The median hardware engineer posting in San Francisco at a tech startup offers $203K base, with the middle half between $168K and $289K — from 35 live pay ranges at 6 companies.
| Level | Postings | Median | Middle 50% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level not stated | 23 | $272K | $150K–$345K |
| Senior | 9 | $190K | $184K–$203K |
| Staff+ | 3 | $236K | $216K–$253K |
| Company | Postings | Median | Middle 50% |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | 13 | $336K | $286K–$366K |
| Astro Mechanica | 5 | $170K | $160K–$203K |
| Astranis | 14 | $169K | $135K–$189K |
| Electrical Engineer, PCBA Test Infrastructure, Robotics OpenAI |
$318K–$485K |
| Compute Electrical Engineer, Robotics OpenAI |
$318K–$485K |
| Mechanical Engineer, Hardware Systems OpenAI |
$266K–$455K |
| ASIC Firmware Engineer, Modeling OpenAI |
$226K–$445K |
| Electrical Engineer, Robotics OpenAI |
$287K–$423K |
| Mechanical Engineer, PCBA Test Infrastructure, Robotics OpenAI |
$318K–$423K |
| Networking Operating System Firmware Engineer OpenAI |
$225K–$423K |
| Firmware Engineer, RTOS, Consumer Devices OpenAI |
$347K–$385K |
Figures are the midpoint of each pay range published in a job posting (US$, base salary as posted), across open roles at the startups we track, recalculated daily. Postings without a range, interns and contractors are excluded. Updated Oct 25, 2026.