Principal Software Engineer
Median salary
$165,422
Half earn more, half less
Middle 50%
$149,607 – $200,000
P25 to P75
Change vs prior year
+0.36%
-2.69% after inflation
Share of all H-1B
0.2%
1,141 filings
Principal Software Engineer pay range
Annual base pay in certified H-1B filings for this title, all occupations combined.
P10$132,000
P25$149,607
Median$165,422
P75$200,000
P90$245,000
Median by H-1B wage level
Level I$106,6056 LCAs
Level II$142,14087 LCAs
Level III$160,900210 LCAs
Level IV$178,000633 LCAs
Level I is entry level, Level IV fully experienced (Department of Labor prevailing-wage levels).
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Principal Software 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 90%Computer Occupations, All Other 4%Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers 3%Computer and Information Systems Managers 1%Computer Programmers 1%
| Occupation (SOC) | Share | LCAs | P25 | Median | P75 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software Developers 15-1252 | 89.83% | 1,025 | $150,080 | $168,169 | $201,000 |
| Computer Occupations, All Other 15-1299 | 3.77% | 43 | $130,562 | $135,045 | $161,682 |
| Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers 15-1253 | 2.63% | 30 | $138,605 | $148,276 | $162,706 |
| Computer and Information Systems Managers 11-3021 | 1.23% | 14 | $176,988 | $203,461 | $250,670 |
| Computer Programmers 15-1251 | 0.7% | 8 | $104,733 | $131,061 | $148,500 |
Occupations with fewer than 5 filings for this title are not shown.
Top H-1B sponsors for Principal Software 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wal Mart Associates | 78 | $153,301 | -8.8% |
| Dell L P | 32 | $164,689 | -2.1% |
| Mastercard | 29 | $165,000 | -1.9% |
| Cadence Design | 27 | $172,744 | +2.7% |
| Palo Alto Networks | 24 | $215,113 | +27.9% |
| Cbre | 21 | $165,600 | -1.5% |
| The Mathworks | 20 | $178,131 | +5.9% |
| Fidelity Technology D/b/a Fidelity Investments | 20 | $129,055 | -23.3% |
| Citizens Financial | 18 | $154,669 | -8% |
| Dell L P | 18 | $147,568 | -0.5% |
| Roblox | 17 | $333,080 | +98.1% |
| Intuit | 15 | $255,193 | +51.8% |
| Atlassian | 14 | $230,000 | +36.8% |
| Innova | 14 | $122,281 | -27.3% |
| Manhattan Associates | 14 | $135,045 | +0% |
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.
- Senior Principal Software Engineer93 LCAs · median $178,000
- Principal Software Engineer - IT32 LCAs · median $147,568
- Senior Principal Software Engineer - IT27 LCAs · median $165,323
- Principal Software Engineer I19 LCAs · median $164,112
- Principal Software Engineer II7 LCAs · median $164,112
- Senior Principal Software Engineer I6 LCAs · median $128,000
- Principal Software Engineer - Engineering5 LCAs · median $140,000