Engineering Leadership salary

116 market ranges · employer-stated pay · updated Oct 24, 2026

The best-evidenced figure here is for engineering leadership roles at senior level across the United States: 1,316 postings where the employer stated pay put the middle half between $167,500 and $237,563, with a median of $202,500.

Pay rises with seniority across the United States: the medians run mid-level $185,000, senior $202,500 and lead $230,000. Moving from mid-level to lead is worth roughly 24% more.

Location moves the number too. Of the 8 cities with at least 25 postings in USD at senior level, San Francisco has the highest median at $246,000 and Austin the lowest at $176,800, a gap of roughly 39%.

Every range here is counted from real postings, never modelled. 5 of the 60 ranges in the table rest on fewer than 10 postings and are marked hint: treat those as hints rather than benchmarks.

Every measured range

116 by market and level

Market	Level	Market range	Median	Sample
United States · country-wide	Mid	$151,110 – $235,847	$185,000	689
Canada · country-wide	Mid	CA$134,500 – CA$208,250	CA$166,250	72
United Kingdom · country-wide	Mid	£62,000 – £127,000	£89,000	25
United States · country-wide	Senior	$167,500 – $237,563	$202,500	1,316
Canada · country-wide	Senior	CA$140,000 – CA$216,700	CA$175,000	143
United Kingdom · country-wide	Senior	£70,150 – £120,000	£88,250	41
Ireland · country-wide	Senior	€104,400 – €129,360	€105,000	9hint
United States · country-wide	Lead	$194,475 – $275,000	$230,000	513
Canada · country-wide	Lead	CA$161,350 – CA$241,875	CA$179,425	32
Remote · United States	Mid	$165,000 – $239,400	$194,900	123
Remote · Canada	Mid	CA$125,000 – CA$201,500	CA$175,000	13
Remote · United States	Senior	$175,000 – $236,800	$207,500	327
Remote · Canada	Senior	CA$171,000 – CA$220,800	CA$183,825	25
Remote · United States	Lead	$185,000 – $261,125	$236,063	78
Arlington	Senior	$152,650 – $206,850	$168,500	9hint
Atlanta	Senior	$184,283 – $229,150	$220,175	18
Austin	Mid	$148,863 – $207,429	$188,075	10
Austin	Senior	$161,500 – $209,829	$176,800	29
Bellevue	Mid	$210,000 – $268,500	$217,375	9hint
Bellevue	Senior	$222,750 – $287,000	$245,500	23
Boston	Mid	$176,800 – $211,450	$204,000	16
Boston	Senior	$169,750 – $236,811	$208,000	40
Boston	Lead	$177,493 – $226,250	$207,500	13
Charlotte	Senior	$148,500 – $185,600	$168,500	11
Chicago	Mid	$167,834 – $211,500	$178,800	28
Chicago	Senior	$159,400 – $204,063	$180,000	46
Chicago	Lead	$168,125 – $238,294	$190,075	10
Dallas	Senior	$146,500 – $199,500	$179,500	10
Denver	Senior	$170,375 – $240,000	$210,075	18
Irvine	Senior	$165,829 – $192,875	$181,725	14
London	Mid	£120,500 – £140,000	£135,000	9hint
London	Senior	£104,470 – £135,000	£120,000	17
Los Angeles	Senior	$202,338 – $244,750	$231,500	20
Minneapolis	Senior	$156,000 – $191,000	$173,400	13
Mountain View	Senior	$251,250 – $309,363	$267,500	23
New York	Mid	$194,805 – $262,500	$226,000	79
New York	Senior	$206,250 – $273,725	$233,750	151
New York	Lead	$206,875 – $288,375	$253,250	44
Palo Alto	Senior	$240,000 – $275,000	$270,990	17
San Diego	Senior	$180,000 – $224,700	$200,000	17
San Francisco	Mid	$231,500 – $304,000	$262,500	81
San Francisco	Senior	$222,950 – $280,500	$246,000	145
San Francisco	Lead	$260,000 – $333,000	$305,000	53
San Jose	Mid	$199,625 – $257,500	$212,251	16
San Jose	Senior	$195,000 – $243,075	$221,516	42
San Jose	Lead	$231,023 – $300,594	$255,688	10
San Mateo	Senior	$222,250 – $297,573	$235,000	15
Santa Clara	Mid	$184,404 – $256,080	$225,000	11
Santa Clara	Senior	$193,188 – $249,668	$221,075	28
Santa Clara	Lead	$231,545 – $240,000	$233,250	9hint
Seattle	Mid	$212,000 – $262,500	$253,500	13
Seattle	Senior	$215,000 – $255,000	$230,000	42
Sunnyvale	Mid	$232,200 – $281,650	$273,500	11
Sunnyvale	Senior	$217,875 – $268,599	$242,500	22
Toronto	Mid	CA$139,400 – CA$215,000	CA$175,000	29
Toronto	Senior	CA$136,650 – CA$217,100	CA$177,500	55
Toronto	Lead	CA$165,250 – CA$287,500	CA$205,500	11
Vancouver	Senior	CA$197,500 – CA$258,838	CA$231,000	15
Washington	Mid	$188,400 – $248,579	$218,000	10
Washington	Senior	$223,125 – $268,800	$239,500	12

Entry is junior titles. Mid is mid-level and manager titles. Senior is senior titles. Lead is director, VP and above. Rows marked hint rest on fewer than 10 postings: read them as a hint, not a benchmark.

Top 60 of 116 ranges by sample size.

Ranges span the 25th to 75th percentile of employer-stated base pay for the market and level. Median is the 50th percentile. Sample is the number of postings measured.

by the team behind techroles