SaaS Salary Benchmarks

Staff Engineer Salary Benchmarks

Compensation data for the Staff Engineer role at US SaaS companies, based on 47 verified salaries.

Quartile breakdown All SaaS roles

Base salary · US SaaS47 salaries

$160,000

Median base salary

Bottom 25% avg$32,223Top 25% avg$193,558

Average base salary: $138,120
Typical range (P25–P75): $128,877–$165,500
Salaries analyzed: 47

Hiring for this role? At the median, one Staff Engineer costs $160,000 a year in base salary.

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Overview

47 salaries

Staff Engineer Salary Overview

Bottom 25% AverageAverage of the lowest-paid quarter · 9 salaries: $32,223
Middle 50% AverageAverage of the middle half · 26 salaries: $149,190
Top 25% AverageAverage of the highest-paid quarter · 12 salaries: $193,558

Median Staff Engineer base pay by pay period

Per year: $160,000
Per month: $13,333
Every two weeks: $6,154
Per hour: $76.92

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

Staff Engineer salaries at SaaS companies average $138,120, with typical salaries ranging from $128,877 to $165,500. Based on 47 real salary data points from SaaS companies.

Quartile bands

Employees · annualized base

Detailed Staff Engineer Compensation Breakdown

Staff Engineer base salary by percentile band
Percentile Band	Salary range	Average Base Salary	# of salaries
Top 25%	$165,500 and up	$193,558	12 salaries
Middle 50%	$128,877–$165,500	$149,190	26 salaries
Bottom 25%	Under $128,877	$32,223	9 salaries

By seniority

Employees · median base

Engineer Salary by Seniority Level

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

Engineer base salary by seniority level
Level	Median base	P25–P75	Salaries	Step-up
Engineer	$102,497	$70,037–$160,000	225	—
Senior Engineer	$145,000	$125,000–$165,000	115	+41%
Lead Engineer	$175,000	$81,906–$200,000	74	+21%
Staff EngineerThis page	$160,000*	$128,877–$165,500	47	−9%
Principal Engineer	$180,000	$123,456–$236,000	103	+13%

* 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 Staff Engineer Cost to Hire?

Budget for Staff 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 Staff Engineer hire at the median: $160,000 a year in base salary, $200,000–$224,000 fully loaded.

Cost of one hire by pay level
Per hire	P2525th percentile	MedianMedian	P7575th percentile
Base salary / year	$128,877	$160,000	$165,500
Base salary / month	$10,740	$13,333	$13,792
Fully loaded / year1.25–1.4× base	$161,096–$180,428	$200,000–$224,000	$206,875–$231,700
Fully loaded / month1.25–1.4× base	$13,425–$15,036	$16,667–$18,667	$17,240–$19,308

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

Staff Engineer Pay by the Numbers

The middle half of Staff Engineer salaries spans $128,877–$165,500: a $36,623 spread, 23% of the $160,000 median.
A 75th-percentile Staff Engineer earns 1.3× the 25th-percentile salary.
The Staff Engineer median is 49% above the median Engineering & Product role ($107,100 across 63 roles).

What Drives Higher Staff 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

Staff Engineer salary

On a median base salary of $160,000, a Staff Engineer at a US SaaS company makes about $13,333 a month, $6,154 every two weeks, or $76.92 an hour over 2,080 working hours a year. The middle half of salaries (25th–75th percentile) works out to $10,740–$13,792 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 47 verified SaaS Staff Engineer salaries, the 25th percentile is $128,877 and the median is $160,000. A Staff 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 $165,500 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 $160,000, the fully loaded cost of a US Staff Engineer is roughly $200,000–$224,000 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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