Free Access No Registration Updated: 2026-06-01

Software Engineer Career Market Report 2026

OverviewSalarySkillsCareer PathAI ImpactResume Guide

46,695 active jobs. 6,625 companies. Median salary $130K. Data from Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, Ashby, SmartRecruiters, Workable, and 14 additional ATS sources. Last computed: 2026-06-01.

46,695
Active Job Openings
6,625
Companies Hiring
$130K
Median Salary (US)
81%
With Salary Data

About This Report

Software engineering roles span the widest salary range of any tech position, from $99K junior to $200K+ director.

Greenhouse Lever Workday Ashby SmartRecruiters Workable + 14 more ATS sources

Salary: Extracted via NLP. Only USD $5K-$3M included. Skills: Named entity recognition, noise-filtered (generic soft skills excluded). Experience: Inferred from title + description. Coverage: 81% of positions include salary data.

Key Findings

Median salary: $130K in the US

Middle 50% of salaries range from $97K to $205K.

Remote roles pay 15% above the US national median

Remote-first employers competing nationally for talent. The premium reflects company quality (remote-first firms tend to be well-funded), not a work-mode bonus.

AI/LLM is the most-demanded skill at 46%

DevOps demand rose +11.3pp — fastest-growing skill

Speechify leads hiring with 1,177 open positions

Biggest salary jump: Lead → Staff (+$70K, +58%)

Salary increase: +$70K · Sample: Lead → Staff

AI automation risk: medium (score 55/100)

Score: 55/100 · AI/LLM demand: 77% of postings

Week-over-week changes reflect dataset expansion, not market surge

Recent growth in tracked postings is from adding new data sources, not a one-week hiring boom. Interpret trend data with this in mind.

Salary by Experience Level

LevelJobsP25MedianP90
Senior425$108K$135K$192K
Mid-Level147$80K$88K$161K
Staff141$135K$190K$250K
Junior53$78K$105K$160K
Lead39$87K$120K$175K
Entry-Level9$60K$85K$208K
Manager3$85K$130K$170K

What jumps out

Lead → Staff: +$70K (58%) — the biggest single-step increase. The salary curve is back-loaded: the largest raises come at transitions where scope changes from executing tasks to owning outcomes, or from owning outcomes to shaping architecture across teams.

Salary by Country

CountryJobsMedianCurrency
United States656$131KUSD
Remote84$150KUSD
Canada35$120KUSD
United Kingdom14$80KGBP
India4$17KUSD

Work Mode

ModeShare
On-Site4.3%
Remote13.3%
Hybrid2.5%

~80% of postings do not specify work mode. Figures show only positions where it is explicitly stated.

Top Skills in Demand

AI/LLM
46%
Python
31%
AWS
24%
Java
23%
CI/CD
23%
JavaScript
20%
TypeScript
18%
SQL
17%
React
17%
Kubernetes
16%
Docker
15%
Azure
12%

Skills on the Rise

DevOps ↑+11.3ppPostgreSQL ↑+8.9ppHTML/CSS ↑+8.6ppQuality Assurance ↑+8.2ppR ↑+8.2pp

Declining in Demand

Agile ↓-18.8pp

Top Companies Hiring

CompanyOpeningsShare
Speechify1,1772.5%
Amazon8251.8%
Micron5041.1%
Usm4671.0%
Nvidia4471.0%
Dellfortechnologies3680.8%
Analogdevices3620.8%
Krgtechnology3190.7%

Top Countries by Job Volume

CountryJobs
United States16,592
India4,470
Remote2,926
United Kingdom1,459
Canada1,139
Singapore701
Poland505
Germany481

Education Requirements

LevelSharePositions
Associate Degree24.7%1,233
Bachelor's Degree7.0%349
Master's Degree7.0%348
PhD / Doctorate2.9%143
MBA0.0%2

Certifications

All certifications below 1% threshold. Certifications carry minimal weight in this profession's hiring decisions.

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