Salary for Senior-level / Expert Principal Engineer in United States during 2025

💰 The median Salary for Senior-level / Expert Principal Engineer in United States during 2025 is USD 155,800

✏️ This salary info is based on 28 individual salaries reported during 2025

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Salary details

The average senior-level / expert Principal Engineer salary lies between USD 105,400 and USD 203,000 in the United States. It represents the overall compensation/gross salary amount for the working year (before deductions like social security, taxes and other contributions), not including equity/stock options or similar benefits.

Job title
Principal Engineer
Experience
Senior-level / Expert
Region
United States
Salary year
2025
Sample size
28
Top 10%
$ 237,500
Top 25%
$ 203,000
Median
$ 155,800
Bottom 25%
$ 105,400
Bottom 10%
$ 92,600

Region represents the primary country of residence of an employee during the year (or residence for tax purposes). All data shown are full-time equivalent (FTE) salaries. Part-time salary information has been extrapolated to its FTE value.

Last updated:

Salary trend

Top 20 Job Tags for Senior-level / Expert Principal Engineer roles

The three most common job tag items assiciated with senior-level / expert Principal Engineer job listings are Cloud, Agile and Compliance. Below you find a list of the 20 most occuring job tags in 2025 and the number of open jobs that where associated with them during that period:

Cloud | 27 jobs Agile | 18 jobs Compliance | 15 jobs Azure | 14 jobs Python | 14 jobs Clearance | 14 jobs Computer Science | 13 jobs AWS | 12 jobs Automation | 12 jobs CISSP | 12 jobs Monitoring | 12 jobs DoD | 11 jobs CI/CD | 11 jobs Jenkins | 11 jobs SAP | 10 jobs Security Clearance | 10 jobs GCP | 10 jobs Jira | 10 jobs STEM | 10 jobs Scrum | 9 jobs

Top 20 Job Perks/Benefits for Senior-level / Expert Principal Engineer roles

The three most common job benefits and perks assiciated with senior-level / expert Principal Engineer job listings are Career development, Health care and Insurance. Below you find a list of the 20 most occuring job perks or benefits in 2025 and the number of open jobs that where offering them during that period:

Career development | 26 jobs Health care | 20 jobs Insurance | 17 jobs Salary bonus | 14 jobs Flex vacation | 13 jobs Flex hours | 12 jobs Startup environment | 11 jobs Transparency | 9 jobs Medical leave | 9 jobs Team events | 8 jobs Relocation support | 6 jobs 401(k) matching | 5 jobs Wellness | 5 jobs Equity / stock options | 4 jobs Parental leave | 3 jobs Gear | 1 jobs Competitive pay | 1 jobs Home office stipend | 1 jobs

Related salaries

Principal Engineer @ $ 155,800 (global) Details
Principal Engineer @ $ 155,800 (global) - Senior-level / Expert Details
Principal Engineer @ $ 155,800 (United States) Details

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