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Pay benchmarks · from posted ranges

Director of Engineering salary in the US

Based on 39 open director of engineering (and above) roles that publish a US base-salary range on their own careers page. Updated Oct 18, 2026. Level is our estimate from the title and scope.

$322kmedian midpoint
$283k–$412kmiddle 50%
$432k90th percentile
39roles with posted pay

Distribution of posted range midpoints

02468$150k–$175k: 1 roles$150k$175k–$200k: 0 roles$175k$200k–$225k: 0 roles$200k$225k–$250k: 2 roles$225k$250k–$275k: 5 roles$250k$275k–$300k: 4 roles$275k$300k–$325k: 9 roles$300k$325k–$350k: 4 roles$325k$350k–$375k: 2 roles$350k$375k–$400k: 1 roles$375k$400k–$425k: 3 roles$400k$425k–$450k: 5 roles$425k$450k–$475k: 0 roles$450k$475k–$500k: 0 roles$475k$500k–$525k: 2 roles$500k$525k–$550k: 1 roles$525kMedian $322kP25 $283kP75 $412k

Each bar counts roles whose posted range midpoint falls in a $25k band. Lines mark the 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles.

Percentiles

P10P25MedianP75P90
Bottom of range$210k$229k$273k$347k$401k
Midpoint$256k$283k$322k$412k$432k
Top of range$300k$328k$380k$458k$486k

How pay changes with the role

Remote vs not

Not shown: at least one group has fewer than 20 roles (Remote n=7, Hybrid or onsite n=32).

Manages managers

Not shown: at least one group has fewer than 20 roles (Yes n=37, No, leads ICs n=0).

How hands-on

Not shown: at least one group has fewer than 20 roles (Hands-on n=1, Balanced n=2, People-first n=36).

Highest-paying open director of engineering (and above) roles

  1. Senior Director of Engineering, Generative AI · Roblox $526k–574k
  2. Engineering Manager, Core Experimentation · OpenAI $510k–536k
  3. Engineering Manager, Inference Infrastructure · Anthropic $405k–625k
  4. Senior Engineering Manager, Capacity Engineering · Anthropic $405k–485k
  5. Engineering Director, Storage · Roblox $399k–458k
  6. Director, Engineering — Engineering Acceleration · Roblox $399k–458k
  7. Director of Engineering – Studio Systems · Roblox $399k–458k
  8. Director of Engineering - Traffic & Networking · Snowflake $380k–475k
  9. Senior Director of Engineering – Horizon Catalog, Collaboration & Marketplace · Snowflake $340k–489k
  10. VP of Engineering, Product Platform · Squarespace $375k–450k
See all director of engineering (and above) roles →

Method

We take every open role in our index whose company publishes a base-salary range in USD per year (through Greenhouse pay transparency, Ashby compensation, or the posting text), use the midpoint of each range, and group roles by our estimated level. Bonus and equity aren't included. Ranges that span several US pay zones are used as posted. We hide any benchmark with fewer than 20 roles.

Other levels: Engineering Manager (n=236) · Senior Engineering Manager (n=123)