AnthropicRemote
Staff+ Software Engineer, Public Sector
Remote-Friendly, United States; San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY | Washington, DC $405k – $485k/yr
visa sponsorshiprecruitingcustomer successDirect from employer May 4
Software Engineer salary in Washington, DC
What employers are offering right now, from 83 live Software Engineer postings in Washington, DC that publish a pay range. Updated October 2026.
Median
$173k
a year, base pay
Middle half
$155k–$221k
25th to 75th percentile
Highest posted
$445k
range midpoint
How the offers are spread
$119k
$150k
$180k
$211k
$241k
$271k
$302k
$332k
Software Engineer pay by level
| Level | Median | Postings |
|---|---|---|
| Entry level | $140k | 5 |
| Senior | $193k | 21 |
| Staff & principal | $235k | 9 |
Top-paying companies for Software Engineer roles
| Company | Median | Postings |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | $363k | 3 |
| OpenAI | $257k | 4 |
| Scale AI | $245k | 12 |
| Kaizen Labs | $233k | 2 |
| Databricks | $216k | 6 |
| Red Cell Partners | $210k | 2 |
| Tomorrow.io | $180k | 2 |
| Okta | $176k | 2 |
| LightFeather | $170k | 3 |
| Rocket Money | $168k | 5 |
| Palantir | $168k | 24 |
| Verisign | $160k | 6 |
Highest-paying open Software Engineer jobs
All 102 open jobs →Security Software Engineer, Detection & Response Platform
New York City, NY | Seattle, WA; San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY | Seattle, WA; Washington, DC $320k – $405k/yr
visa sponsorshippythonterraformci/cdDirect from employer Mar 24
Team Lead, ARC Software Engineering Team
Washington, DC $287k – $359k/yr
awsgcpazurekubernetesDirect from employer Jul 24
Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Public Sector
Denver, CO; Washington, DC $274k – $343k/yr
pythonmachine learningpytorchllmDirect from employer Jan 30
Staff Software Engineer, Public Sector
San Francisco, CA; St. Louis, MO; New York, NY; Washington, DC $252k – $362k/yr
awsgcpazurekubernetesDirect from employer Mar 31
Applied AI Engineer, Public Sector
Washington, DC $280k – $320k/yr
visa sponsorshippythontypescriptmachine learningDirect from employer 4d ago
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Software Engineer salary: common questions
- What is the average Software Engineer salary in Washington, DC?
- The median midpoint of 83 live Software Engineer postings in Washington, DC is $173k a year. Half of them fall between $155k and $221k.
- How does Software Engineer pay change with seniority?
- Entry-level postings have a median of $140k, while senior postings $193k. Staff, principal and director roles usually pay more and often add equity.
- Which companies pay Software Engineer roles the most?
- Among companies with at least two postings, the highest medians are at Anthropic ($363k), OpenAI ($257k), Scale AI ($245k), Kaizen Labs ($233k).
- Where do these numbers come from?
- From the pay ranges employers publish in their own job postings (required in states such as California, Colorado, New York, Washington and Illinois). We take the midpoint of each range, convert hourly pay at 2,080 hours a year, and update the figures daily as postings open and close. They show base pay, not bonus or equity.
Other salaries in Washington, DC
- AI & Machine Learning · $241k
- Sales · $233k
- Cybersecurity · $220k
- Marketing · $216k
- Product Manager · $214k
- Legal & Compliance · $214k
- Customer Success · $202k
- Solutions Engineer · $190k
- Program Manager · $190k
- DevOps Engineer · $186k
- Product & UX Designer · $167k
- Full Stack Developer · $159k
- Operations · $153k
- HR & Recruiting · $146k
- Data Analyst · $141k
- Finance & Accounting · $141k
- Hardware Engineer · $123k
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JobApplyPilot reads employers' own job postings. Pay shown is base salary from published ranges, not total compensation.