This question is about principal engineer salaries.

Can engineers make 300K?

By Zippia Team - Feb. 10, 2022

Yes, engineers can make $300K. However, the only engineers who earn that much money have worked their way up the corporate ladder. In many companies, for instance, the only way to reach a salary of $300K is by becoming a vice president (VP) or a senior vice president (SVP).

Beyond senior leadership roles, the type of engineer and the company you work for also play an important part. A software engineer at Google, for example, averages $353,000 a year, a vice president of engineering averages $475,000 a year, and a senior vice president averages $650,000 annually. There are some software engineers that earn over a million.

It's not just software engineers who are earning serious money. Out of all the engineers, it's petroleum engineers who tend to make the most money. The top 10% of petroleum engineers, for example, average upwards of $200K, while a senior petroleum engineer makes $143,998, with the top 75% making $270,000 a year.

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