Salary guide
Backend Engineer salary guide
Key Takeaways
- The median advertised Backend Engineer salary in our $100k+ listings is $210,000 a year (USD, 218 live listings).
- The middle half of those listings pays $185,000 to $237,000; individual listings range from $100,000 to $500,000.
- Affirm (24), OpenAI (7) and Ramp (7) have the most open $100k+ Backend Engineer listings.
- These figures cover only listings that publish a salary of $100k+ or more, so they sit above pay for Backend Engineer roles overall.
- Median base salary
- $210,000/yr
- Median of listing midpoints, USD listings only.
- Middle half of listings
- $185,000 to $237,000/yr
- 25th to 75th percentile.
- Listings counted
- 218
- Live USD listings paying $100k+.
- Countries with data
- 2
- Countries with at least 5 listings.
How much does a Backend Engineer make?
| Measure | Annual pay (USD) |
|---|---|
| 25th percentile | $185,000 |
| Median | $210,000 |
| 75th percentile | $237,000 |
| Lowest listing | $100,000 |
| Highest listing | $500,000 |
| Listings counted | 218 |
Which companies are hiring for Backend Engineer roles at $100k+?
How does Backend Engineer pay compare across countries?
| Country | Currency | Listings | Median pay | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | USD | 187 | $215,000 | $186,000 to $238,000 |
| Canada | USD | 5 | $213,000 | $200,000 to $215,000 |
United States
CanadaExplore related high-paying pages
Backend Engineer job openings ($100k+)
Our partner is looking for a Senior Software Back End Engineer based in the United States. We are seeking an experienced Senior Software Back End Engineer to design, develop, and enhance reliable, scalable software solutions in a cloud-based environment.
- 5+ years experience
- Apply on company site
- Benefits
- Equity
- Health insurance
- 401(k)
- Pension
- Paid time off
- Parental leave
Implement and iterate on backend features in the Rust-based Knowledge Graph service, including changes to the query engine, SDLC and code indexing flows, and API endpoints (including MCP endpoints) under guidance from senior and staff engineers.
- Apply on company site
- Benefits
- Equity
- Bonus
- Unlimited PTO
- Parental leave
Software Engineer (Electron.js), Desktop & Backend Sync (Remote, Full-time, $130k–$160k/yr) — Micro1 via AI Gig Scout
micro1New · 13h ago
As a Software Engineer focused on desktop systems, you’ll help design and scale a cross-platform time intelligence application (MacOS + Windows) used daily by thousands of professionals.
- Apply on Kubernetesjobs
- Benefits
- Equity
- Bonus
- 401(k)
- Paid time off
Build scalable distributed systems capable of handling high traffic from 100s of thousands of devices deployed around the world. Work with high concurrency key-value storage systems (Redis, DynamoDB). Work with Postgres relational databases.
- 1+ years experience
- Degree required
- Apply on company site
- Benefits
- Equity
- Bonus
- Commission
- Health insurance
- Unlimited PTO
- Parental leave
- Learning budget
- Wellness
Design and implement backend services and APIs while continuously improving code quality, keeping scalability and maintainability in mind. Develop RESTful APIs and integrate with external systems including state DMV platforms.
- Apply on WhatJobs
- Benefits
- Bonus
- Health insurance
- 401(k)
- Unlimited PTO
Superset for Software Engineering. Do you love the power of the internet to create seamless communication, but get frustrated by its current limitations? Are you passionate about helping people, and building community?
- 4+ years experience
- Apply on company site
PolandAs a senior backend engineer, you will shape multi-region, multi-tenant infrastructure, APIs, and vendor integrations that help product teams communicate with customers at scale.
- 5+ years experience
- Apply on company site
- Benefits
- Equity
- Health insurance
- Unlimited PTO
- Parental leave
- Wellness
You'll work across stacks and across the company, working both in just-in-time transaction processing that has to take place in milliseconds, along with our ledgering and reconciliation systems in post-transaction processing.
- 4+ years experience
- Apply on company site
- Benefits
- Equity
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Parental leave
- Wellness
The Core team builds features and platform capabilities that power critical areas of the Pendo product experience. Our work supports high-stakes customer use cases, drives how our systems evolve, and creates a consistent experience across the platform.
- 5+ years experience
- Degree or equivalent experience
- Apply on company site
- Benefits
- Equity
- 401(k)
- Unlimited PTO
The Core team builds features and platform capabilities that power critical areas of the Pendo product experience. Our work supports high-stakes customer use cases, drives how our systems evolve, and creates a consistent experience across the platform.
- 5+ years experience
- Degree or equivalent experience
- Apply on Built In
- Benefits
- Equity
- 401(k)
- Unlimited PTO
Design, implement, and operate our most critical and scalable services - ranging from user identity services, friend graph, and our core persistence layer.
- 1+ years experience
- Degree required
- Apply on company site
- Benefits
- Equity
- Health insurance
- Parental leave
- Wellness
Design, build, and maintain scalable distributed backend systems capable of handling high-volume traffic from hundreds of thousands of devices deployed globally.
- Degree required
- Apply on company site
- Benefits
- Equity
- Bonus
- Commission
- Health insurance
- Unlimited PTO
- Parental leave
- Learning budget
- Wellness
As a Backend Engineer on the PoleOS team, you'll own services end to end: design, build, ship to production, and keep them running. The work is mostly TypeScript and NestJS, with some Python, on AWS.
- 3+ years experience
- Degree or equivalent experience
- Apply on company site
- Benefits
- Equity
- Health insurance
- 401(k)
- Paid time off
- Relocation
- Meals
Our partner is looking for a Backend Software Engineer (Node.js) | LabArchives based in the United States. The Backend Software Engineer will contribute to the development and evolution of innovative scientific software solutions used by researchers and institutions worldwide.
- 9+ years experience
- Degree or equivalent experience
- Apply on company site
- Benefits
- Equity
- Health insurance
- 401(k)
- Pension
- Unlimited PTO
- Wellness
Implement and iterate on backend features in the Rust-based Knowledge Graph service, including changes to the query engine, SDLC and code indexing flows, and API endpoints (including MCP endpoints) under guidance from senior and staff engineers.
- Apply on We Work Remotely
- Benefits
- Equity
- Bonus
- Unlimited PTO
- Parental leave
How is this Backend Engineer salary data calculated?
- Source: the salary ranges employers publish in their own job listings, collected from company career pages and applicant-tracking systems.
- Method: each listing counts once, at the midpoint of its range. Headline figures use USD listings only, and the median is the middle value, not an average.
- Coverage: only listings paying $100k+ or more are included, so the data does not describe all Backend Engineer pay. Listings that publish no salary are not counted.
- Freshness: closed and stale listings are removed, and the figures are recalculated as the listings change.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a Backend Engineer make?
The median Backend Engineer salary in our $100k+ listings is $210,000 a year, based on 218 live USD listings. The middle half of listings pays $185,000 to $237,000. These figures cover only listings that publish a salary of $100k+ or more, so they sit above pay for Backend Engineer roles overall.
What is the salary range for a Backend Engineer?
Individual $100k+ Backend Engineer listings range from $100,000 to $500,000 a year. The 25th percentile of listing midpoints is $185,000 and the 75th percentile is $237,000.
Which companies are hiring for Backend Engineer roles at $100k+?
The companies with the most open $100k+ Backend Engineer listings are Affirm (24 listings, median $225,000), OpenAI (7 listings, median $356,000), Ramp (7 listings, median $242,000), Verkada (7 listings, median $225,000) and Coinbase (7 listings, median $202,000).
Where does this Backend Engineer salary data come from?
The figures come from the salary ranges employers publish in their own job listings, collected from company career pages and applicant-tracking systems. Each listing counts once, at the midpoint of its range. Only USD listings go into the headline figures, and listings that are closed or stale are removed. The data was last refreshed on November 12, 2026.
Are remote and hybrid Backend Engineer jobs included?
Yes. Each listing is tagged remote, hybrid or on-site, and remote roles carry a region (US only, EMEA, APAC or global), so you can filter the live job list to the arrangement you want.