The median solutions engineer posting at a tech startup offers $214K base, with the middle half between $181K and $235K — from 494 live pay ranges at 120 companies. Entry-level postings sit around $144K; staff+ around $214K.
| Level | Postings | Median | Middle 50% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry / new grad | 3 | $144K | $135K–$177K |
| Level not stated | 209 | $203K | $160K–$248K |
| Senior | 117 | $216K | $212K–$216K |
| Staff+ | 165 | $214K | $195K–$230K |
| City | Postings | Median | Middle 50% |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | 97 | $224K | $200K–$250K |
| New York | 83 | $215K | $197K–$243K |
| Washington DC | 36 | $215K | $212K–$231K |
| Chicago | 21 | $216K | $190K–$226K |
| Sunnyvale | 16 | $212K | $160K–$212K |
| Seattle | 13 | $239K | $216K–$260K |
| Atlanta | 13 | $214K | $212K–$216K |
| Dallas | 12 | $216K | $169K–$227K |
| Boston | 11 | $195K | $148K–$216K |
| Austin | 9 | $216K | $212K–$216K |
| Denver | 9 | $214K | $165K–$216K |
| Philadelphia | 5 | $216K | $216K–$216K |
| Mountain View | 5 | $215K | $205K–$216K |
| Company | Postings | Median | Middle 50% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | 2 | $331K | $316K–$347K |
| Sierra | 27 | $303K | $270K–$330K |
| Harvey | 4 | $302K | $292K–$302K |
| Cohere | 4 | $280K | $268K–$285K |
| Lovable | 2 | $265K | $239K–$290K |
| Snorkel AI | 3 | $260K | $255K–$298K |
| Plaid | 2 | $260K | $260K–$260K |
| LiveKit | 2 | $250K | $250K–$250K |
| SambaNova | 2 | $249K | $243K–$254K |
| Taktile | 6 | $249K | $223K–$276K |
| Decagon | 6 | $248K | $240K–$259K |
| Baseten | 5 | $248K | $248K–$248K |
| Ramp | 4 | $244K | $229K–$258K |
| OpenAI | 17 | $243K | $243K–$247K |
| Scale AI | 11 | $239K | $224K–$257K |
| Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering Anthropic |
$320K–$405K |
| VP, Head of Forward Deployed Engineering Snorkel AI |
$269K–$403K |
| Forward Deployed Engineer (Training) Baseten |
$200K–$400K |
| Forward Deployed Engineering Lead Lovable |
$241K–$391K |
| Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering- NYC OpenAI |
$302K–$385K |
| Forward Deployed Engineer, Agentic Platform Cohere |
$175K–$385K |
| Forward Deployed Engineer, Sovereign AI Cohere |
$175K–$385K |
| Forward Deployed Engineer, Infrastructure Specialist (Public Sector) Cohere |
$215K–$385K |
Figures are the midpoint of each pay range published in a job posting (US$, 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 27, 2026.