Software Engineering Career Path
Explore the software engineering career ladder from Intern to Principal. See skills needed at each level and salary expectations.
Roles
23
in software engineering
Career Levels
6
Intern to Principal
Median Salary
$187,250
across all levels
Browse Jobs
→
software engineering openings
Career Ladder
Progression from Intern to Principal in software engineering
Intern
$67,600 median
Software EngineerHardware Engineer
Software DevelopmentData StructuresAlgorithmsCode ReviewTestingCI/CDHardware DesignCircuit Design
Junior
$97,403 median
Software EngineerBackend EngineerFrontend EngineerFull Stack EngineerMobile EngineerEmbedded Software EngineerDevOps EngineerInfrastructure EngineerCloud EngineerQA EngineerHardware Engineer
Software DevelopmentData StructuresAlgorithmsCode ReviewTestingCI/CDAPI DevelopmentDatabases
Mid-Level
$169,050 median
Software EngineerBackend EngineerFrontend EngineerFull Stack EngineerMobile EngineerEmbedded Software EngineerPlatform EngineerDevOps EngineerSite Reliability EngineerInfrastructure EngineerCloud EngineerQA EngineerSolutions ArchitectSolutions EngineerTechnical Program ManagerHardware EngineerField Engineer
Software DevelopmentData StructuresAlgorithmsCode ReviewTestingCI/CDAPI DevelopmentDatabases
Senior
$192,500 median
Software EngineerBackend EngineerFrontend EngineerFull Stack EngineerMobile EngineerEmbedded Software EngineerPlatform EngineerDevOps EngineerSite Reliability EngineerInfrastructure EngineerCloud EngineerQA EngineerSolutions ArchitectSolutions EngineerTechnical LeadTechnical Program ManagerHardware EngineerField Engineer
Software DevelopmentData StructuresAlgorithmsCode ReviewTestingCI/CDAPI DevelopmentDatabases
Staff
$222,000 median
Software EngineerBackend EngineerFrontend EngineerFull Stack EngineerMobile EngineerEmbedded Software EngineerPlatform EngineerDevOps EngineerSite Reliability EngineerInfrastructure EngineerCloud EngineerQA EngineerStaff EngineerTechnical LeadTechnical Program ManagerHardware EngineerField Engineer
Software DevelopmentData StructuresAlgorithmsCode ReviewTestingCI/CDAPI DevelopmentDatabases
Principal
$209,500 median
Software EngineerBackend EngineerFrontend EngineerEmbedded Software EngineerPlatform EngineerSite Reliability EngineerInfrastructure EngineerSolutions ArchitectPrincipal EngineerTechnical Program ManagerHardware EngineerField Engineer
Software DevelopmentData StructuresAlgorithmsCode ReviewTestingCI/CDAPI DevelopmentDatabases
Salary Progression
Median salary by seniority level
Skills by Level
Which skills are needed at each career stage
Skill
Intern
Junior
Mid-Level
Senior
Staff
Principal
Software Development
Data Structures
Algorithms
Code Review
Testing
CI/CD
Hardware Design
Circuit Design
PCB
FPGA
ASIC
Signal Integrity
API Development
Databases
Distributed Systems
Roles in Software Engineering
23 canonical roles in this family
Backend Engineer
IC
API DevelopmentDatabasesDistributed Systems
juniormidseniorstaffprincipal
Cloud Engineer
IC
AWSAzureGCP
juniormidseniorstaff
DevOps Engineer
IC
CI/CDInfrastructure as CodeCloud
juniormidseniorstaff
Director of Engineering
Mgmt
Engineering LeadershipStrategyOrg Building
Embedded Software Engineer
IC
CC++RTOS
juniormidseniorstaffprincipal
Engineering Manager
Hybrid
People ManagementTechnical LeadershipAgile
Field Engineer
IC
Technical ConsultingCustomer EngagementProblem Solving
midseniorstaffprincipal
Frontend Engineer
IC
JavaScriptReactCSS
juniormidseniorstaffprincipal
Full Stack Engineer
IC
FrontendBackendDatabases
juniormidseniorstaff
Hardware Engineer
IC
Hardware DesignCircuit DesignPCB
internjuniormidseniorstaffprincipal
Infrastructure Engineer
IC
Cloud InfrastructureNetworkingLinux
juniormidseniorstaffprincipal
Mobile Engineer
IC
Mobile DevelopmentiOSAndroid
juniormidseniorstaff
Platform Engineer
IC
Infrastructure as CodeCloud PlatformsContainerization
midseniorstaffprincipal
Principal Engineer
Tech Lead
Technical VisionArchitectureOrg-wide Impact
principal
QA Engineer
IC
Test AutomationQuality AssuranceTesting Frameworks
juniormidseniorstaff
Site Reliability Engineer
IC
MonitoringIncident ResponseAutomation
midseniorstaffprincipal
Software Engineer
IC
Software DevelopmentData StructuresAlgorithms
internjuniormidseniorstaffprincipal
Solutions Architect
IC
ArchitectureCloudSystem Design
midseniorprincipal
Solutions Engineer
IC
Technical Pre-salesDemoIntegration
midsenior
Staff Engineer
Tech Lead
System DesignTechnical StrategyMentorship
staff
Technical Lead
Tech Lead
Technical LeadershipCode ReviewArchitecture
seniorstaff
Technical Program Manager
IC
Program ManagementTechnical CoordinationStakeholder Management
midseniorstaffprincipal
VP of Engineering
Mgmt
Engineering StrategyOrg LeadershipExecutive Leadership
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