SaaS Salary Benchmarks

Senior Data Engineer Salary Benchmarks

Compensation data for the Senior Data Engineer role at US SaaS companies, based on 42 verified salaries.

Quartile breakdown All SaaS roles

Base salary · US SaaS42 salaries

$130,000

Median base salary

Bottom 25% avg$53,146Top 25% avg$173,491

Average base salary: $116,793
Typical range (P25–P75): $68,794–$160,100
Salaries analyzed: 42

Hiring for this role? At the median, one Senior Data Engineer costs $130,000 a year in base salary.

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Overview

42 salaries

Senior Data Engineer Salary Overview

Bottom 25% AverageAverage of the lowest-paid quarter · 10 salaries: $53,146
Middle 50% AverageAverage of the middle half · 18 salaries: $108,054
Top 25% AverageAverage of the highest-paid quarter · 14 salaries: $173,491

Median Senior Data Engineer base pay by pay period

Per year: $130,000
Per month: $10,833
Every two weeks: $5,000
Per hour: $62.50

Base-pay equivalents before tax; hourly assumes 2,080 working hours a year.

Senior Data Engineer salaries at SaaS companies average $116,793, with typical salaries ranging from $68,794 to $160,100. Based on 42 real salary data points from SaaS companies.

Quartile bands

Employees · annualized base

Detailed Senior Data Engineer Compensation Breakdown

Senior Data Engineer base salary by percentile band
Percentile Band	Salary range	Average Base Salary	# of salaries
Top 25%	$160,100 and up	$173,491	14 salaries
Middle 50%	$68,794–$160,100	$108,054	18 salaries
Bottom 25%	Under $68,794	$53,146	10 salaries

By seniority

Employees · median base

Data Engineer Salary by Seniority Level

Median base salary for each Data Engineer level with its own benchmark, from Data Engineer to Senior Data Engineer. Step-up compares each median with the level below.

Data Engineer base salary by seniority level
Level	Median base	P25–P75	Salaries	Step-up
Data Engineer	$49,942	$31,805–$114,072	111	—
Senior Data EngineerThis page	$130,000*	$68,794–$160,100	42	+160%

* Fewer than 50 salaries: a small sample, so expect this level's figures to move more between data refreshes.

Hiring budget

Base salary · fully loaded

What Does a Senior Data Engineer Cost to Hire?

Budget for Senior Data Engineer hires at the 25th percentile, median and 75th percentile of this benchmark, as base salary and as fully loaded cost.

Pay level

Hires

One Senior Data Engineer hire at the median: $130,000 a year in base salary, $162,500–$182,000 fully loaded.

Cost of one hire by pay level
Per hire	P2525th percentile	MedianMedian	P7575th percentile
Base salary / year	$68,794	$130,000	$160,100
Base salary / month	$5,733	$10,833	$13,342
Fully loaded / year1.25–1.4× base	$85,992–$96,311	$162,500–$182,000	$200,125–$224,140
Fully loaded / month1.25–1.4× base	$7,166–$8,026	$13,542–$15,167	$16,677–$18,678

Fully loaded adds employer payroll taxes, health and retirement benefits, software seats, and equipment at 1.25–1.4× base salary. That multiplier is a planning rule of thumb applied to this benchmark, not a surveyed cost figure. Commission, bonus, equity, and recruiting fees are not included.

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Key insights

Senior Data Engineer Pay by the Numbers

The middle half of Senior Data Engineer salaries spans $68,794–$160,100: a $91,306 spread, 70% of the $130,000 median.
A 75th-percentile Senior Data Engineer earns 2.3× the 25th-percentile salary.
The Senior Data Engineer median is 21% above the median Engineering & Product role ($107,100 across 63 roles).

What Drives Higher Senior Data Engineer Pay?

Years of experience and proven track record
Company stage and funding (later stage typically pays more)
Technical expertise and specialization
Location and remote work policies

FAQ

Senior Data Engineer salary

On a median base salary of $130,000, a Senior Data Engineer at a US SaaS company makes about $10,833 a month, $5,000 every two weeks, or $62.50 an hour over 2,080 working hours a year. The middle half of salaries (25th–75th percentile) works out to $5,733–$13,342 a month. These are base-pay equivalents before tax, and they leave out bonus, commission, and equity.

Expect the lower half of this benchmark. Across 42 verified SaaS Senior Data Engineer salaries, the 25th percentile is $68,794 and the median is $130,000. A Senior Data Engineer at a seed or Series A startup, or at a bootstrapped company under roughly $10M ARR, will often land between those two figures. Base pay typically moves toward and past the $160,100 75th percentile as the company adds headcount and ARR. Those stage bands are a rule of thumb applied to this benchmark, not a breakdown by company size, which the dataset does not report.

Budget for more than base salary. On a median base of $130,000, the fully loaded cost of a US Senior Data Engineer is roughly $162,500–$182,000 per year once employer payroll taxes (~7.65% FICA plus federal and state unemployment), health and retirement benefits, software seats, and equipment are added. That 1.25–1.4x multiplier is a planning rule of thumb applied to the benchmark on this page, not a surveyed cost figure. Commission, bonuses, and equity sit on top where the role carries them. Also budget one-off hiring costs: agency recruiting fees commonly run 15–25% of first-year base, and a new hire takes weeks to months to reach full productivity.

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