# Engineering Career Ladder Pay (2026)

Data through June 2026.

Median midpoints of market pay RANGES shown to candidates (posted or estimated, not
employer pay) across the engineering IC ladder vs the Engineering Manager rung.

The IC Premium: a Staff Software Engineer ($195K) out-earns an Engineering
Manager ($170K) by $25K on median posted pay.

IC track:
- Software Engineer: $137K (n=3,011)
- Senior Software Engineer: $158K (n=3,890)
- Lead Software Engineer: $169K (n=308)
- Staff Software Engineer: $195K (n=689)
- Principal Software Engineer: $187.5K (n=343)

Management track:
- Engineering Manager: $170K (n=305)

Note: Staff and Principal samples are thin vs Senior; treat the top IC rungs as one band.

Source: SoviaJobs Job Market Research. Salary = platform-estimated posted ranges.
Free to use with citation + link to https://www.soviajobs.com/market-research.