting's advertised USD salary range, aggregated from 114 public job postings (2025–2026). The range shown is the 25th–75th percentile; the median is the 50th percentile. Equity is separate and not included; where a posting's range reflects on-target earnings (OTE) for commission roles, that is included in the midpoint. Roles require at least 15 postings to be published. Last refreshed October 16, 2026.

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