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Engineering salary guide 2026

Engineering salaries at Seed to Series C companies

Base salary benchmarks for software engineering roles, built from offers we made and negotiated over the last twelve months — not scraped job-ad ranges.

Updated September 2026412 offers analysedBase salary, excluding equity
+4.8%
Median base movement year on year
$182k
Median senior engineer, US remote
68%
Of offers included equity
11 days
Median offer-to-acceptance

Base salary by seniority

US remote · 25th to 75th percentile, median marked

Mid-level (3–5 yrs)$130k – $155k · median $142k
Senior (6–9 yrs)$160k – $195k · median $182k
Staff (9+ yrs)$195k – $235k · median $215k
Engineering Manager$185k – $225k · median $205k
Director / VP$230k – $300k · median $265k
Figures are base salary from offers we made or negotiated in the last twelve months. Equity, bonus and benefits are covered separately below.

Median base by role and region

Converted to USD at September 2026 rates for comparison

RoleUS remoteUKGermanyYoY
Frontend Engineer, senior$175k£92k€88k+5.1%
Backend Engineer, senior$185k£98k€94k+4.2%
Full-stack Engineer, senior$178k£95k€90k+4.6%
Platform / Infrastructure$195k£105k€100k+6.8%
Forward Deployed Engineer$188k£100k€96k+9.4%
Engineering Manager$205k£120k€114k+3.1%

Equity by stage

Typical grant for this discipline, four-year vest

Pre-seed0.5% – 1.5%
Seed0.25% – 0.75%
Series A0.1% – 0.35%
Series B–C0.05% – 0.15%

What moves an offer

Premiums we see on top of the median

AI or ML production experience+12%
Distributed systems at scale+9%
Prior founding-engineer role+7%
On-site four or more days+6%

What we are seeing in Engineering right now

Infrastructure and platform roles are the only engineering band where base pay is still climbing faster than inflation — up 6.8% year on year as teams consolidate tooling.
Fully remote offers now sit around 4% below hybrid equivalents in the US, a reversal from 2024 when remote carried a premium.
Candidates are discounting equity heavily. Roughly two in three now negotiate on base first and treat options as upside rather than compensation.

Common questions

Is this base salary or total compensation?

Base salary only. Equity ranges are shown separately, and bonus is typically 5–15% at this stage.

How current is the data?

Rolling twelve months to September 2026, refreshed quarterly.

Do these figures apply to agencies and consultancies?

No. Every figure comes from venture-backed product companies between Seed and Series C.

Can I get a benchmark for a specific role?

Yes, free. Send the role, level and location and we return real offer data within 48 hours.

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Get a benchmark for your exact role

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Methodology

Sample412 offers
PeriodSep 2025 – Sep 2026
Company stageSeed to Series C
SourceTrustyRecruit offers
Next updateDecember 2026

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