SALARY REPORT · LIVE DATA
What tech jobs actually pay in 2026
We read 27,143 open job postings on companies’ own career pages. 11,041 of them state the pay. Here is what they offer, by role, country, seniority, skill, and remote or office. Refreshed daily.
Software engineer, median
$210k
a year, US-dollar postings
Postings that state pay
41%
of 27,143 open jobs
Remote vs office pay
−1%
$178k remote, $180k office
Best-paid role
ML & AI Engineer
median $226k
Key findings
- 41% of open job postings state the pay (11,041 of 27,143).
- ML & AI Engineer is the best-paid role, with a median of $226k a year in US-dollar postings.
- A software engineer posting pays a median of $210k; the middle half pay $184k to $242k.
- Remote jobs pay 1% less than office jobs at the median ($178k vs $180k).
- Pay roughly 2.3× from entry level ($97k) to lead and staff roles ($220k).
- 81% of US postings state pay, against 6% in India.
Salary by role
Yearly pay in US-dollar postings. The dot is the median; the soft bar is the middle half. Tap a role to see its open jobs with a salary.
QA & Test Engineer$188k
IT & Systems$152k
Show as a table
| Median | 25th percentile | 75th percentile | Postings | Employers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ML & AI Engineer | $226k | $192k | $267k | 460 | 92 |
| Embedded & Firmware | $226k | $205k | $277k | 84 | 18 |
| Data Scientist | $220k | $186k | $258k | 177 | 45 |
| Backend Engineer | $214k | $188k | $239k | 192 | 41 |
| Security Engineer | $213k | $181k | $248k | 188 | 58 |
| Product Manager | $211k | $184k | $235k | 468 | 85 |
| Mobile Engineer | $210k | $182k | $244k | 53 | 19 |
| Software Engineer | $210k | $184k | $242k | 1,563 | 111 |
| Leadership | $208k | $161k | $272k | 95 | 50 |
| Legal & Compliance | $205k | $174k | $245k | 225 | 62 |
| Data Engineer | $205k | $180k | $270k | 113 | 53 |
| Full-Stack Engineer | $205k | $176k | $236k | 120 | 32 |
| Frontend Engineer | $204k | $186k | $251k | 72 | 30 |
| Partnerships & BD | $201k | $175k | $230k | 131 | 51 |
| Product Designer | $199k | $168k | $236k | 293 | 76 |
| DevOps & SRE | $193k | $167k | $227k | 167 | 59 |
| QA & Test Engineer | $188k | $147k | $216k | 26 | 20 |
| Marketing | $185k | $144k | $211k | 434 | 98 |
| Finance & Accounting | $182k | $133k | $212k | 247 | 77 |
| Content & Communications | $178k | $136k | $211k | 85 | 41 |
| Program & Project Management | $174k | $127k | $198k | 268 | 74 |
| Consulting & Solutions | $170k | $126k | $224k | 431 | 73 |
| Operations & Strategy | $164k | $121k | $198k | 456 | 91 |
| Recruiting & People | $163k | $138k | $193k | 168 | 65 |
| Sales | $160k | $111k | $208k | 1,725 | 142 |
| IT & Systems | $152k | $116k | $203k | 26 | 16 |
| Analyst | $144k | $116k | $187k | 217 | 71 |
| Customer Success | $136k | $91k | $173k | 209 | 71 |
Do remote jobs pay less?
A little: at the median, remote jobs pay 1% less than jobs in the office.
Remote$178k
Hybrid$169k
In the office$180k
Show as a table
| Median | 25th percentile | 75th percentile | Postings | Employers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Remote | $178k | $136k | $217k | 3,735 | 150 |
| Hybrid | $169k | $124k | $211k | 4,313 | 123 |
| In the office | $180k | $117k | $225k | 976 | 81 |
Salary by seniority
From $97k at entry level to $220k for lead and staff roles, at the median.
Intern$117k
Entry level$97k
Mid level$139k
Senior$173k
Lead & staff$220k
Show as a table
| Median | 25th percentile | 75th percentile | Postings | Employers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intern | $117k | $83k | $128k | 103 | 22 |
| Entry level | $97k | $70k | $146k | 362 | 98 |
| Mid level | $139k | $95k | $181k | 1,306 | 147 |
| Senior | $173k | $135k | $209k | 4,745 | 168 |
| Lead & staff | $220k | $192k | $260k | 2,285 | 138 |
The skills that pay most
Skills named in at least 100 salaried postings, ranked by the median pay of those postings.
Reinforcement learning$257k
Model training$241k
Pytorch$237k
Deep learning$237k
Devsecops$234k
Model inference$234k
Recommendation systems$233k
Fine tuning$230k
Spark$229k
Intellectual property$227k
Application security$226k
Threat modeling$226k
Show as a table
| Median | 25th percentile | 75th percentile | Postings | Employers | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reinforcement learning | $257k | $204k | $275k | 159 | 30 |
| Model training | $241k | $214k | $276k | 198 | 43 |
| Pytorch | $237k | $200k | $275k | 162 | 49 |
| Deep learning | $237k | $207k | $270k | 102 | 31 |
| Devsecops | $234k | $190k | $256k | 128 | 14 |
| Model inference | $234k | $196k | $268k | 133 | 41 |
| Recommendation systems | $233k | $195k | $273k | 110 | 27 |
| Fine tuning | $230k | $204k | $260k | 181 | 45 |
| Spark | $229k | $196k | $254k | 256 | 42 |
| Intellectual property | $227k | $179k | $287k | 154 | 28 |
| Application security | $226k | $198k | $263k | 200 | 53 |
| Threat modeling | $226k | $193k | $268k | 100 | 38 |
Salary by country
Each country in its own currency, never converted. Only postings paid in the local currency count, so a US company paying dollars for “remote, US or Canada” is not counted as Canadian pay.
United States
$175k
middle half $132k – $215k
8,671 postings · 174 employers
United Kingdom
£104k
middle half £75k – £129k
265 postings · 38 employers
India
₹9 LPA
middle half ₹4.3 LPA – ₹31.9 LPA
214 postings · 15 employers
Canada
C$168k
middle half C$139k – C$216k
130 postings · 18 employers
Ireland
€101k
middle half €87k – €113k
115 postings · 17 employers
Spain
€87k
middle half €68k – €107k
76 postings · 12 employers
Germany
€133k
middle half €98k – €189k
49 postings · 20 employers
France
€131k
middle half €111k – €151k
29 postings · 12 employers
Italy
€55k
middle half €38k – €120k
28 postings · 15 employers
Singapore
S$135k
middle half S$102k – S$246k
25 postings · 8 employers
Which countries state the pay?
Share of open postings that publish a salary. Several US states require it by law, which is why US postings lead.
United States81%
Canada64%
Ireland28%
United Kingdom20%
France12%
Germany11%
India6%
Singapore5%
Australia5%
Brazil4%
Malaysia0%
Japan0%
How we calculated this
- Source: job postings that are open right now on employers’ own career pages, read every six hours.
- Pay: the middle of each posting’s stated yearly range, or its one figure. Hourly and daily rates are left out, not converted.
- Each employer counts once: a company with forty openings weighs the same as one with a single opening, at the middle of its own postings. Otherwise one big hirer would set a whole country’s pay.
- Groups: a group is shown only with at least 25 postings from at least 8 different employers.
- Currencies: never converted. Role, seniority, skill and remote figures use US-dollar postings.
Cite this report
Shortlist Salary Report (2026). Pay in 11,041 live job postings. https://shortlistapp.co/salaries
Questions
Where does this salary data come from?
From job postings on employers' own career pages (Greenhouse, Ashby, Lever, Workable and more), read by Shortlist every six hours. Only postings that are open right now and that state a salary are counted. It is not a survey, and nothing is estimated.
What does 'median' and 'middle half' mean here?
Each posting's pay is the middle of the range it states, and each employer counts once, at the middle of its own postings. The median is the employer in the middle: half pay more, half pay less. The middle half is the range from the 25th to the 75th percentile.
Why are most numbers in US dollars?
Most postings that state pay are from US employers, who are required to publish ranges in several states. Country figures are shown in each country's own currency and are never converted, because an exchange rate would add an error the employer never made.
How often is this updated?
The job board is refreshed every six hours and this page is recalculated daily, so closed postings drop out and new ones count within a day.
Can I use these numbers in my article?
Yes. The data is free to use with a link back to this page. The citation box below has the wording, and the full numbers are available as a CSV download.