C++ Salary at Startups (2026): $148k median

Market Signal (August 2026)

Top Hirers: Category Labs leads hiring for C++ roles with 7 active posts, followed by Topaz Labs.

🌍 Location & Remote Dynamics

Remote-Friendly: C++ is highly remote-friendly, with 57% of roles open to remote work. Remote Premium: Remote C++ roles currently fetch a 23% salary premium (median $160,000) compared to onsite positions.

💡 Tech Stack Context

Common Stack: 45% of C++ jobs also require Rust, and 41% mention Python.

💰 Compensation Analysis

The median base salary for C++ developers is $147,500, with top-tier roles (P75) reaching $176,000.

C++ salary FAQ

What is the median C++ developer salary at startups?

The median C++ salary is $148k, based on 44 verified Hacker News 'Who is Hiring' listings as of July 2026.

What is the salary range for C++ roles?

C++ roles run from $115k (25th percentile) to $176k (75th percentile), with top listings reaching $200k.

Do remote C++ jobs pay more than onsite?

Remote C++ roles show a median of $153k versus $130k onsite in this dataset.

C++ jobs (44 total)

COMPANY	ROLE	SALARY	VIBE	STACK
Category Labs	Senior Software Engineer	USD 200,000 +	[F] grind	C++ Rust Evm +1	HN Apply
Category Labs	Multiple roles available	USD 200,000 +	[E] stable	Rust C++ Web3	HN Apply
Category Labs	Various roles (Early Career SWE, Senior SWE, Smart Contract Engineer, Senior Researcher)	USD 200,000 +	[E] CRUNCH	Rust C++ Solidity	HN Apply
Category Labs	Senior SWE, Smart Contract Engineer, Senior Researcher	USD 200,000 +	[E] stable	Rust C++ Solidity	HN Apply
Category Labs	Various	USD 200,000 +	[E] stable	Rust C++ Web3	HN Apply
Category Labs	Senior SWE, Senior Security Engineer, Smart Contract Engineer, Senior Researcher	USD 200,000 +	[E] grind	Rust C++ Solidity +1	HN Apply
Category Labs	Senior SWE, Infrastructure Engineer, Senior Researcher	USD 200,000 +	[E] stable	Rust C++ Web3	HN Apply
Monad Labs	Sr Software Engineer / Network Security Engineer	USD 200,000 +	[F] grind	Rust C++ Golang +2	HN Apply
Aurora	Staff TLM, Cloud Platform	USD 189,000 - USD 302,000	[E] CRUNCH	Golang Kubernetes Argocd +3	HN Apply
DuckDuckGo	Multiple Roles	USD 176,000 - USD 176,000	@HR stable	C++	HN Apply
BREAKFAST	Senior Software Engineer	USD 170,000 - USD 220,000	[F] grind	Linux Python JavaScript +2	HN Apply
Prolific Machines	Senior Software Platform Engineer	USD 160,000 - USD 210,000	[E] stable	Python TypeScript Golang +8	HN Apply
Shorebird	Mid-Senior Systems/Runtime (C++) Engineer	USD 160,000 - USD 230,000	[F] grind	GCP Cloudflare React +3	HN Apply
DuckDuckGo	Multiple Roles	USD 160,000 - USD 242,000	@HR stable	C++ Backend Engineering Windows Desktop App	HN Apply
Anduril	Perception Engineer	USD 160,000 - USD 240,000	[E] grind	C++ Computer Vision Image Segmentation +1	HN Apply
Cyngn	Multiple Roles	USD 153,000 - USD 171,000	[E] grind	C++ Ros2 Python +6	HN Apply
OneChronos	Systems Engineer	USD 150,000 - USD 220,000	[E] grind	Rust C++ Java	HN Apply
Coram.ai	Senior / Lead Software Engineer	GBP 150,000 - GBP 250,000 ≈ $191k	[E] grind	Python Golang C++ +4	HN Apply
Shorebird	Mid-Senior C++/Runtime OR Dart/Cloud Engineers	USD 150,000 - USD 230,000	[F] CRUNCH	C++ Dart Flutter +4	HN Apply
Bonsai Robotics	Senior MLOps Engineer	USD 150,000 - USD 250,000	[E] grind	Python PyTorch Ray +2	HN Apply
Shorebird	Mid-Senior across Web, Dart, Full Stack or C++	USD 150,000 - USD 230,000	[F] CRUNCH	Dart GCP Cloudflare +2	HN Apply
TandemAI	Sr/Principal DevOps Engineer	USD 150,000 - USD 175,000	[E] CRUNCH	AWS Cloudformation Terraform +7	HN Apply
SkySafe	Wireless Engineer (SDR)	USD 145,000 - USD 200,000	[F] stable	C++ Sdr Wireless Communications +1	HN Apply
Anvil	Various Roles	USD 140,000 - USD 180,000	[F] CRUNCH	Cad Cam C++ +8	HN Apply
Google	Software Engineer	USD 136,000 - USD 200,000	[E] CRUNCH	C++ Cloud Run Vertex AI	HN Apply
Topaz Labs	Various roles (Software Engineers, PhD Researchers, Product Managers, Ops/Support, AEs)	USD 130,000 - USD 250,000	[F] stable	C++ Python	HN Apply
Topaz Labs	Engineers + Researchers + Product	USD 130,000 - USD 250,000	[F] grind	C++ Python	HN Apply
Topaz Labs	Engineers / Researchers	USD 130,000 - USD 250,000	[F] grind	C++ Python	HN Apply
Topaz Labs	Software Engineers, Researchers, Marketing, Operations	USD 130,000 - USD 250,000	[F] stable	C++ Python	HN Apply
Solitude Labs	Founding Engineer (Rust)	USD 120,000 - USD 160,000	[F] grind	Rust C# C++ +8	HN Apply
Revere Defense Technologies	Multiple Roles	USD 120,000 - USD 220,000	[F] CRUNCH	Python C++ Rust +16	HN Apply
Immunant	Systems Programmer	USD 120,000 - USD 150,000	[E] grind	C# C++ Rust +4	HN Apply
x2A	Software Developer / Software Engineer	USD 115,000 - USD 170,000	[E] zen	Python TypeScript iOS +10	HN Apply
Immunant	Software Engineer	USD 110,000 - USD 150,000	[E] grind	C# C++ Rust +3	HN Apply
Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU APL)	Graphics Software Engineer	USD 105,000 - USD 290,000	[E] stable	C++ Gpu	HN Apply
GrayMatter Robotics	Robotics Engineer	USD 100,000 - USD 240,000	[F] grind	C++ ML For Robotics Motion Planning +1	HN Apply
Witty Machines	Senior Robotics Engineer	CHF 100,000 - CHF 140,000 ≈ $112k	[E] stable	Python C++ Ros +2	HN Apply
Undisclosed Trading firm	Software Engineer / Site Reliability Engineer (SRE)	CHF 100,000 - CHF 200,000 ≈ $112k	[E] stable	C++ TypeScript AWS	HN Apply
Rubypoint	C++ CAD Software Engineer	USD 95,000 - USD 125,000	[E] zen	C++ C++20 B Rep +7	HN Apply
eQualitie	Software developer	USD 84,000 - USD 90,000	[E] stable	C++ Boost Asio Firefox +9	HN Apply

C++ remote → C++ onsite → All technologies

C++ startup salary data

Median C++ salary over time