Lead Engineer salary

Quoted Expert
Michael Rudisill

Average lead engineer salary

$84,927

$40.83 hourly rate

Entry-level lead engineer salary
$60,000 yearly salary
Updated January 8, 2025

How much does a lead engineer make?

The average lead engineer salary in the United States is $84,927. Lead engineer salaries typically range between $60,000 and $120,000 yearly. The average hourly rate for lead engineers is $40.83 per hour.

Lead engineer salary is impacted by location, education, and experience. Lead engineers earn the highest average salary in Hawaii.

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Where can a Lead Engineer earn more?

Compare salary by location
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127k
107k
87k
67k
47k
California$110,162
OFallon, MO$76,604
Compare salary by company
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201k
181k
161k
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Meta$184,681
Palo Alto Networks$150,819

Lead Engineer Salaries By Experience Level

Lead Engineer salary estimates from across the web

Based on the latest salary information compiled by Zippia, Indeed, Glassdoor, Ziprecruiter, Comparably and Payscale, the average salary for a lead engineer typically falls between $84,927 and $160,794.
zippia
$84,927yearly
glassdoor[1]
$145,302yearly
indeed[2]
$130,804yearly
comparably[3]
$160,794yearly
ZipRecruiter[4]
$123,784yearly
payscale[5]
$98,893yearly

Average lead engineer salary by state

The highest-paying states for lead engineers are Hawaii, California, and Maryland. The lowest average lead engineer salary states are Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

  • State View
  • County View
Average Salary:

Highest paying states for lead engineers

Rank
ascdesc
State
ascdesc
Avg. Salary
ascdesc
Hourly Rate
ascdesc
1Hawaii$120,725$58.04
2Utah$89,046$42.81
3California$102,811$49.43
4Alaska$95,983$46.15
5District of Columbia$103,040$49.54
6Maryland$100,145$48.15
7New Hampshire$86,487$41.58
8New Mexico$88,195$42.40
9Massachusetts$91,238$43.86
10Wyoming$82,364$39.60
11West Virginia$91,347$43.92
12Idaho$84,879$40.81
13Washington$88,233$42.42
14Virginia$87,073$41.86
15Rhode Island$82,117$39.48
16Texas$84,096$40.43
17Colorado$85,458$41.09
18Maine$86,731$41.70
19Connecticut$89,304$42.93
20Oregon$86,236$41.46
21Tennessee$80,809$38.85
22Alabama$81,152$39.02
23Arizona$81,469$39.17
24Michigan$80,368$38.64
25North Dakota$81,658$39.26
26Vermont$81,431$39.15
27Louisiana$83,997$40.38
28Georgia$83,706$40.24
29Indiana$81,214$39.05
30Nevada$78,927$37.95
31Illinois$81,669$39.26
32New York$81,536$39.20
33Delaware$80,202$38.56
34Iowa$80,568$38.73
35Pennsylvania$79,705$38.32
36Montana$76,701$36.88
37Mississippi$79,374$38.16
38New Jersey$80,919$38.90
39North Carolina$77,445$37.23
40Ohio$76,894$36.97
41Missouri$76,453$36.76
42Oklahoma$76,300$36.68
43Kansas$74,740$35.93
44South Dakota$72,990$35.09
45Nebraska$73,621$35.39
46Minnesota$74,400$35.77
47South Carolina$74,710$35.92
48Kentucky$70,529$33.91
49Arkansas$65,689$31.58
50Florida$74,428$35.78
51Wisconsin$71,310$34.28

Highest paying cities for lead engineers

The highest-paying cities for lead engineers are San Francisco, CA, Quincy, MA, and Bellevue, WA.

Rank
ascdesc
City
ascdesc
Avg. Salary
ascdesc
Hourly Rate
ascdesc
1San Francisco, CA$110,162$52.96
2Quincy, MA$91,308$43.90
3Bellevue, WA$88,778$42.68
4Richmond, VA$86,884$41.77
5Hillsboro, OR$86,337$41.51
6Englewood, CO$85,517$41.11
7Austin, TX$84,769$40.75
8Atlanta, GA$83,745$40.26
9Chicago, IL$81,718$39.29
10New York, NY$81,640$39.25
11Richmond, IN$81,499$39.18
12Phoenix, AZ$81,462$39.16
13Jersey City, NJ$80,981$38.93
14Franklin, TN$80,829$38.86
15Warren, MI$80,525$38.71
16Wilmington, DE$80,287$38.60
17Philadelphia, PA$80,153$38.54
18Wilmington, NC$77,556$37.29
19Columbus, OH$76,893$36.97
20OFallon, MO$76,604$36.83

Lead Engineers are the most in-demand in these five cities:

  1. San Francisco, CA
  2. Quincy, MA
  3. Bellevue, WA
  4. Richmond, VA
  5. Hillsboro, OR

Lead Engineer salary details

A lead engineer's salary ranges from $60,000 a year at the 10th percentile to $120,000 at the 90th percentile.

Average Lead Engineer Salary Graph
Average Lead Engineer Salary Graph, Trends, and Summary

What is a lead engineer's salary?

Percentile
ascdesc
Annual Salary
ascdesc
Monthly Salary
ascdesc
Hourly Rate
ascdesc
90th Percentile$120,000$10,000$58
75th Percentile$101,000$8,417$49
Average$84,927$7,077$41
25th Percentile$70,000$5,833$34
10th Percentile$60,000$5,000$29

Highest paying lead engineer jobs

The highest paying types of lead engineers are senior staff engineer, principal software engineer, and senior principal engineer.

Job Title
ascdesc
Annual Salary
ascdesc
Monthly Salary
ascdesc
Hourly Rate
ascdesc
Job Openings
ascdesc
Engineer Lead Quality Assurance Lead$110,007$9,167$52.89278,178
Principal Software Engineer$134,230$11,186$64.53345,893
Software Engineer Lead$125,565$10,464$60.37342,462
Principal Engineer$130,213$10,851$62.60312,683
Staff Engineer$107,530$8,961$51.70277,011
Engineer$92,076$7,673$44.27618,207

How would you rate the starting salaries for Lead Engineers, as well as the prospects for salary advancement?

M

Michael Rudisill

Department Head and Professor of Engineering Technology, Northern Michigan University

From what we've seen, salaries haven't been reduced, even though demand is down. I would expect wages and salary progression to remain strong as the need for engineering will only continue to grow.

Top companies hiring lead engineers now:

  1. Cisco Jobs (90)
  2. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Jobs (99)
  3. Target Jobs (330)
  4. Pearson Jobs (106)
  5. CenturyLink Jobs (161)

Which companies pay lead engineers the most?

Lead engineer salaries at Meta and eBay are the highest-paying according to our most recent salary estimates. In addition, the average lead engineer salary at companies like Google and Levi Strauss & Co. are highly competitive.

Rank
ascdesc
Company
ascdesc
Average Salary
ascdesc
Hourly Rate
ascdesc
1Meta$184,681$88.79
2eBay$171,347$82.38
3Google$169,696$81.58
4Levi Strauss & Co.$166,291$79.95
5Netflix$165,704$79.67
6PayPal$164,986$79.32
7Canva$164,760$79.21
8Match Group$164,255$78.97
9The Knot$163,189$78.46
10Stitch Fix$162,337$78.05
11Snowflake Computing$157,384$75.67
12Microsoft$157,357$75.65
13Apple$156,165$75.08
14Move$155,710$74.86
15Hotel Tonight, Inc.$154,990$74.51
16LinkedIn$154,684$74.37
17MongoDB$153,256$73.68
18First Republic Bank$152,007$73.08
19DocuSign$151,052$72.62
20Palo Alto Networks$150,819$72.51

Wage gap by gender, race and education

$85,000$84,400$83,800$83,200$82,600$82,000
MaleFemale

Lead Engineer salary by industry

The average lead engineer salary varies across industries:

  • The average lead engineer salary in the automotive industry is $110,872, the highest of any industry.
  • The average lead engineer salary in the finance industry is $106,022.
  • Lead engineers in the finance industry earn an average salary of $73,716, the lowest of any industry.

Highest paying industries for lead engineers

Rank
ascdesc
Industry
ascdesc
Average Salary
ascdesc
Hourly Rate
ascdesc
1Automotive$110,872$53.30
2Manufacturing$106,022$50.97
3Technology$101,911$49.00
4Finance$73,716$35.44

High Paying Lead Engineer Jobs

Lead Engineer salary trends

The average lead engineer salary has risen by $10,296 over the last ten years. In 2014, the average lead engineer earned $74,631 annually, but today, they earn $84,927 a year. That works out to a 7% change in pay for lead engineers over the last decade.

Compare lead engineer salaries for cities or states with the national average over time.

Average lead engineer salary over time

Compare lead engineer salaries for individual cities or states with the national average.

  • National Average

Lead Engineer salary by year

Year
ascdesc
Avg. Salary
ascdesc
Hourly Rate
ascdesc
% Change
ascdesc
2025$84,900$40.83+1.9%
2024$83,300$40.05+1.2%
2023$82,300$39.57+1.7%
2022$80,900$38.89+2.0%
2021$79,300$38.13+0.7%

Recently added lead engineer salaries

Company
ascdesc
Job
ascdesc
Location
ascdesc
Date Added
ascdesc
Salary
ascdesc
PrudentialLead, Power Platform Engineer-Pgim Global ServicesNewark, NJ12/18/2024$135,000
LeidosLead Substation EngineerWalled Lake, MI12/17/2024$104,650
AirbyteChapter Lead, Frontend Engineering SAN FranciscoSan Francisco, CA12/17/2024$208,000
ActivisionLead Analytics EngineerSanta Monica, CA12/16/2024$121,500
at&TLead Full Stack EngineerBothell, WA12/16/2024$143,800
Capital OneLead Full Stack Engineer (GO, React, AWS)New York, NY12/16/2024$201,400
Capital OneLead AI EngineerBoston, MA12/16/2024$213,400
Cognizant Technology SolutionsLead Java Engineer/ArchitectNew York, NY12/16/2024$102,600
L3Harris TechnologiesLead, Info SEC SYS Engineer Secret-ColoradoColorado Springs, CO12/16/2024$106,500
City National CorporationLead Full Stack EngineerJersey City, NJ12/16/2024$111,408

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