Engineering Director salary

Q: What state pays Engineering Directors the most?

California pays Engineering Directors the most in the United States, with an average salary of $179,437 per year, or $86.27 per hour.

Q: How do I know if I'm being paid fairly as an engineering director?

You know if you are being paid fairly as an engineering director if your pay is close to the average pay for the state you live in. For example, if you live in Washington you should be paid close to $175,580 per year.

Q: How much do engineering directors make?

Engineering directors make around $150,000 annually, on average. The typical salary range for an engineering director is around $125,000 to $300,000 in a year; however, salaries can go up to $500,000 for the top 10% of highly qualified engineering directors.

Q: How much does a VP of engineering make?

A VP of engineering makes around $200,000 annually, on average. The typical salary range for an engineering director is around $175,000 to $400,000 in a year; however, salaries can go up to $800,000 for the top 10% of highly qualified vice presidents of engineering.

Q: What is the salary of an engineering leader?

The salary of an engineering leader averages $144,062 a year. However, this can range from between $80,000 and $260,000 a year. Factors such as location and company type all impact how much an engineering leader can make.

Average engineering director salary

$162,252

$78.01 hourly rate

Entry-level engineering director salary

$109,000 yearly salary

Updated January 8, 2025

How much does an engineering director make?

The average engineering director salary in the United States is $162,252. Engineering director salaries typically range between $109,000 and $239,000 yearly. The average hourly rate for engineering directors is $78.01 per hour.

Engineering director salary is impacted by location, education, and experience. Engineering directors earn the highest average salary in California.

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Engineering director salary by:

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Where can an Engineering Director earn more?

Compare salary by location

219k

199k

179k

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139k

119k

99k

Ashburn, VA$197,849

Columbus, OH$129,213

Compare salary by company

299k

279k

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239k

219k

199k

Brookfield Properties$269,452

Zenefits$229,083

Engineering Director salaries by experience level

Engineering Director salary estimates from across the web

Based on the latest salary information compiled by Zippia, Salary.com, SalaryExpert, Comparably and Payscale, the average salary for an engineering director typically falls between $160,079 and $199,683.

zippia

$162,252yearly

comparably[1]

$162,596yearly

Salary.com[2]

$196,106yearly

payscale[3]

$160,079yearly

SalaryExpert[4]

$199,683yearly

Average engineering director salary by state

The highest-paying states for engineering directors are California, Washington, and Alaska. The lowest average engineering director salary states are Missouri, Florida, and Oklahoma.

State view
County view

Average salary:

Highest paying states for engineering directors

Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
1	Washington	$175,580	$84.41
2	Louisiana	$155,643	$74.83
3	Oregon	$161,200	$77.50
4	Alaska	$174,140	$83.72
5	Idaho	$157,688	$75.81
6	California	$179,437	$86.27
7	Arizona	$154,763	$74.41
8	Rhode Island	$143,982	$69.22
9	Montana	$145,902	$70.15
10	Maine	$145,308	$69.86
11	New York	$148,649	$71.47
12	Utah	$135,870	$65.32
13	Massachusetts	$143,776	$69.12
14	New Hampshire	$142,569	$68.54
15	Nevada	$145,647	$70.02
16	Texas	$138,724	$66.69
17	New Jersey	$145,739	$70.07
18	District of Columbia	$138,760	$66.71
19	Connecticut	$132,695	$63.80
20	Hawaii	$143,667	$69.07
21	Michigan	$131,364	$63.16
22	North Dakota	$126,200	$60.67
23	Delaware	$130,258	$62.62
24	Pennsylvania	$131,160	$63.06
25	New Mexico	$128,349	$61.71
26	Iowa	$122,370	$58.83
27	Colorado	$131,139	$63.05
28	Wisconsin	$127,166	$61.14
29	North Carolina	$128,408	$61.73
30	Ohio	$129,623	$62.32
31	Virginia	$130,502	$62.74
32	Vermont	$133,270	$64.07
33	Wyoming	$120,025	$57.70
34	Alabama	$116,652	$56.08
35	West Virginia	$123,000	$59.13
36	Minnesota	$126,343	$60.74
37	Illinois	$128,712	$61.88
38	Indiana	$123,881	$59.56
39	Kentucky	$123,920	$59.58
40	Oklahoma	$114,728	$55.16
41	Maryland	$126,507	$60.82
42	Arkansas	$111,162	$53.44
43	Mississippi	$113,184	$54.42
44	South Carolina	$121,383	$58.36
45	Georgia	$123,641	$59.44
46	Tennessee	$119,815	$57.60
47	Nebraska	$116,570	$56.04
48	South Dakota	$114,572	$55.08
49	Kansas	$117,271	$56.38
50	Florida	$114,915	$55.25
51	Missouri	$115,700	$55.63

Top engineering director jobs near you

Highest paying cities for engineering directors

The highest-paying cities for engineering directors are San Francisco, CA, Seattle, WA, and Beaverton, OR.

Rank	City	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
1	San Francisco, CA	$197,849	$95.12
2	Seattle, WA	$184,245	$88.58
3	Beaverton, OR	$164,231	$78.96
4	Phoenix, AZ	$158,395	$76.15
5	New York, NY	$149,202	$71.73
6	Jersey City, NJ	$146,885	$70.62
7	Portland, ME	$145,559	$69.98
8	Urban Honolulu, HI	$145,241	$69.83
9	Boston, MA	$144,607	$69.52
10	Austin, TX	$140,437	$67.52
11	Washington, DC	$139,173	$66.91
12	Salt Lake City, UT	$135,821	$65.30
13	Hartford, CT	$133,607	$64.23
14	Philadelphia, PA	$131,777	$63.35
15	Detroit, MI	$131,770	$63.35
16	Englewood, CO	$131,470	$63.21
17	Richmond, VA	$130,461	$62.72
18	Raleigh, NC	$130,066	$62.53
19	Chicago, IL	$129,236	$62.13
20	Columbus, OH	$129,213	$62.12

Engineering Director salary details

An engineering director's salary ranges from $109,000 a year at the 10th percentile to $239,000 at the 90th percentile.

Average engineering director salary graph, trends, and summary

What is an engineering director's salary?

Percentile	Annual salary	Monthly salary	Hourly rate
90th Percentile	$239,000	$19,917	$115
75th Percentile	$199,000	$16,583	$96
Average	$162,252	$13,521	$78
25th Percentile	$132,000	$11,000	$63
10th Percentile	$109,000	$9,083	$52

Highest paying engineering director jobs

The highest paying types of engineering directors are vice president product development, senior engineering manager, and vice president of engineering.

Job title	Annual salary	Monthly salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
Research And Development Manager	$117,507	$9,792	$56.49	125,447
Vice President Product Development	$168,835	$14,070	$81.17	180,783
Design Manager	$102,637	$8,553	$49.34	61,273
Research And Development Director	$137,944	$11,495	$66.32	102,901
Vice President Of Engineering	$150,651	$12,554	$72.43	92,133
Manager, Systems Engineering	$130,127	$10,844	$62.56	174,962

Top companies hiring engineering directors now:

Which companies pay engineering directors the most?

Engineering director salaries at Brookfield Properties and Airbnb are the highest-paying according to our most recent salary estimates. In addition, the average engineering director salary at companies like Mixpanel and Apple are highly competitive.

Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate
1	Brookfield Properties	$269,452	$129.54
2	Airbnb	$247,510	$119.00
3	Mixpanel	$244,972	$117.78
4	Apple	$242,663	$116.66
5	Roku	$238,685	$114.75
6	Yelp	$237,874	$114.36
7	Lyft	$237,660	$114.26
8	Meta	$236,005	$113.46
9	eBay	$235,665	$113.30
10	Chegg	$234,249	$112.62
11	Twitter	$233,832	$112.42
12	DoorDash	$233,522	$112.27
13	Pure Storage	$233,351	$112.19
14	Levi Strauss & Co.	$231,681	$111.39
15	Google	$230,429	$110.78
16	PayPal	$230,150	$110.65
17	Reddit	$229,924	$110.54
18	Instacart	$229,536	$110.35
19	Squarespace	$229,239	$110.21
20	Zenefits	$229,083	$110.14

Wage gap by gender, race and education

$154,000$152,400$150,800$149,200$147,600$146,000

MaleFemale

Engineering Director salary trends

The average engineering director salary has risen by $29,666 over the last ten years. In 2014, the average engineering director earned $132,586 annually, but today, they earn $162,252 a year. That works out to a 11% change in pay for engineering directors over the last decade.

Compare engineering director salaries for cities or states with the national average over time.

Average engineering director salary over time

Compare engineering director salaries for individual cities or states with the national average.

Engineering Director salary by year

Year	Avg. salary	Hourly rate	% Change
2025	$162,000	$78.01	+3.1%
2024	$157,000	$75.55	+2.8%
2023	$153,000	$73.43	+2.2%
2022	$149,000	$71.84	+2.2%
2021	$146,000	$70.29	+1.4%

Recently added engineering director salaries

Company	Job	Location	Date added	Salary
Marriott	Director of Engineering for Residences	Baltimore, MD	12/16/2024	$115,000
Shi International Corp	Director-Idcs Engineering	Piscataway, NJ	12/16/2024	$150,000
About Us	Director-Idcs Engineering	Piscataway, NJ	12/16/2024	$150,000
Austin Allen Company	Austin Allen Company \| Director of Maintenance & Engineering or	Salem, OR	12/16/2024	$160,000
Owl Ventures	Director, Engineering-Subscriptions	San Francisco, CA	12/16/2024	$220,000
Precision Medicine Group	Director, CQV Engineering	Raleigh, NC	12/16/2024	$50,000
Dynatrace	Digital Experience Monitoring-Solutions Engineering Director (Remote, East Coast)	New York, NY	12/16/2024	$176,000
Atwell, LLC	Director of Civil Engineering Tampa, Florida, United States	Tampa, FL	12/16/2024	$25,000
Precision AQ	Director, CQV Engineering	Raleigh, NC	12/16/2024	$240,000
Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority	Engineering Director	Cope, SC	12/16/2024	$103,646