Principal Engineer
Median salary
$157,590
Half earn more, half less
Middle 50%
$135,000 – $186,472
P25 to P75
Change vs prior year
+4.3%
+1.14% after inflation
Share of all H-1B
0.2%
1,105 filings
Principal Engineer pay range
Annual base pay in certified H-1B filings for this title, all occupations combined.
P10$123,733
P25$135,000
Median$157,590
P75$186,472
P90$220,000
Median by H-1B wage level
Level I$110,66012 LCAs
Level II$146,417118 LCAs
Level III$150,203228 LCAs
Level IV$161,886635 LCAs
Level I is entry level, Level IV fully experienced (Department of Labor prevailing-wage levels).
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Principal Engineer pay by occupation code
Employers file the same title under different SOC occupation codes, and pay differs between them. Each row is computed only within its SOC.
Software Developers 46%Electronics Engineers, Except Computer 13%Mechanical Engineers 6%Electrical Engineers 6%Computer Occupations, All Other 5%Industrial Engineers 4%
| Occupation (SOC) | Share | LCAs | P25 | Median | P75 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software Developers 15-1252 | 45.52% | 503 | $140,013 | $159,000 | $200,000 |
| Electronics Engineers, Except Computer 17-2072 | 12.85% | 142 | $151,091 | $165,558 | $200,000 |
| Mechanical Engineers 17-2141 | 5.97% | 66 | $125,360 | $145,642 | $169,553 |
| Electrical Engineers 17-2071 | 5.52% | 61 | $128,369 | $148,720 | $176,384 |
| Computer Occupations, All Other 15-1299 | 5.34% | 59 | $140,161 | $160,000 | $184,602 |
| Industrial Engineers 17-2112 | 3.53% | 39 | $114,706 | $126,000 | $147,602 |
| Computer Network Architects 15-1241 | 2.81% | 31 | $127,000 | $161,158 | $162,482 |
| Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers 15-1253 | 1.99% | 22 | $127,546 | $152,600 | $173,584 |
| Materials Engineers 17-2131 | 1.45% | 16 | $149,756 | $159,830 | $172,385 |
| Chemical Engineers 17-2041 | 1.45% | 16 | $135,396 | $159,300 | $177,300 |
| Network and Computer Systems Administrators 15-1244 | 1.36% | 15 | $123,438 | $128,340 | $147,884 |
| Architectural and Engineering Managers 11-9041 | 1.36% | 15 | $184,046 | $208,603 | $216,784 |
| Data Scientists 15-2051 | 1.18% | 13 | $114,800 | $144,144 | $151,351 |
| Computer Hardware Engineers 17-2061 | 1.18% | 13 | $188,513 | $215,600 | $229,600 |
| Engineers, All Other 17-2199 | 1.09% | 12 | $119,639 | $128,503 | $179,211 |
| Aerospace Engineers 17-2011 | 1% | 11 | $130,801 | $150,494 | $166,586 |
| Computer and Information Systems Managers 11-3021 | 0.81% | 9 | $164,798 | $174,000 | $190,000 |
| Database Architects 15-1243 | 0.72% | 8 | $124,710 | $155,860 | $160,529 |
| Information Security Analysts 15-1212 | 0.45% | 5 | $148,512 | $190,800 | $199,856 |
| Computer and Information Research Scientists 15-1221 | 0.45% | 5 | $174,720 | $191,922 | $224,682 |
Occupations with fewer than 5 filings for this title are not shown.
Top H-1B sponsors for Principal Engineer
What the biggest sponsors pay for this title, compared with the median of all sponsors filing the same title in the same occupation.
| Employer | LCAs | Median | vs all sponsors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rockwell Collins | 57 | $133,494 | -16% |
| Charter Communications | 31 | $150,834 | -5.1% |
| Wells Fargo Bank N A | 29 | $159,000 | +0% |
| Optum | 20 | $147,743 | -7.1% |
| Arm | 19 | $161,179 | -2.6% |
| Charter Communications | 17 | $159,723 | -0.9% |
| Sandisk | 16 | $162,182 | -2% |
| Western Digital | 13 | $158,735 | -4.1% |
| Tsmc Technology | 13 | $178,006 | +7.5% |
| Atlassian | 12 | $235,450 | +48.1% |
| Analog Devices | 11 | $195,859 | +18.3% |
| Eli Lilly And | 11 | $115,851 | -22.1% |
| Eli Lilly And | 11 | $141,690 | -10.9% |
| Autodesk | 11 | $187,574 | +18% |
| Palo Alto Networks | 10 | $215,113 | +35.3% |
Exact titles grouped here
The most common versions of this title as employers wrote them (after removing job codes and typos), with their own medians.
- Principal Engineer, Software Engineering50 LCAs · median $133,494
- Principal Engineer I48 LCAs · median $143,214
- Senior Principal Engineer37 LCAs · median $204,901
- Principal Engineer II23 LCAs · median $161,158
- Principal Engineer, Product Development Engineering17 LCAs · median $169,853
- Principal Engineer, Hardware Development Engineering16 LCAs · median $157,019
- Principal Engineer, TLCP16 LCAs · median $143,870
- Principal Engineer, Systems Engineering14 LCAs · median $133,318