Principal Engineer salary in California
A real-employer view of Principal Engineer pay, clustered from DOL OFLC certified filings. Variants like Senior, Lead, and II/III titles fold into this cluster — the wage range below reflects all of them.
Principal Engineer in California: actual employer-disclosed pay
Public records from 37 certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. Median offered wage: $197,041. Every figure below is an actual offered salary an employer attested to under federal law.
By DOL wage level
DOL classifies every offer into one of four wage levels based on the role's experience and skill requirements.
| Level | Filings | Median offer |
|---|---|---|
| Level I — entry | 4 | $141,981 |
| Level II — qualified | 3 | $166,525 |
| Level III — experienced | 4 | $203,133 |
| Level IV — fully competent | 13 | $215,600 |
Top employers filing for this role
Companies with the most certified filings for Principal Engineer in California. Median offer is across all of that employer's filings.
| Employer | Most-filed title | Filings | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tenstorrent USA Inc. | Sr. Staff Engineer | 7 | $229,590 |
| Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. | Staff Engineer, Design Verification | 7 | $194,040 |
| Sandisk Technologies, Inc. | Staff Engineer, R&D Engineering | 2 | $115,253 |
| Celestial AI Inc. | Engineer, Design Verification | 2 | $232,700 |
| CEREBRAS SYSTEMS INC. | Principal Engineer (DFT) | 2 | $222,600 |
| Palo Alto Networks, Inc. | Principal Engineer, ASIC DV | 2 | $164,606 |
| MediaTek USA Inc. | Senior Engineer | 2 | $175,000 |
| LINKEDIN CORPORATION | Engineer, Hardware Reliability | 1 | $131,137 |
| SiFive, Inc. | Engineer I, Hardware | 1 | $129,961 |
| Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. | Sr. Engineer | 1 | $176,696 |
Recent sample filings
A snapshot of recent certified offers. Each line is a real, public, verifiable record.
- Sr. Staff Engineer at Tenstorrent USA Inc.$229,590Santa ClaraDecided Dec 17, 2025I-200-25344-472218
- Staff Engineer, R&D Engineering at Sandisk Technologies, Inc.$115,253IrvineDecided Dec 15, 2025I-200-25343-466810
- Engineer, Hardware Reliability at LINKEDIN CORPORATION$131,137SunnyvaleDecided Dec 10, 2025I-200-25337-452889
- Engineer I, Hardware at SiFive, Inc.$129,961Santa ClaraDecided Nov 19, 2025I-200-25317-403126
- Sr. Staff Engineer at Tenstorrent USA Inc.$229,590Santa ClaraDecided Nov 18, 2025I-200-25314-395290
- Engineer, Design Verification at Celestial AI Inc.$195,000Santa ClaraDecided Nov 14, 2025I-200-25308-370571
- Sr. Engineer at Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.$176,696Santa ClaraWage Level IIDecided Sep 29, 2025I-200-25265-326287
- Principal Engineer at Tenstorrent USA Inc.$229,590Santa ClaraWage Level IVDecided Sep 25, 2025I-200-25261-319329
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor Certification. Disclosed wages reflect what employers attested to pay; actual paid wages may differ. Only certified filings are shown — denied and withdrawn cases are excluded.