How to hire a senior software development engineer

How to hire a senior software development engineer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step senior software development engineer hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a senior software development engineer job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new senior software development engineer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a senior software development engineer do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the senior software development engineer you need to hire. Certain senior software development engineer roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a senior software development engineer to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a senior software development engineer that fits the bill.

   Here's a comparison of senior software development engineer salaries for various roles:

   Type of Senior Software Development Engineer	Description	Hourly rate
   Senior Software Development Engineer	Software developers are the creative minds behind computer programs. Some develop the applications that allow people to do specific tasks on a computer or another device... Show more	$41-75
   Software Architect	A Software Architect develops new programs for a variety of technological devices for businesses, computer games, mobile networks, and/or operating systems. They ensure architectural integrity and consistency across the entire product and work closely with executives to explain the benefits of the software.	$39-75
   Lead Engineer	A lead engineer's duties vary on their line of work or industry of employment. Typically, their responsibilities will revolve around overseeing the progress of operations and performance of the workforce, ensuring that everything is running smoothly... Show more	$28-57

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Java
   • Software Development
   • Python
   • Web Services
   • Linux
   • API
   • GIT
   • Scrum
   • Database
   • Object Oriented Programming
   • Amazon Web Services
   • Code Reviews
   • C
   • C++

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Process include iterative development, monthly sprints, daily scrum meetings, and customer manage backlog.
   • Design test harness to automate UI testing - review the harness design independently before signing off on the final test plan.
   • Design and develop the software to manage cluster mass storage IO devices for the next generation RM600E SMP cluster UNIX server.
   • Manage application delivery projects using background in SDLC and project management methodology.
   • Used ASP.NET, HTML and CSS to design the presentation layer of the website.
   • design and develop WCF service host in azure worker role.

   More senior software development engineer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your senior software development engineer job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A senior software development engineer salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, senior software development engineers' average salary in kentucky is 43% less than in washington.
   • Seniority. Entry-level senior software development engineers earn 44% less than senior-level senior software development engineers.
   • Certifications. A senior software development engineer with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a senior software development engineer's salary.

   Average senior software development engineer salary

   $116,926yearly

   $56.21 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level senior software development engineer salary

   $87,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 17, 2025

   Average senior software development engineer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$151,186	$73
   2	Washington	$148,278	$71
   3	New York	$104,483	$50
   4	Virginia	$102,409	$49
   5	Utah	$101,818	$49
   6	New Jersey	$100,915	$49
   7	Colorado	$99,186	$48
   8	Pennsylvania	$98,938	$48
   9	Texas	$97,696	$47
   10	Massachusetts	$97,557	$47
   11	Maryland	$97,225	$47
   12	Illinois	$96,783	$47
   13	Delaware	$95,170	$46
   14	Florida	$94,397	$45
   15	Georgia	$94,346	$45
   16	New Hampshire	$92,386	$44
   17	Nebraska	$89,307	$43
   18	North Carolina	$87,665	$42
   19	Missouri	$86,255	$41

   Average senior software development engineer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Roku	$167,416	$80.49	22
   2	Netflix	$166,266	$79.94	25
   3	CrowdStrike	$165,983	$79.80	48
   4	Microsoft	$164,969	$79.31	891
   5	Snowflake Computing	$163,903	$78.80	39
   6	Atlassian	$163,418	$78.57	20
   7	Upstart Network	$162,700	$78.22
   8	Reddit	$161,325	$77.56	37
   9	MongoDB	$161,029	$77.42	83
   10	Thumbtack	$159,612	$76.74	4
   11	Rubrik	$159,511	$76.69	173
   12	Apptio	$158,933	$76.41
   13	Zulily	$156,832	$75.40
   14	Aspiration	$156,774	$75.37
   15	Apple	$155,721	$74.87	711
   16	Palo Alto Networks	$154,905	$74.47	190
   17	Marin Software	$153,694	$73.89
   18	OpenX	$153,259	$73.68	2
   19	TripActions	$152,453	$73.29
   20	Shopify	$151,580	$72.88

4. Writing a senior software development engineer job description

   A senior software development engineer job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a senior software development engineer job description:

   Senior software development engineer job description example

   Come join the AWS Marketplace Team in our mission to change the way enterprise software is bought and sold! AWS Marketplace enables software sellers to reach all AWS customers, and it enables software buyers to easily discover, purchase and consume software. Our goals include: enriching the platform to support more diverse selection, improving buyer and seller experience and implementing new capabilities to improve the products and offerings. Our vision is to make AWS Marketplace the one stop shop for buying and selling software -- just like Amazon.com is for retail.
   
   If you are interested in creating highly available services that enable third-party software vendors and AWS Services -- such as EC2, ECS, EKS, Fargate and SageMaker -- to integrate with AWS Marketplace software, then this is the team for you! Our systems use a wide variety of native AWS services, including API Gateway, Lambda, SNS, SQS, Kinesis, DynamoDB. The systems we own are complex and there is ample opportunity to gain exposure to building and operating systems at AWS scale. You will own significant portions of the product and will influence our strategy by helping define our system architecture and next wave of product features. Teamwork, hustle, and strong communication skills (to both business and technical partners) are essential to this role.
   
   The ideal candidate will have a track record of success, delivering new features or products. This person has thrived and succeeded in delivering high quality technology products/services in a hyper-growth environment where priorities shift fast. He or she has strong design and implementation experience, strong knowledge of web services and protocols, and an in-depth knowledge of distributed systems architectures.
   
   The AWS Marketplace team is building out a platform for cloud commerce. Come talk to us about this unique opportunity.
   BASIC QUALIFICATIONS
   
   + 4+ years of professional software development experience
   
   + 3+ years of programming experience with at least one modern language such as Java, Scala, C++, or C# including object-oriented design
   
   + 2+ years of experience contributing to the architecture and design (architecture, design patterns, reliability and scaling) of new and current systems
   
   + BS in Computer Science or equivalent
   
   PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
   
   + MS in Computer Science or equivalent
   
   + 7+ years of industry experience.
   
   + Experience with AWS services like API Gateway, EC2, S3, SNS, SQS, Kinesis, Lambda, and DynamoDB.
   
   + Experience building scalable infrastructure software or distributed systems for commercial web services.
   
   + Sharp analytical abilities and proven design skills.
   
   + Strong sense of ownership, urgency, and drive.
   
   + Demonstrated leadership abilities in an engineering environment in driving operational excellence and best practices.
   
   Amazon.com is an Equal Opportunity Employer - Minority / Women / Disability / Veteran / Gender Identity / Sexual Orientation.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find senior software development engineers for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any senior software development engineers they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level senior software development engineers with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your senior software development engineer job on Zippia to find and recruit senior software development engineer candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit senior software development engineers, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   If your interviews with senior software development engineer applicants aren't enough to make a decision, you should also consider including a test project. These are often the best, most straightforward, and least bias-prone ways of determining who will likely succeed in the role. If you don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new senior software development engineer

   Once you've decided on a perfect senior software development engineer candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new senior software development engineer. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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