What Do Top Tech Companies Pay Programmers? 2021 Global Salary Rankings Revealed

Levels.fyi released the 2021 Global Programmer Income Report, analyzing annual salaries for engineers at five experience levels: Junior (0‑2 years), Mid‑level (2‑5 years), Senior (5‑10 years), Lead (10‑15 years) and Chief (15+ years).

Junior Engineer (0‑2 years)

The top ten companies offer salaries above $200K, with Two Sigma leading at a median $250K, followed by BOX ($236K) and Roblox ($233K).

Mid‑level Engineer (2‑5 years)

Roblox, dubbed the "metaverse first stock," pays a median $335K, while Cruise (GM’s autonomous‑driving unit) follows at $333K.

Senior Engineer (5‑10 years)

Netflix tops the list with a median $504K, followed by Stripe ($452K) and Pinterest ($443K).

Lead Engineer (10‑15 years)

LinkedIn sets the highest median at $646K; the lowest entry among the top ten still exceeds $550K.

Chief Engineer (15+ years)

Silicon Valley giants dominate: Roblox leads with $1.20M, Facebook $940K, Google $800K, Apple $750K and Microsoft $650K.

ByteDance is the only Chinese company appearing in the rankings, featuring in the mid‑level, senior and lead categories, and its senior engineers also made the list.