Staff Engineer salary in California
A real-employer view of Staff 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.
Staff Engineer in California: actual employer-disclosed pay
Public records from 65 certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. Median offered wage: $184,000. 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 | 1 | $130,000 |
| Level II — qualified | 3 | $156,853 |
| Level IV — fully competent | 14 | $216,546 |
Top employers filing for this role
Companies with the most certified filings for Staff Engineer in California. Median offer is across all of that employer's filings.
| Employer | Most-filed title | Filings | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAMSUNG AUSTIN SEMICONDUCTOR,LLC | Senior Engineer | 13 | $186,472 |
| Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. | Senior Engineer | 7 | $156,853 |
| Analog Devices, Inc. | Senior Engineer, Design Evaluation Engineering | 6 | $146,807 |
| Upscale AI, Inc | Senior Staff Engineer | 6 | $218,500 |
| MediaTek USA Inc. | Senior Staff Engineer | 5 | $187,000 |
| Western Digital Technologies, Inc. | Principal Engineer, Software Development Engineering (Embedd | 4 | $152,384 |
| PSEMI CORPORATION | Senior Staff Engineer, Digital Verification | 3 | $133,000 |
| Arm, Inc. | Staff Engineer | 3 | $186,472 |
| Upscale AI, Inc. | Principal Engineer | 3 | $220,000 |
| SAMSUNG AUSTIN SEMICONDUCTOR, LLC | Senior Staff Engineer | 2 | $216,091 |
Recent sample filings
A snapshot of recent certified offers. Each line is a real, public, verifiable record.
- Senior Staff Engineer, Digital Verification at PSEMI CORPORATION$184,000San DiegoDecided Dec 30, 2025I-200-25356-502591
- Sr Staff Engineer at Tenstorrent USA Inc.$216,091Santa ClaraDecided Dec 30, 2025I-200-25356-502838
- Senior Engineer at Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.$128,898San DiegoDecided Dec 30, 2025I-200-25357-504405
- Senior Staff Engineer at MediaTek USA Inc.$199,000San JoseDecided Dec 18, 2025I-200-25345-475443
- Senior Staff Engineer at SAMSUNG AUSTIN SEMICONDUCTOR, LLC$216,091San JoseDecided Dec 17, 2025I-200-25344-472104
- Staff Engineer at MediaTek USA Inc.$157,000San JoseDecided Dec 16, 2025I-200-25344-470398
- Senior Engineer, Product Applications at Analog Devices, Inc.$146,832SAN JOSEDecided Dec 15, 2025I-200-25342-466090
- PRINCIPAL ENGINEER at EXIMIETAS DESIGN LLC$186,472SAN JOSEDecided Dec 15, 2025I-200-25342-465722
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.