Backend Engineering Salary Guide: From Entry-Level to Senior Positions

Backend engineering salary: Did you know that the demand for backend engineers has skyrocketed by 25% over the last five years, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. As companies rush to build scalable and robust systems, backend engineers have become the unsung heroes behind every seamless digital experience

Whether you’re just stepping into the world of backend development or are already a senior engineer, knowing your potential backend engineering salary can be a game-changer in shaping your career.

In this guide, we’ll dive deep into backend engineering salaries across all levels, from entry-level positions to senior roles, while uncovering the factors that can help you push your salary higher. Ready to explore the numbers and take control of your earning power? Let’s get started!

Average Backend Engineer Salary in the US

The average backend engineering salary in the United States may vary based on many factors: location, experience level, and skill set, among others. We’ll get to this later in this article but the average base salary of a backend engineer across only the US is roughly $114,000, depending on your experience and skill level.

According to PayScale, the Backend Engineering Salary ranges from as low as $65,000 to around $143,000, whereas estimates according to Salary.com are a little higher around an average salary of about $124,070 annually.

While the difference in these numbers is quite large, it is due to variance in source and sample sizes or the demographics surveyed. Yet, taking all of this into account, this gives an idea of what a back-end engineer can expect to earn on average in the U.S.

Since businesses also seek out backend engineers, competition between companies results from increased demand, where firms compete with each other for talent. Competition is mostly high in tech hubs like Silicon Valley in San Francisco and the cities of New York and Seattle.

Backend Engineering Salary According to Experience Level

The salary of a Backend Engineer can vary quite a lot depending on the experience. The following chart shows how average salaries vary by experience.

Freshers Backend Engineer Salary (0-1 years of experience)

The graph for the backend engineering salary usually sees an uphill climb for 0-3 years of experience. Of course, entry-level salaries barely differ from those of freshers. However, with increasing work experience and expanding skillsets, even entry-level engineers can negotiate much higher packages.

1. Facebook (Meta): Entry-level backend engineer’s salary stands to receive an approximate salary in the range of $90,000 – $150,000, with scope for higher bonuses.
2. Apple: Apple pays its entry-level backend engineers close to $92,000 – $168,000 annually, along with equity packages.
3. Amazon: The salary for a new engineer at Amazon can be as much as $92,000 to $168,000 per year, excluding bonuses and stock.
4. Netflix: At Netflix, an entry-level engineer earns about $85,000 to $157,000 due to the scalability focus of Netflix.
5. Google: Google hires its new engineers with an amount ranging between $92,000 to $168,000 depending on skill and location.

Also read: Transition to Back-end Developer roles at Tier-1 companies

Entry Level Backend Engineering Salary (1-2 years of experience)

Typically, entry-level backend engineering salary with 1 to 3 years of experience command higher compensation since they add more depth to the foundational skills of their early career. Generally, it translates into higher levels of complexity being undertaken or more significant freedom of work being accorded to them in their roles.

As a result, at this level, the salary usually falls between $103,000 and $186,000 per year. This is mainly because engineers become value-efficient at solving problems, getting the best out of systems, and managing bigger projects with time. Here is a breakdown of entry-level backend engineering salary at the top FAANG companies:

1. Facebook (Meta): Engineers in these jobs can expect salaries ranging from $140,000 to $180,000. Bonuses and stock options come on top of that total compensation.
2. Apple: Entry-level backend engineers at Apple usually have a base salary of around $103,000 to $186,000 with other perks in the form of stock options and bonuses.
3. Amazon: Backend engineers working at Amazon for 1-3 years of experience earn approximately $103,000 to $186,000 in a year. This is because of Amazon’s humongous scale; here, the backend engineers manage critical systems often impacting millions of customers, making the pay so competitive.
4. Netflix: The salary on Netflix for entry-level backend engineers falls around $98,000 to $179,000. It often requires high scalability and performance optimization.
5. Google: Google pays its backend engineers at this stage in the range of $103,000 to $186,000. This pay structure reflects and values engineers who can make optimization of their backend infrastructure to be much more efficient and scalable.

Mid-Level Backend Engineering Salary (4-6 years of experience)

Mid-level backend engineers, with experience of up to 4-6 years, get from $105,000 to $190,000 a year. With increasing responsibilities, like system designing and infrastructure optimization, the salary grows as well. See what backend engineering salary look like for some top tech companies:

1. Facebook (Meta): Salary ranges from $140,000 to $180,000, including bonus and stock options. That says a lot about the nature of their innovative work, which involves large sums of user data handled. The backend engineers carry a high level of responsibility for performance optimization and scalability within the global systems at Facebook.
2. Apple: Mid-level engineers make anywhere between $105,000 and $190,000 with equity packages. Apple pays this amount because it is in high demand for engineers who will build secure, seamless backend architecture into its diverse ecosystem of hardware and services, on which the user experience stands supreme.
3. Amazon: Pay here ranges from $105,000 to $190,000, reflective of the size of their systems. The backend engineers at Amazon have to maintain huge systems serving millions across the globe and ensure performance optimization with mission-critical operations.
4. Netflix: Mid-level backend engineering salary at the company runs an average of $107,000 to $195,000 due to the high scalability demands. This further increases remuneration with the capability to provide seamless content to millions of devices across the world.
5. Google: Engineers bring in upwards of $105,000 to $190,000, factoring in efficiency and scalability. In broad terms, backend engineers build programs that make infrastructure at Google more efficient and scalable; this becomes critical in terms of supporting billions of users across the globe.

Senior Backend Engineering Salary (7+ years of experience)

When a backend engineer grows into a senior role, he/she should see the reflection of experience and leadership in terms of compensation grade. A senior-level engineer generally oversees sizeable parts of the infrastructure and mentors teams.

1. Facebook (Meta): The compensation for the senior backend engineers averaged $160,000+. Surely, Meta values senior engineers because they know how to manage high-scale systems while contributing to new architecture designs that would support billions of active users.
2. Apple: Starting from $119,000+  yearly, with equity packages, one can take home this amount as a backend senior engineer at Apple. Since Apple has many demands for highly secured and efficient integration of systems, and senior engineers maintain major infrastructures across their host of connected devices and services, they tend to pay well.
3. Amazon: Senior backend engineering salary at Amazon ranges from an average of $199,000+ per year. The high remuneration reflects the responsibility of the engineers in managing Amazon’s huge globally dispersed systems, scaling and optimizing them to support millions of daily transactions.
4. Netflix: Senior-level backend engineering salary can range from $207,000+ per year. The reason such an amount is paid to the engineers is simple: qualified engineers are needed to handle scalability challenges on a truly large scale and optimize streaming services for millions of people online worldwide.
5. Google: Senior backend engineers at Google can make as much as $199,000. There are engineer roles leading teams in optimizing complex global systems across all of Google’s services, from Search and Cloud to YouTube, ensuring that infrastructure is efficient and scalable at an enormous scale.

Interview Kickstart: Accelerate Your Backend Engineering Career

Supercharge your backend engineering salary with the backend engineering interview master class by Interview Kickstart, featuring current FAANG hiring managers and senior engineers. This course covers instructor-led classes that set you up for success in top tech companies. You will be supported by over 500 instructors from leading companies who will walk you through insider information on how to crack tough interviews and grow in your career.

Our graduates have seen remarkable results with a higher salary than the industry average. Along with placement in top companies like Google, Meta, and Amazon, Interview Kickstart gives you the edge to succeed and negotiate the salary you deserve. Join today and come closer to your dream role!

Also read: What Is the Career Path for Back-end Engineers?

FAQs: Backend Engineer Salaries

Q1. What factors affect the salary of a backend engineering role?

All the above: experience, technical skills, location, company size and type. Not only are cloud computing and microservices “nice to have,” but advanced skills in all three significantly boost earning potential.

Q2. How does location affect engineer compensation for a backend engineer?

Salaries for engineers working in tech hubs such as San Francisco, New York, and Seattle are typically higher due to higher demand and a more expensive cost of living.

Q3. What skills will pay backend engineers a premium?

For example, with the skills acquired in cloud platforms, programming languages (Java, Python), databases, and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), you can realize significant salaries.

Q4. What is the Maximum Salary for a Back-End Engineer at FAANG?

Senior back-end engineers at Facebook, Netflix, and Amazon are paid above $200,000 inclusive of stock options and bonuses

Q5. How does the salary of a backend engineer differ between startups and large companies?

The salary difference between a start-up and a large company is in the range of $30 to $60 per month on average. Start-ups normally have a lower base salary but offer equity to make up for it. Big firms usually have higher salaries with more stable benefits.

Related reads: 

1. Most Important OOPs Interview Question
2. Tesla Software Engineer Interview Process
3. Database Management System (DBMS) MCQs for IT Specialists
4. AI Research Scientist Salary in Top-tier Companies
5. Top Linux Admin Interview Questions for Fresher and Experienced Developers