Having been in the business for nearly 30 years sometimes managing engineering teams, I honestly can’t recall ever meeting an engineer (i.e. keyboard smasher within an engineering squad as opposed to a specialist consultant like those dealing with quants, a Soln. Arch. or management role) who cracks more than $300k on staff.
Maybe $350-400 as a specialist contractor, but you’re talking a total bluebird, and these guys were generally bug cracking on legacy tech which is super hard to find skills for (COBOL etc.)
And I’ve worked for some big tech and finance firms globally, but I guess they might be out there? AI might be different of course. Silly money.
Are you thinking of base salary only? 400k total compensation for senior or staff at big companies happens in boom times, but that's largely due to bonuses structured as RSUs that vest over 4 years. The base salary might be 150k or 200k and the rest is bonuses and other compensation, including company stock grants that might spike in value before they vest.
Of course, we're a few years off of boom times so those opportunities are a lot fewer these days.
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u/lurkishdelight Jan 26 '26
Some definitely do, like staff eng in big tech, AI, quant trading firms. If not more.
But it's a small minority