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Salaries

What companies building the future pay, straight from their own job postings.

23,755 openings with posted pay · 510 companies · Updated Oct 19, 2026

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Sorted by top of posted range

Infrastructure, IT, & Security in Defense: median base salary $178k · Typical range $145k–$220k · 263 openings with pay.

Infrastructure, IT, & Security · Defense

263 matching openings with posted pay
1
Senior/Staff DevOps Engineer

Twenty · Arlington, VA · Staff / Principal

$192k–$455k / year
2
Senior/Staff DevOps Engineer

Twenty · New York, NY · Senior

$192k–$455k / year
3
Forward Deployed Site Reliability Engineer - TS/SCI (CI Poly)

Twenty · Fort Meade, MD · Senior

$192k–$455k / year
4
Principal Offensive Cyber Research Engineer

Twenty · Arlington, VA · Staff / Principal

$192k–$455k / year
5
Forward Deployed Site Reliability Engineer - TS/SCI (Full Scope Poly)

Twenty · Chantilly, VA · Senior

$192k–$455k / year
6
Chief Information Security Officer

Anduril Industries · Costa Mesa, CA · Executive

$252k–$382k / year
7
Senior Manager, Cloud Platform and Security

Twenty · Arlington, VA · Manager

$197k–$354k / year
8
Senior Engineering Manager, Business Systems

Verkada · San Mateo, CA · Manager

$200k–$350k / year

Median base salary

$175k

All openings with posted pay

Typical range

$133k–$226k

25th to 75th percentile

23,755 openings with pay data across 510 companies · 52% of 45,661 tracked openings. Annual base salary. Equity and bonus excluded. Methodology

Distribution

Share of openings by posted midpoint

Under $50k
234
$50k–$100k
2,916
$100k–$150k
4,694
$150k–$200k
6,830
$200k–$250k
4,939
$250k–$300k
2,342
$300k–$400k
1,438
$400k+
362

By role

Bar shows 25th to 75th percentile

AI & Autonomy1,258 openings
Typical range $185k–$280k
$233k
Software & Data5,103 openings
Typical range $166k–$255k
$209k
Infrastructure, IT, & Security1,887 openings
Typical range $158k–$250k
$201k
Product, Programs, & Systems2,006 openings
Typical range $161k–$235k
$193k
Marketing & Design832 openings
Typical range $150k–$223k
$183k
Business Development & Customer Ops2,533 openings
Typical range $130k–$241k
$180k
Electrical & Firmware1,802 openings
Typical range $140k–$217k
$175k
Finance, Legal, & Compliance1,169 openings
Typical range $130k–$228k
$171k
Mechanical & Physical Systems1,696 openings
Typical range $125k–$185k
$159k
Business & People Operations1,158 openings
Typical range $110k–$185k
$148k
Supply Chain & Procurement821 openings
Typical range $100k–$170k
$137k
Test, Quality, & Reliability1,902 openings
Typical range $92k–$174k
$135k
Manufacturing & Production1,588 openings
Typical range $73k–$150k
$103k

By experience level

Intern789 openings
Typical range $60k–$95k
$73k
Entry-Level2,129 openings
Typical range $67k–$148k
$103k
Mid-Level6,253 openings
Typical range $115k–$193k
$150k
Senior9,443 openings
Typical range $160k–$230k
$193k
Staff / Principal2,015 openings
Typical range $193k–$270k
$229k
Manager2,003 openings
Typical range $148k–$235k
$188k
Director1,048 openings
Typical range $218k–$295k
$250k
Executive75 openings
Typical range $259k–$317k
$290k

By funding stage

Seed521 openings
Typical range $125k–$195k
$160k
Series A1,400 openings
Typical range $125k–$200k
$163k
Series B1,459 openings
Typical range $133k–$220k
$175k
Series C+15,271 openings
Typical range $142k–$235k
$185k
Public5,043 openings
Typical range $111k–$218k
$163k

By sector

AI Research1,809 openings
Typical range $219k–$352k
$281k
Compute & Semiconductors2,863 openings
Typical range $177k–$262k
$218k
AI App3,300 openings
Typical range $170k–$260k
$214k
Fintech855 openings
Typical range $142k–$245k
$194k
Construction & Housing118 openings
Typical range $135k–$224k
$173k
Supply Chain295 openings
Typical range $118k–$215k
$170k
Robotics644 openings
Typical range $125k–$207k
$170k
Defense3,813 openings
Typical range $140k–$208k
$170k
Bio & Health491 openings
Typical range $130k–$219k
$168k
Public Services160 openings
Typical range $120k–$225k
$165k
Energy & Climate1,687 openings
Typical range $120k–$189k
$159k
Agriculture158 openings
Typical range $115k–$165k
$159k
Aerospace4,889 openings
Typical range $108k–$180k
$146k
Transportation1,835 openings
Typical range $90k–$212k
$146k
Education36 openings
Typical range $78k–$175k
$137k
Manufacturing802 openings
Typical range $87k–$175k
$133k

Top-paying companies

Median pay · 8+ openings each

1Anthropic411 roles$353k
2Aaru19 roles$353k
3Thinking Machines Lab37 roles$330k
4Whop11 roles$325k
5OpenAI652 roles$308k
6Normal Computing22 roles$300k
7Goodfire13 roles$300k
8Lambda89 roles$288k
9World Labs11 roles$288k
10MatX42 roles$288k
11Luma AI15 roles$288k
12Wispr Flow31 roles$285k
13Wayve71 roles$285k
14Periodic Labs26 roles$281k
15Oxide14 roles$275k

Methodology

All figures come from salary ranges companies publish on their own job postings, pulled from their applicant tracking systems hourly. Nothing is self-reported or estimated.

Pay in other currencies is converted at fixed recent exchange rates. Hourly, weekly, and monthly pay is annualized. Everything is base salary only. Equity and bonus are excluded because postings rarely quantify them.

Stats are medians and quartiles of each posting's range midpoint, weighted by open roles. Groups with fewer than 30 openings (8 for a single company) are not shown.

Numbers reflect currently open roles, not historical offers. About 52% of tracked openings post pay. US pay-transparency laws drive most disclosure, so coverage skews to US roles. Explore hiring patterns in the hiring report.

Frequently asked questions

What is the median salary at companies building the future?
The median posted base salary is $175k per year, across 23,755 live openings at 510 companies. The middle half of postings falls between $133k and $226k.
Which startup roles pay the most?
AI & Autonomy roles lead at a $233k median, followed by Software & Data ($209k) and Infrastructure, IT, & Security ($201k), based on the ranges companies post on live openings.
Which companies building the future pay the highest salaries?
Anthropic tops the list with a $353k median posted base salary, ahead of Aaru ($353k) and Thinking Machines Lab ($330k), among companies with eight or more openings that post pay.
Do startup job postings include salary?
About 52% of the openings BuildList tracks post a pay range. Disclosure is highest at US companies covered by pay-transparency laws, so coverage skews to US roles.
Where does this salary data come from?
From the pay ranges companies publish on their own job postings, pulled hourly from their applicant tracking systems and normalized to annual base salary. Equity and bonus are excluded. Nothing is self-reported or estimated.

These numbers come from 23,755 live openings. Browse the roles behind them.

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