Staff Security Engineer

💰 $190K–$261K salary range

Median: $216K  ·  Based on 140 public job postings  ·  Updated August 30, 2026

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This senior security leadership role is pivotal in safeguarding the intellectual property and user data within AI-native products, directly addressing the unique security challenges posed by large language models and machine learning pipelines. Compensation for Staff Security Engineers at AI startups typically ranges from $217K to $262K, with a median of $236K, derived from an analysis of 45 recent job postings. Professionals commanding top salaries demonstrate expertise in securing ML lifecycles, developing adversarial robustness for AI models, and implementing robust prompt injection mitigations. This role requires a deep technical understanding to proactively identify and neutralize emerging threats specific to AI systems, ensuring the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of cutting-edge AI technologies and their underlying infrastructure.

📊 Salary breakdown

Staff Security Engineer salary by location

• All locations: $216K median ($190K–$261K typical range)
• San Francisco: $271K median, $246K–$313K range (+26% vs. national)
• New York: $275K median, $222K–$284K range (+27% vs. national)
• Boston: $219K median, $207K–$265K range (+1% vs. national)
• Seattle: $216K median, $195K–$254K range (+0% vs. national)
• Denver: $219K median, $210K–$250K range (+2% vs. national)

Highest paying companies

San Francisco

• Crusoe: $238K median

Seattle

• DigitalOcean: $210K median

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

What's typically included

• Health insurance: 69% of postings
• Equity (RSU/options): 85% of postings
• Flexible PTO: 61% of postings
• Parental leave: 31% of postings
• Learning/education budget: 21% of postings
• Visa sponsorship: 5% of postings

Typical experience required: 8–10 years.

Security salaries by seniority

• Security Engineer: $150K
• Security Engineering Manager: $160K
• Hardware Engineer: $175K
• Senior Security Engineer: $175K
• Security Lead: $180K
• Staff Security Engineer: $216K
• Head of Security / CISO: $252K

What does a Staff Security Engineer do?

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

Government wage data

For corroboration, U.S. Department of Labor certified wage filings (FY2025) show a median of $231K for Staff Security Engineer roles, ranging $189K–$256K, across 10 filings. This is reported separately from — never blended with — the job-posting median above.

Common questions

What is the average Staff Security Engineer salary at an AI startup?
The median pay is $216K, with a typical range of $190K–$261K, based on 140 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 140 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 August 30, 2026.

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