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Create CVIf you're searching for “Head of Engineering salary,” you're not just looking for numbers. You’re trying to understand your market value, how companies benchmark leadership roles, and how to position yourself to command top-tier compensation.
Here’s the direct answer upfront:
In the US (2026), Head of Engineering salaries typically range:
Base salary: $180,000 – $300,000
Total compensation (including bonus + equity): $250,000 – $600,000+
Top-tier (FAANG, late-stage startups, unicorns): $700,000 – $1M+ total comp
But those numbers alone are misleading without context. Compensation at this level is driven far more by business impact, scope, and strategic positioning than years of experience.
This guide breaks down exactly how Head of Engineering salaries are determined across ATS screening, recruiter evaluation, and hiring manager decision-making.
Your compensation is primarily determined by the type of company, not just your experience.
Startups (Seed to Series A):
Base: $160,000 – $220,000
Equity-heavy: 1% – 3%
Total comp: $200,000 – $350,000
Growth Stage (Series B to D):
Base: $200,000 – $260,000
Equity: 0.3% – 1%
Bonus: 10% – 20%
At this level, compensation is not tied to a “title” alone. Recruiters assess three critical dimensions:
Number of engineers (10 vs 200+ is a massive difference)
Budget responsibility
Product vs platform vs infrastructure leadership
Global vs regional teams
Insight: A Head of Engineering managing 150 engineers will often earn 2x someone managing 20 engineers, even with identical years of experience.
Recruiters and hiring managers ask:
Did you scale revenue through engineering decisions?
Many candidates undervalue or overvalue equity.
Early-stage equity = high risk, high upside
Late-stage RSUs = lower risk, predictable value
Strategic Insight:
A $220K base + 1.5% equity at Series A can outperform a $350K salary in 5 years if the company exits.
Who you report to matters more than title:
Reporting to CTO → lower comp band
Reporting to CEO → higher comp band
Being part of executive team → major comp jump
Total comp: $300,000 – $500,000
Late-Stage / Unicorns:
Base: $230,000 – $300,000
Equity: significant RSUs
Bonus: 15% – 25%
Total comp: $400,000 – $700,000
Big Tech (FAANG-level):
Base: $250,000 – $320,000
Bonus: 20% – 30%
RSUs: $200K – $500K/year
Total comp: $600,000 – $1M+
Did you reduce infrastructure cost significantly?
Did you enable product velocity?
Weak Example:
“Led engineering team of 40 developers”
Good Example:
“Scaled engineering organization from 25 to 120 engineers, enabling 3x product release velocity and supporting revenue growth from $20M to $85M”
A candidate from a hypergrowth startup is valued differently than one from a mature enterprise.
Startup → valued for building from scratch
Enterprise → valued for scale and stability
Big Tech → valued for systems and complexity
Single product vs multi-product ecosystem
Monolith vs microservices architecture
Regulated industries (fintech, healthcare) pay more
San Francisco Bay Area: $300K – $800K+ total comp
New York: $280K – $700K
Seattle: $270K – $650K
Slightly adjusted: 5% – 15% lower
High-end companies still pay near SF benchmarks
Base: $140K – $220K
Total comp: $180K – $350K
Insight: US companies hiring globally are increasing salaries for top engineering leaders, narrowing the gap.
At this level, ATS isn’t filtering you out on keywords alone. But it still plays a role in initial parsing.
“Scaled engineering team”
“Distributed systems”
“Platform architecture”
“Cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP)”
“DevOps transformation”
“Engineering leadership”
Clear progression (Director → Head → VP)
Team size growth
Measurable impact
Tech stack relevance
Hiring managers internally defend your compensation. They need evidence.
They ask:
Can this person scale the org without breaking it?
Will they reduce hiring mistakes?
Can they align engineering with business strategy?
If your resume doesn’t answer these questions, your salary ceiling drops.
It’s not experience. It’s how it’s framed.
Weak Example:
“Responsible for engineering roadmap”
Good Example:
“Defined and executed engineering roadmap aligned with company strategy, resulting in 40% faster feature delivery and $12M incremental revenue”
Candidate Name: Michael Carter
Title: Head of Engineering
Location: San Francisco, CA
PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
Engineering executive with 15+ years of experience scaling high-growth technology organizations. Proven track record of building engineering teams from 20 to 150+ engineers, driving platform scalability, and enabling revenue growth exceeding $100M. Expert in aligning engineering strategy with business outcomes.
CORE COMPETENCIES
Engineering Leadership
Organizational Scaling
Cloud Architecture (AWS, GCP)
Platform Engineering
DevOps Transformation
Cross-Functional Strategy
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Head of Engineering – GrowthTech Inc.
2020 – Present
Scaled engineering organization from 30 to 140 engineers across 3 global regions
Reduced infrastructure costs by 35% through cloud optimization strategies
Increased product release velocity by 3x through DevOps transformation
Partnered with CEO and product leadership to drive revenue growth from $25M to $110M
Director of Engineering – ScaleCloud Systems
2016 – 2020
Led team of 60 engineers across platform and infrastructure
Designed distributed system architecture supporting 10M+ users
Reduced system downtime by 70% through reliability engineering initiatives
EDUCATION
Stanford University
Master’s Degree in Computer Science
If your resume reads technical instead of strategic, your salary drops significantly.
No metrics = no leverage.
Engineering leaders are paid for outcomes, not activity.
Most companies expect negotiation at this level.
Focus on:
Revenue impact
Team scale
Strategic influence
High-growth startups
Companies post-Series B
Big Tech leadership roles
Equity
Signing bonus
Retention bonus
Top candidates rarely accept the first offer.
Hiring you should feel like a safer decision than hiring someone cheaper.
If you say $250K, you’ll get $250K.
If you anchor at $400K+, negotiation shifts upward.
Even if you haven’t led 200 engineers, show adjacent scale:
Multi-team leadership
Platform complexity
Global collaboration
Engineering leadership is becoming more strategic.
Pure technical leaders are losing ground to strategic operators.
Especially in high-growth companies.
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