SaaS Salary Benchmarks

Software Test Engineer Salary Benchmarks

Compensation data for the Software Test Engineer role at US SaaS companies, based on 14 verified salaries.

Quartile breakdown All SaaS roles

Base salary · US SaaS14 salaries

$31,798

Median base salary

Bottom 25% avg$29,120Top 25% avg$48,750

Average base salary: $38,681
Typical range (P25–P75): $31,798–$37,500
Salaries analyzed: 14

Hiring for this role? At the median, one Software Test Engineer costs $31,798 a year in base salary.

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Overview

14 salaries

Software Test Engineer Salary Overview

Bottom 25% AverageAverage of the lowest-paid quarter · 2 salaries: $29,120
Middle 50% AverageAverage of the middle half · 6 salaries: $31,798
Top 25% AverageAverage of the highest-paid quarter · 6 salaries: $48,750

Median Software Test Engineer base pay by pay period

Per year: $31,798
Per month: $2,650
Every two weeks: $1,223
Per hour: $15.29

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

Software Test Engineer salaries at SaaS companies average $38,681, with typical salaries ranging from $31,798 to $37,500. Based on 14 real salary data points from SaaS companies.

Quartile bands

Employees · annualized base

Detailed Software Test Engineer Compensation Breakdown

Software Test Engineer base salary by percentile band
Percentile Band	Salary range	Average Base Salary	# of salaries
Top 25%	$37,500 and up	$48,750	6 salaries
Middle 50%	$31,798–$37,500	$31,798	6 salaries
Bottom 25%	Under $31,798	$29,120	2 salaries

Hiring budget

Base salary · fully loaded

What Does a Software Test Engineer Cost to Hire?

Budget for Software Test 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 Software Test Engineer hire at the median: $31,798 a year in base salary, $39,748–$44,517 fully loaded.

Cost of one hire by pay level
Per hire	P2525th percentile	MedianMedian	P7575th percentile
Base salary / year	$31,798	$31,798	$37,500
Base salary / month	$2,650	$2,650	$3,125
Fully loaded / year1.25–1.4× base	$39,748–$44,517	$39,748–$44,517	$46,875–$52,500
Fully loaded / month1.25–1.4× base	$3,312–$3,710	$3,312–$3,710	$3,906–$4,375

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

Software Test Engineer Pay by the Numbers

The middle half of Software Test Engineer salaries spans $31,798–$37,500: a $5,702 spread, 18% of the $31,798 median.
A 75th-percentile Software Test Engineer earns 1.2× the 25th-percentile salary.
The Software Test Engineer median is 70% below the median Engineering & Product role ($107,210 across 64 roles).

What Drives Higher Software Test 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

Software Test Engineer salary

On a median base salary of $31,798, a Software Test Engineer at a US SaaS company makes about $2,650 a month, $1,223 every two weeks, or $15.29 an hour over 2,080 working hours a year. The middle half of salaries (25th–75th percentile) works out to $2,650–$3,125 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 14 verified SaaS Software Test Engineer salaries, the 25th percentile is $31,798 and the median is $31,798. A Software Test 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 $37,500 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 $31,798, the fully loaded cost of a US Software Test Engineer is roughly $39,748–$44,517 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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